Professor Bennett Eisenberg (Lehigh University, Pennsylvania) has served on the editorial board of Sequential Analysis (SQA) since its inception. I must add that during the last couple of years of my editorship, he has helped me tremendously every time I have approached him. I especially recall his thoroughness every time he handled a manuscript. Recently, approaching his retirement, Bennett has decided to relinquish much of his editorial responsibilities, including the associate editorship of SQA. I wish him the absolute very best.
During the Joint Statistical Meetings in 2004, I had requested Professor Jon Shuster (University of Florida, Gainesville) to prepare a specially invited paper for the consideration of publication in SQA. Professor Shuster and Professor Myron Chang (University of Florida, Gainesville) had kindly turned in a truly thought-provoking manuscript, “Second-Guessing Clinical Trial Designs.” After it went through the strict peer-reviewing process and a number of revisions, which are the hallmarks of this journal, I decided to publish this manuscript as the Editor's Special Invited Paper with discussions.
I am pleased to note that SQA 27(1) opens with this specially invited paper along with a series of discussion pieces written by Dr. Atanu Biswas (Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata), Dr. Steve Coad (Queen Mary, University of London), Professor Susan Ellenberg (University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia), Dr. Nancy Geller (National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Bethesda), Professor Edit Gombay (University of Alberta, Edmonton), Dr. Qing Liu (J&J Pharmaceutical Research and Development, New Jersey), Dr. Peter O'Brien (Mayo Clinic, Rochester), and Professor Bill Rosenberger (George Mason University, Fairfax). Their interesting discussion pieces follow the main article of Professors Shuster and Chang. The discussion pieces are then followed by a series of thoughtful assessments from Professors Shuster and Chang in the form of “Author' Responses.”
My heartfelt thanks go to Professors Shuster and Chang as well as to all the invited discussants for sharing their candid opinions so freely with the larger audience out there. I believe that the field of sequential clinical trials stands to enrich itself significantly with this kind of open debate.
Happy reading.