The birth of a journal is always a hard task. If the journal is an electronic one, some things may be probably easier. But if the Editor-in-chief is débutant, the task becomes at least NP-complete.

The role of the Advisory Board has been extremely important in this initial stage. Its members (Guillermo Arango, Giorgio Ausiello, Jan van Leeuwen,Alberto Mendelzon, Dante Ramos and Roberto Tamassia) have contributed to defining many important aspects of EJS, as the composition of the editorial board, the general guidelines that the journal will follow, and many other important questions. I really must thank all of them enormously.

Very special thanks go to the Executive Committee of SADIO, which gave and gives me total confidence and freedom to drive this young journal through its initial steps. This issue has been edited by Marcelo Campo, Miguel Felder, Isabel Mendez Diaz and myself. I must thank the Invited Editors for the effort done to get the papers reviewed by top-level referees and for the care put in editing all the works.

Finally, I wish to thank Rodolfo Baader, webmaster of SADIO and EJS who, with his knowledge and willingness to learn, is the main responsible that you can read this issue now.

We hope to produce the second issue of EJS during 1998, and three more issues in 1999. From 2000 on, the Journal should appear quarterly. You are all invited to contribute to this project sending articles or any kind of work compatible with the scope of EJS.

Very soon EJS will be mirrored in EMIS (European Mathematical Information Service), the official server of the European Mathematical Society, so you will be able to choose the best location to access to its contents. I must thank Dr. Bernd Wegner for giving us the opportunity of joining that important project.