Recent Developments in Alcoholism Volume 2

From the President of the Research Society on Alcoholism The field of alcohol research has been slowly but continuously evolving, taking into its domain an ever-increasing array of scientific disciplines. This senes is designed to fill the need for ,a review publication that covers the broad range of research into alcohol actions and alcoholism. Research in alcohol concerns social, epidemiological, and legal concerns in addition to biomedical and behavioral topics to greater degree than research with many other drugs. A publication devoted to alcohol research should serve the broadest existing research community, but perhaps more important, it should also provide a means to recruit new investigators with fresh approaches to the field. We can and must demonstrate that legitimate, high-quality research is being done, but we must also highlight the opportunity for new workers to make a real impact on the problem. The Research Society on Alcoholism seeks to provide such a service not only through this publication but also through other ac tivities. Richard A. Deitrich, Ph.D.