The Editorial Board of Classical and Quantum Gravity recently met to discuss the state of the journal and of the subjects covered. They continue to be impressed by the vigour and vitality of the general area. New topics continue to arise and old ones to mature and deepen. In some areas techniques and understanding have reached a fairly refined level and questions which once seemed out of reach no longer seem beyond our grasp. At the same time there is the ever present need to maintain standards if this progress is to continue and not stall. These general trends in the field have been reflected in our submissions and the reponses of our referees to these submissions. In the light of those comments and as a result of our discussions the Board have decided to draw up a set of guidelines additional to IOP Publishing's standard guidelines to referees. These are reprinted below.

Gary Gibbons
Honorary Editor

Instructions to Referees from the Editorial Board

Referees are asked to bear in mind the following points:

1. The problem considered should have a sound motivation (a statement that the problem has been previously considered by X, Y and Z is not adequate motivation).
2. A paper should have a carefully written conclusion, summarising what has been learned and why it is interesting and useful.

In addition, referees are asked to take into account that classical relativity has developed into a mature discipline, which has led to changes in the standards concerning what is significant and worthy of publication, in particular in the area of exact solutions.

• The discovery of a new exact solution does not justify publication simply for its own sake. Justification for publishing a new solution would be provided by showing, for example, that it has an interesting physical application or unusual geometrical properties, or that it illustrates an important mathematical point. The onus is on the author to provide convincing evidence that the solution is in fact new.
• The development of a new technique or formalism for finding solutions of the field equations does not represent a sufficient advance to justify publication, unless the method is applied successfully (see (iii) above).