Adapted from Figure 4(b) of “Statistical Challenges in Biological Networks” by George Michailidis from the December 2012 issue of JCGS

First, we officially welcome Thomas Lee as the new JCGS editor. Lee came on board July 1, 2012, handling all new manuscript submissions. Rich Levine will continue putting the JCGS issues together for most of the 22nd volume in 2013, changing his title to JCGS past editor.

Special Issue on Networks and Their Applications

JCGS kicked off the International Year of Statistics early with an issue devoted to networks and network models, disseminated right before the New Year (Volume 21, Issue 4). Network data has hit the mainstream with the popularity of social media sites Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and now Google+, as well as blog discussions. And with ever increasing computational power and technological innovations, analysis of graphs and inferences under graphical models have come within our grasp in a wide array of scientific applications. The issue begins with a historical review of developments by Steve Fienberg. Reviews of biological networks by George Michailidis and social networks by Dave Hunter, Pravel Krivitsky, and Michael Schweinberger highlight the issue, as well.

Adapted from “Graphical Criticism: Some Historical Notes,” Hadley Wickham’s discussion of “InfoVis and Statistical Graphics: Different Goals, Different Looks” by Andrew Gelman and Antony Unwin, which will appear in the March 2013 issue. The figure is an early satire of the “informationless graphic” as presented by Spear (1952, Charting Statistics).

Featured Discussion on InfoVis

The first official 2013 JCGS issue (Volume 22, Issue 1) features a discussion piece by Andrew Gelman and Antony Unwin, “Infovis and Statistical Graphics: Different Goals, Different Looks.” Discussants Steve Few, Robert Kosara, Paul Murrell, and Hadley Wickham, along with Gelman and Unwin, continue the conversation about the role and place of the statistical graphics field in data visualization and as a contributor to infographics or information visualization, hugely popular in modern-day media venues. Playing off that theme, the issue also includes research articles in graphical statistics. At the risk of playing into the concerns stated therein, a visually attractive issue to start the New Year!

Special Issue on Advances in MCMC

Changing up the promise in the Volume 21 editorial (2012 March issue), we decided to move our MCMC special issue to this 2013 celebratory volume. The issue will be dedicated to papers spun off from the top contributions at the Advances in MCMC Workshop at the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences in Edinburgh, co-organized by Mark Girolami, Antonietta Mira, and Christian Robert.

JCGS Outreach

JCGS will again host invited sessions at the Interface Symposium, to be held at Chapman University in April, and JSM in August. As has become a tradition, the former session will include a potpourri of topics, “JCGS Highlights at the Interface,” fitting the symposium theme of “Big Data and Analytics.” The JSM session, “JCGS Selections: Lassoing the Year of Statistics into an Elastic Net,” will include talks by Howard Bondell, Mark Culp, and Noah Simon from articles appearing in Volume 22 about a supervised learning and variable selection theme.

Remember, all members of the ASA, IMS, and IFNA enjoy free online access to JCGS. For details, visit the JCGS website.