Dear BBS readers,
 
Some of you may remember me. I founded BBS in 1978 and was the editor till 2002.
 
After those two busy decades I had not planned to edit a journal again! But when the Institute for Science and Policy of the Humane Society asked me whether I would agree to be the editor of a new open access journal on animal sentience, a topic I consider to be extremely important, both in cognitive science and in ethics, I immediately accepted, and also proposed to implement BBS-style Open Peer Commentary for the new journal.
 
Animal Sentience (ASent) has now been launched and the current editors have kindly agreed to let me do one last BBS mailing to BBS Associates to ask: If you have interest or expertise in animal thinking, feeling or well-being, please contact me at harnad@uqam.ca so I can add you to my list of potential ASent Commentators (the embryonic counterpart of the BBS Associate list that I started almost 40 years ago!).
 
Needless to say, if you have a potential target article on animal sentience on which you wish to invite Open Peer Commentary in ASent, you are invited to prepare one. ASent can also consider previously published papers that are particularly appropriate for Commentary if they are revised and updated for re-publication in ASent.
 
If you look at the journal website you will see that Open Peer Commentary in ASent is much like in BBS, except that ASent Commentaries and Responses appear serially, as they are received, reviewed and accepted, rather than all in one batch. The author also has the choice of responding one-on-one or in a batch, and the Commentary can continue for as long as there is still something to say.
 
My own inaugural editorial describes the mission and remit of ASent (and Open Peer Commentary is invited on the editorial as well!)
 
With best wishes,
 
Stevan Harnad
Editor, Animal Sentience
Professor of Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal
Professor of Web Science, University of Southampton