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The International Observatory of Violence in Schools has the pleasure of presenting this first issue of the International Journal on Violence in Schools. It mainly presents articles written by the speakers chosen by the Scientific Committee for the Plenary Session of the Third World Conference on Violence in Schools, held in Bordeaux from 12 to 14 January 2006. Many other papers and articles are currently under evaluation and we hope to be able to bring out further issues on a regular quarterly basis. We also take this opportunity to call on all researchers concerned by our themes to send in articles for evaluation.

The goal of our Journal is to disseminate multidisciplinary scientific knowledge of a high level on violence in schools in its widest sense, encompassing the wide range of phenomena that have been described: delinquency, bullying, behavioural disorders, violence against minors, sexual violence... We will not limit ourselves, however, to violence inside schools, and we intend to publish articles on all the other forms of violence and issues that can interact with those that are our main focus: violence in the home, juvenile delinquency, institutional violence, political conditions giving an insight into issues of security, corruption etc. Research teams may also propose whole issues on a given theme – which will be evaluated on the same basis as any other article. This Journal will be particularly attentive to its international content by helping to publish research from the South and emerging countries. The emphasis will therefore be on the international, and on the publication of field surveys rather than of generalisations without a firm empirical foundation.

Our purpose is to inform public debate with confirmed knowledge on a subject on which opinion all too often hesitates between exaggeration and ignorance. Far from the demagogy of hard-line discourses on security and from well-meaning denial of realities, we intend to make this knowledge available to all. Bringing reason to a difficult debate – that is our guiding principle. It is also the reason behind our choice to offer totally free internet access. Internet can be a fabulous tool for democracy, despite the "digital divide”: free access to scientific knowledge in countries where there are few university libraries or none at all is a key issue for this century. For the moment, the Journal will be publishing articles either in French or in English, as we do not have the means to have them translated and produce a totally bilingual journal. We hope that we will be able to improve our language coverage in the future, and therefore extend the reach of our publication.

This Journal will meet the very highest scientific requirements: double blind peer review backed up by a further review in case of divergence, and then the final decision by the Scientific Committee. As can be seen in the list available on the same site, the Scientific Committee includes researchers from many countries and from a variety of disciplines. We will of course be calling on the services of outside experts for a large part of the evaluation work. The quality of the members of this Committee and the names of the authors in this first issue are evidence of the level we aim to achieve.

Finally, it is a great pleasure for me to thank all those who contributed to and supported the organisation of the World Conference in January, on behalf of our International Observatory, as well as of the European Observatory of School Violence and the Canadian Observatory on School Violence Prevention. Our thanks go to the Regional Council of Aquitaine, the staunchest supporter of the European Observatory of School Violence for many years, which enabled the creation of this website, and the Mutuelle Générale de l'Education Nationale, our main partner for the World Conference, a French mutual health fund with a particular interest in the health of teachers and which is very aware of the impact the phenomena of violence in schools can have on it. Then there is the Mutuelle Assurance des Instituteurs de France, which is supporting the on-line publication of this issue and, finally, for the Conference, the French Ministry for Culture which helped to finance the translations at the event in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. We are currently negotiating to create a print version of our journal and we will have more news about that very soon.

If you would like to send us any reactions to this first issue or to the global project of the Observatory, they will be most welcome!

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