The April 2009 issue of EPA contained the first in what will become a regular series of graphics. Our reasoning is simple. More and more of the way the world is communicated takes place through graphical means and academic journals need to reflect that development. As has already been pointed out in this journal, there is a large and growing popular mapping movement: indeed, it could be argued that academic journals are behind the times in this regard.

Graphics can contain a multitude of different forms: maps, of course, but also various kinds of chart and diagram. The only common thread is that they communicate easily and well around such themes as distribution or density. What is certain is that a good graphic often really is worth a thousand words.

We are lucky that Professor Danny Dorling has agreed to be our first graphics editor. Danny has a track record of producing graphics that communicate the world in different and pithy ways. He will bring that expertise to bear on choosing contributions from a wide range of authors on a wide range of topics. Once again, this journal is trying to blaze a trail.

Please send suggestions for future images for inclusion to daniel.dorling@sheffield.ac.uk.

Below are the links to all the graphics featured in this series so far.

Volume 41(10)		Murders of women by intimate partners (2009)
		Joni Seager
Volume 41(8)		Wars, massacres, and atrocities of the 20th century (2009)
		Danny Dorling
Volume 41(6)		Global inequality, death, and disease (2009)
		David Gordon
Volume 41(4)		The world distribution of gross national income, 2007 (2009)
		Bob Sutcliffe