figure a

It has been a great pleasure working with the computer science community to present to you the very first issue of Iran Journal of Computer Science (IRCS), and its offering of high-quality content. With the kind support of the distinguished members of our editorial board from around the globe, IRCS is being launched with a great vision and ambitious plans. As IRCS disseminates the findings of scientists and researchers, and thereby aims to expand the boundaries of computer science and related technologies, we believe that this journal, along with periodic associated symposia, will not only provide an excellent international forum for the scientific community, but will also present a friendly environment for scientific collaboration, as well as dialogue, among scientists and researchers of diverse social and cultural backgrounds, advancing a small step towards making the world a better place in which to live.

IRCS is intended to serve as a focal point for researchers and scientists worldwide. In consultation with members of our advisory board and associate editors, we intend to build mutually beneficial partnerships between IRCS and well-known international conferences, including our own series, the International Symposium on Computer Science ( ISCS), the next meeting of which is scheduled for May 2019. The goal of these partnerships, and the cooperation that they foster, is to introduce the top 1–3 high-quality research results from the area’s popular international conferences, to be published in IRCS, while improving the overall quality and visibility of the symposium by inviting authors of various IRCS papers to present their recent work at the symposium. With this arrangement, symposium audiences will have the opportunity to meet the authors of high-quality research papers featured in IRCS and to enjoy their presentations, thus providing a friendly forum for the exchange of ideas between authors and audiences.

IRCS is being launched at the dawn of what I call the Light Age—light as in transparency, clarity and openness. Human society, in this age beyond the Information Age, is what I call the Crystalline Society. With the free and rapid flow of information and knowledge, citizens of the Crystalline Society are aware of facts and reality. Clarity and honesty become the defining characteristics of this society, where there is no room for lies, duplicity, deception, perversion, or hatred. IRCS is being launched just as this beautiful society is being formed. Another dimension of IRCS, therefore, is the promotion of friendship, peace, and happiness, by providing a receptive environment for dialogue among scientists and researchers of diverse social and cultural backgrounds. This environment includes a virtual forum, established by the journal advisory board members, associate editors, authors, and our readers. We intend to complement this virtual forum with periodic physical gatherings in the form of our annual or biannual symposia. To increase the frequency of our physical forums, as mentioned above, we are planning to actively cultivate mutually beneficial partnerships between IRCS and well-known international conferences, providing the opportunity for closer interaction among participants.

I would also like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to the distinguished scientists and researchers who have kindly accepted our invitation to join us as associate editors and members of our advisory board. They are the ambassadors of IRCS around the world; each editorial board member is a representative of IRCS. A gentle reminder is warranted here to all members of our editorial board to publicize their journal and, along with their own high-quality research contributions, to encourage their friends and colleagues to submit their valuable manuscripts to IRCS. We are counting on the continuous support of our advisory board members for overseeing the journal’s growth and development, providing guidance and strategic advice, and expressing their points of view, recommendations, or any advice that they may have, to improve the academic reputation and popularity of the journal.

Thanks to our publishing and production team at Springer, we were able to complete a lengthy but smoothly executed process as part of the complex task of launching this journal; specifically, thanks to Ralf Gerstner and his team at Springer. Last but not least are those to whom IRCS is offered, our readers: to them I extend my sincere thanks.

I am so enthusiastic about the future of IRCS; I believe, with your support, contributions, guidance, and comments, we will see IRCS, with its high standards of academic excellence, become the favorite journal of the worldwide community of computer science and related technologies.