The aim of this international journal is to provide a forum for original and significant contributions in the field of distributed computing. Published papers will range from reports on systems that are currently being designed implemented and used to "theoretical" papers concerning formal specification verification and synthesis of distributed systems. In all cases acceptance of papers will be based on originality and contribution. Topics covered by the journal include (but are not limited to): Novel architectures of distributed systems (e.g. for distributed databases office automation and distributed real time control) Architectures of computer networks Communication protocols protocol hierarchies and standards Distributed operating systems Distributed algorithms (resource allocation fault tolerance ...) Algorithms for VLSI arrays Formal modeling verification and synthesis of distributed systems