An ever changing global system defines the scientific and social problems and issues of our time. The majority of these problems clearly cross traditional scientific boundaries. The objective of the journal Global and Planetary Change is to achieve a multidisciplinary view of the causes, processes and limits of variability in planetary change. The journal focuses on the record of change in earth history and the analysis and prediction of recent and future changes. Topics include, but are not limited to, changes in the chemical composition of the oceans and atmosphere, climate change, sea level variations, human geography, global geophysics and tectonics, global ecology and biogeography.Key criteria for manuscripts are global scope or implications for global scale problems, significance beyond a single discipline and a focus on the causes, processes and limits of planetary change. Manuscripts can be submitted as either research contributions or as review articles. Extra effort should be directed towards presenting problems and results for a broad readership. Part of the intent of Global and Planetary Change is for new discoveries or progress in one discipline to foster advances, or act as a catalyst, in understanding the earth as a system.