Expert Systems: The Journal of Knowledge Engineering publishes papers dealing with all aspects of knowledge engineering, including individual methods and techniques in knowledge acquisition and representation, and their application in the construction of systems – including expert systems – based thereon. Detailed scientific evaluation is an essential part of any paper.As well as traditional application areas, such as Software and Requirements Engineering, Human-Computer Interaction, and Artificial Intelligence, we are aiming at the new and growing markets for these technologies, such as Business, Economy, Market Research, and Medical and Health Care. The shift towards this new focus will be marked by a series of special issues covering hot and emergent topics.