Colloid and Polymer Science - a leading international journal of longstanding tradition - is devoted to colloid and polymer science and its interdisciplinary interactions. As such it responds to a demand which has lost none of its actuality as revealed in the trends of contemporary materials science. To enable an effective and fast dissemination of scientific manuscripts three categories of contributions are presented: - Leading contributions - Original contributions - Short communications The latter will be published with high priority at least within three month after acceptance of the manuscript. (The usual time between acceptance and publishing is typically 6 month .) With this immediacy Colloid and Polymer Science serves as a reliable partner for an effective distribution of scientific results.