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To our authors and readersDear friends and colleagues! In 2003 ‘Public Opinion Monitoring: Economic and Social Changes’ journal, well known to sociologists, economists, politologists in Russia and round the world, celebrated its tenth anniversary. And we hope that ‘Monitoring’ will enter this new decade not only keeping all of its best traditions, but be already rejuvenated, more dynamic and pioneering than ever and meeting the high expectations of our readers. The rejuvenation process is going on in right in the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Centre. In the course of the Centre’s reorganisation in September 2003 VCIOM state unitary enterprise was transformed into an open joint-stock society. As before VCIOM’s proprietor remains the state and our main task is still to provide the president, the government and government departments of Russia with the sociological expertise of the highest quality. Being the head organisation in the field of large sociological state projects, VCIOM helps support the decision-making process in the Russian Presidential Administration, ministries, parliament and the regions. At the centre of VCIOM’s research lie problems of the labour market, migration, the location of production capabilities and education. Moreover, as the Centre for the Study of Public Opinion, we actively and carefully ‘return society’s opinion to itself’, that is publish survey data gathered from Russians on current issues on both the Russian and the international agenda. The main change with ‘Monitoring’ magazine has been the transformation into an open discussion forum for debates on current sociological data, idea and methods. ‘Monitoring’ mission is to become the leading magazine in Russian sociological thought. We do not wish to work narrowly with only the academic VCIOM group, but instead offer pages of our publication as a platform for all representatives of professional society wishing to express their opinion, and also for the users of sociological information. We are always looking for new authors and will be happy to publish you, reserving the right to select material on the criteria of originality and academic value. One of our most important goals is the widening of ‘Monitoring’s audience. We wish to make the magazine interesting for a wider readership and escape from the narrowly professional – and sometimes extremely ‘dry’ – framework, to make sociological research accessible to non-specialists – for politicians and businessmen, for students and lecturers of a wide variety of faculties and further education institutions, not lonely those specialising in sociology. In 2005 the magazine will continue to be published quarterly. Its slightly altered appearance has become more up-to-date. But certain things remain unchanged – our motto ‘From opinion to understanding’, our guiding principles – universality, academism, strong research culture, openness and trust. Our aim is to give you a ‘Monitoring’ which is not only a compendium of generally useful sociological knowledge, but also a highly-effective and finely-tuned instrument for the study of Russian society. Yours faithfully, |
 
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