Advancing the cause of nations

We, the editors of Nations and Nationalism, were pleased that the journal was reviewed (THES, October 20). However Nations and Nationalism "is not self-consciously attempting to create a space for itself alongside its more established competitor", Ethnic and Racial Studies, a journal of which the reviewer is an associate editor.

Our readership is quite distinct and we do not consider ourselves in competition with Ethnic and Racial Studies whose area is predominately race and ethnic relations. The nature of our enterprise is multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary and we welcome articles of all kinds on nations and nationalism in the humanities and social sciences. Our aim is to advance all of the newly flourishing and interrelated debates about the empirical, normative, conceptual, political, historical, comparative and other aspects of nationalism.

We have a readership which is quite distinct from other journals and we are filling an obvious gap in this increasingly important field.

Anthony Smith Obi Igwara Kelvin Knight Athena Leoussi Terry Mulhall Nations and Nationalism Cambridge University Press