Making applied linguistics matter [Editorial]

Editorial. The article discusses the challenges of writing an inaugural editorial for a new journal, and the challenges that are even greater when the new journal is to join an already established pool populated with a number of journals with applied linguistics in their titles. Readers and potential authors have expectations of some kind of manifesto, a statement of intellectual commitment by the editors. Followers of a periodical will expect to be both reassured and surprised by its research agenda; The launch of the "Journal of Applied Linguistics" is a further example of both sustainability and of future growth in research. The issue reflects diverse themes and theoretical and methodological perspectives and differentiated presentations.