IJAHP Editorial: Mu, E./Words from the Editor-in-Chief International Journal of the Analytic Hierarchy Process 1 Vol.5 Issue 1 2013 ISSN 1936-6744 July 2013 Dear IJAHP Readers: Welcome to the first issue of 2013! This year also marks our fifth year of regular publication. It has been quite a hectic first half of the year. The MCDM conference in Málaga, Spain and the 12th ISAHP 2013 in Kuala Lumpur kept AHP/ANP researchers and practitioners quite busy meeting deadlines and presenting their work. We have included notes about the highlights from these two conferences in this issue to keep you informed. In particular, this editor was surprised and humbled about being awarded the best paper at ISAHP 2013. This award is a strong incentive for all of us to keep working to spread the AHP/ANP as an important decision-making tool in all areas of human endeavor. Speaking of spreading the word about decision-making, I cannot thank the IJAHP editorial team enough. These dedicated people have worked particularly hard on this issue and have been key to the success of the publication as a whole: Rozann Saaty, Antonella Petrillo, and Birsen Karpak. Besides peer-reviewed articles, our journal includes an essay and a news and events section. We encourage our readers to submit contributions to all the sections of the journal. We are also working on many other initiatives to improve the standing of the journal. Some of these initiatives include the inclusion of digital object identifiers (DOIs) for articles, an application to SCOPUs, and invitations to several outstanding members of our AHP/ANP community to join the editorial board. The updated list of board members is included on the IJAHP home page. The members of the editorial board will serve for a three-year period, and will assist in the editorial process on an as-needed basis. We cannot thank them enough for their willingness to join our team. This issue is comprised of an eclectic collection of AHP/ANP articles. First, Jain and Rao perform a very comprehensive review of the literature as well as present their research of experts’ opinions to develop a very thorough model for the prioritization of different methods for rural extraction of anti-cancer bioactive compounds from plants. Next, we have a discussion by Oyatoye and Daniel of critical success factors (CSFs) for poverty IJAHP Editorial: Mu, E./Words from the Editor-in-Chief International Journal of the Analytic Hierarchy Process 2 Vol.5 Issue 1 2013 ISSN 1936-6744 reduction programs in Africa. Using a survey approach with 950 respondents, they conclude that past poverty reduction programs have not considered several CSFs and alternatives. In our third paper, Beshah and Kitaw propose a model for allowing banks to make financing decisions from among multiple competing projects. In our fourth paper, Lo, Tsain and Lin provide a very impressive literature review to develop a decision model for selecting suitable management consultants. Finally, Stan Lipovetsky completes his discussion of the supermatrix eigenvector problem and its interpretation of priorities, this time for the case of the Analytic Network Process. To conclude this issue, Dr. Thomas Saaty discusses, in our essay section, the worldwide challenges of moving from fragmentation to integration. This is further discussion on the topic that he addressed in his opening speech at our 12th ISAHP 2013 meeting in Kuala Lumpur. I feel confident you will enjoy this journal issue. Many Thanks! Enrique Mu, PhD Editor-in-Chief, IJAHP Rob Typewritten Text http://dx.doi.org/10.13033/ijahp.v5i1.188