Editor's word

At the 8th regular assembly of the Society of Yugoslav Laboratories (SJL) for the examination and research of materials and structures held in Sarajevo in May 1958, a decision was made to launch a newsletter of the Society, which led to the establishment of the journal called BILTEN. It was intended to systematically inform members about the tasks and problems to be addressed by individual laboratories, bureaus and institutes that were members of the Society, and provide information on international trends in research developments, primarily in the RILEM framework, which united the operation of national Societies.

At the 10th regular assembly of the SJL, held in February 1960. in Zagreb, it was concluded that the work of SJL should be focused on the improvement of civil engineering (organizing, programming, coordinating and developing research activities) and the evaluation and presentation of the achieved results. The goal was to evolve SJL for examining and studying materials and structures in a comprehensive organization of all research capacities in this field of civil engineering. At that time, professional committees were formed with about 150. experts, specialists from all over the country (from the SJL, faculties, building materials industry and state administration). As a result, four years after the first issue was published, the BILTEN changes its name to MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES. In accordance with the new requirements and conditions, it has been developed into a specialized periodical publication in which results of scientific research works were communicated and the developments in the field presented. The journal presents the actions that significantly influence the growth of our civil engineering.

As a result of the need to abandon the narrow framework of laboratory-based testing of materials and structures the focus was shifted on in situ testing and long-term observation of structures, specifically studying pathology in civil engineering, durability of materials and structures, and calculating the structures across boundary states. Nonlinear theories, fracture mechanics, mathematical and numerical modeling were introduced. Issues of production technology, industrialization of construction, organization and mechanization of work, technical regulations and other complex problems were also included. Similar to other countries, the journal took the name and orientation of RILEM's "Materials and Structures". It encompassed a wide range of scientific and professional papers, presentations of scientific-research projects conducted in our institutes, and so on.

The journal "Materials and Structures" was mostly used in scientific and research organizations in Yugoslavia, but also in companies and the industry of building materials. The exchange within RILEM made it accessible and appreciated both domestically and abroad.

The halt in publishing the journal over the period from 1984. to 1988. adversely affected our reputation in RILEM. The problem was overcome in 1988. at the Assembly of the Society for the examination and research of materials and structures, when, in spite of material difficulties, it was decided to re-launch the journal and work on raising its reputation in the country and abroad. With its contents, the journal Materials and Structures will enable all members of the Society to gain an insight into the state and directions of future research in the field, receive information on research projects and topics addressed by our institutions, establishing cooperation in solving problems addressed by our organization and obtain information on scientific research abroad, especially on significant actions in the RILEM framework. The attention was specifically and primarily focused on the publication of scientific and professional papers, as the most important task of the journal.

I am the editor of the journal since October 2002, when in issue 3-4 I thanked the previous editor and a correspondent member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Prof. Dr. Borislav Zakić on his efforts, who has patiently and successfully edited the journal over many years (from 1988. to 2002.), managing to overcome different problems. Previous editor-in-chief was Prof.Branislav Kujundžić, Ph.D. member of the SANU. It is my great honor to be re-elected as editor-in-chief of the journal "Building Materials and Structures" at the 27th Congress of DIMK in October 2017. On this occasion, I thank the Society for Materials and Structures Testing, publisher of this journal, to entrust me this responsible duty. In the past period, until the above mentioned congress, the journal changed its name for procedural reasons and for the purpose of monitoring its citation both domestically and abroad, changing also the status of the journal and the members of the Editorial Board. In brief, I give information about this:

Upon the decision of the Assembly of the Society for Materials and Structures Testing from April 19, 2011. the name of the journal "Materials and Structures" was changed into "Building Materials and Structures". This was the time when the International Editorial Board was formed, which consisted of members from twelve countries. This has increased regional and international cooperation. Since 2013, the journal has been classified in the category of a national journal of exceptional importance - M42. The journal was enrolled for tracking in Thomas Routers. It is subscribed to ASEESTANT - Journal Editing Service that provides better visibility and support for the DOI number.
In 2016, our journal was included in the Emerging Sources Citation Index list and runs under the letter G as a Gradevinski (with d instead of đ), but the English title is adequate - Building Materials and Structures. The site containing the Emerging sources citation index is: http://ip-science.thomsonreuters.com/mjl/?utm_source= false&utm_medium=false&utm_campaign = false

The journal is published on quarterly basis, with articles of all categories of papers (original scientific, overviews, preliminary announcements, expert papers and professional presentations), covering a wide range of materials and structures in all areas of civil engineering (high-rise buildings, roads, hydro mechanical structures and object management) and areas of geodesy and architecture. The journal mainly publishes the results of testing of materials, elements and structures both in laboratory and in the field, as well as theoretical and numerical investigations on the behavior of materials and constructions under various actions and conditions of exposure (environment, fire, earthquakes, etc.). These studies have been used to formulate appropriate models which, in addition to scientific, also have practical significance and possibility of being applied in engineering practice. The journal is mostly scientific by nature. Articles are reviewed by renowned and recognized scientists from Serbia and neighboring countries, and reviewers are kept in secret.

We would like to express our gratitude to authors who published their papers, former members of editorial boards who, together with the editor-in-chief, advised on the programming and realization of published materials, reviewers who helped in the evaluation and selection of papers, as well as to readers who provided helpful suggestions. By citing the papers published in our journal when publishing in other journals, the authors will help in rising the reputation and recognition of our journal.

Despite the number of scientific-professional journals published in the field of civil engineering, we are glad that more and more authors from surrounding countries, as well as from some more remote countries, are publishing their papers in this journal, which increasingly provides it international character. Publishing papers of authors from abroad and authors from Serbian speaking area in English has already resulted in the inclusion of the journal in international lists. Additionally, we focus on increasing cooperation between scientific and educational institutions and building industry, along with the monitoring of new trends in the industry. The journal and all articles can be found on our website.

In advance, I would like to thank all the authors who will choose the journal "Building Materials and Structures" to present their research results, experiences in the practice of designing, building and managing civil engineering objects. Despite the present major crisis in civil engineering, our work has always been focused on achieving the set goals. In future this can only be achieved with hard work and perseverance, in full cooperation with authors, reviewers and readers.

Editor-in-chief
Professor Emeritus Dr.-Ing. Radomir Folić, Dr. h.c.