Dear Authors and Readers,

thank you for your collaboration and interest in the scientific journal "Prawo Kanoniczne" (Canon Law), published in 2025. As planned, four issues of our quarterly journal were published. The number of published articles (see "Statistics" in the "For Authors" section) and the number of visits to the journal's website indicate significant interest. According to data based on a counter methodology, the number of visits to the website to view abstracts in PDF format reached 124.000. The abstracts in English increase the visibility of authors and their texts, and the inclusion of the journal in databases increases interest in Polish research in canon law.

In 2027, we will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the oldest Polish journal dedicated to canon law. To this end, we are working to improve our journal, both in terms of its academic content and its publication process. A new format for exchanging views within our journal is the "book symposium" or "book forum" (common in the humanities and social sciences in English-speaking journals). This involves a debate on an important and current publication, featuring critical texts from 3-5 authors, each offering a different perspective. The debate is preceded by a brief introductory text (editorial introduction) and concluded with a response from the author of the publication.

In order to meet new publication requirements, we introduced several changes regarding published articles last year. This year, we are also committed to implementing further editorial changes and complying with the Act of 4th April 2019, on the digital accessibility of websites and mobile applications of public entities (Dz. U. z 2023 r. poz. 82, ze zm. [Journal of Laws 2023, item 82, as amended]). Therefore, we kindly ask you to review the requirements for preparing the text, which are available on our website ("For Authors": Article Structure and Formatting), especially regarding tables, figures, maps, photographs, diagrams, or graphs used in the text. A new requirement is the completion of a form regarding the thematic classification of the article (Sustainable Development Goals / Polish heritage research / gender equality perspective) when uploading the text file for publication.

Starting with volume 69 of "Prawo Kanoniczne" (2026), authors are required to include several declarations at the end of their text, prepare a bibliography, and use the Chicago citation style (Author – Date Style, 17th edition), as well as provide an abstract according to a prepared template (background and justification of the topic; main research objective; methods used; key results; most important conclusions). The clarity of the abstract allows readers to understand the problem, thesis, and main line of argument, which increases the likelihood of the scientific content being cited, recommended, and used in academic discussions. This also strengthens the journal's image as being open to a global audience, despite being published in Polish. We encourage authors to submit their articles in international languages (English, Italian, Spanish, French, and German).

All information regarding the preparation and submission of texts can be found on the journal's website in the "For Authors" section. Texts submitted to the editorial office should be formatted according to the current template, as required by university regulations. Some changes will be implemented in the first issue, while all other changes will be introduced in the second issue of the current volume. We kindly ask our esteemed authors to review the editorial requirements and guidelines in order to prepare their texts for publication.

We look forward to a fruitful collaboration and exchange of ideas. We also encourage doctoral students to boldly present the results of their scientific research. May "Prawo Kanoniczne" continue to be a platform for inspiring discussions and the exchange of views.

Tomasz Gałkowski CP

Editor-in-Chief