New Directions for Evaluation (NDE), a quarterly sourcebook, is an official publication of the American Evaluation Association. It is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes empirical, methodological, and theoretical works on all aspects of evaluation. A reflective approach to evaluation is an essential strand to be woven through every issue. The issues generally have one of three foci:

1. evaluation practice such as approaches, methods, or techniques that can be applied. For example, the use of templates, case studies, or survey research;

2. professional issues of importance for the field of evaluation. For example, the use of evaluation or locus of evaluation capacity;

3. societal issues that draw out the implications of intellectual, social, or cultural developments for the field of evaluation. For example, AIDS, intercultural competence, or poverty.

We encourage a diversity of perspectives and experiences within each issue, as well as creative bridges between evaluation and other disciplines. The audience is largely North American though many topics address international issues. Proposed topics should be relevant to an audience that includes professional practitioners, theorists, and methodologists. It is the policy of the American Evaluation Association to actively seek diversity throughout its activities and programs through attention to the following criteria:

• gender balance

• minority representation

• disciplinary heterogeneity

• practitioner/academic balance

• geographic heterogeneity

• heterogeneity of areas of application