The idea for a journal dedicated to space weather grew out of an AGU Chapman Conference in 2000. A major obstacle to improving operational space weather forecasting arises because much high-quality research is not effectively transitioned for operational use. A large part of the problem resides in the lack of interaction among the communities involved in space weather activities. The primary goal of Space Weather : The International Journal of Research and Applications is to promote communication among scientists, engineers, technicians, science administrators, and space weather policy makers in a way that leads to continuous improvement in the nation's ability to mitigate space environment hazards to technical systems on the ground and in space.