The JLR Associate Editors’ Board voted to make the first issue of JLR a special issue devoted to the Leisure Research Symposium. The Board decided this would occur every year, and as a result, Sagamore Publishing has agreed to publish five issues per year. Included in this special issue is an introduction to the 2012 George Butler Lecture by the two co-chairs of the Leisure Research Symposium, Monika Stodolska and Jason Bocarro. The 2012 George Butler Lecture was given by Robert García with a focus on using leisure to promote social justice change. His invited paper is included in this special issue.

Selected research papers from the Leisure Research Symposium are also included in this special issue. Authors of the top-rated submissions were asked to submit full papers for publication consideration. From these eight submissions, four papers were accepted for publication. The regular standards and procedures of a blind peer-reviewed process were applied to these papers.

The George Butler Lecture and the research papers presented at the Leisure Research Symposium often stimulate relevant and timely research trends and topics. An annual special issue devoted to the Leisure Research Symposium will bring these ideas to a broader audience and will help highlight this research.

Kimberly J. Shinew
JLR Editor