[Excerpt] As the readers of Journal of Operations Management (JOM) very well know, JOM has had a long history of encouraging articles exploring new frontiers in the field. Following this rich tradition and encouragement from editor‐in‐chief Robert Handfield, we invited papers for a special issue of JOM on Operations Management in Not‐For‐Profit, Public and Government Sectors in early 2003. The call for papers encouraged researchers to submit manuscripts related to a wide range of topics including exploring the similarities and differences between operations management practices in not‐for‐profit organizations, public sector/government agencies and for‐profit corporations; strategic consensus among/between multiple stakeholders (e.g. donors, employees, volunteers, users, clients, policymakers, community); measurement of operational performance and relationship between operations strategy and performance; issues governing product, service and process design/innovation; unique issues related to quality management; the role of information technology and various operational tools, techniques and concepts in increasing productivity and efficiency; and other topics as appropriate to effective operations management of not‐for‐profit or public sector organizations. The call for papers explicitly encouraged the researchers to submit papers based on interdisciplinary topics and using a wide range of methodologies (conceptual, empirical, analytical and case‐based research methods). We are pleased to report that the call for papers for the special issue was very successful and that we received 55 manuscripts for consideration for publication from many different countries.