Applications and Innovations in Expert Systems VI: Proceedings of ES98, the Eighteenth Annual International Conference of the B

R. MILNE Intelligent Applications Ltd The papers in this volume are the Application Papers presented at ES98, the Eighteenth International Conference of the British Computer Society's Specialist Group on Expert Systems. This year has been yet another "applications" success for the conference with this volume containing seventeen papers describing either deployed applications or emerging applications. All these documented case studies provide clear evidence of the success of AI technology in solving real business problems. Six of these papers were nominated for the Best Application Award during the review process. These nominations were then reviewed by the members of the Programme Committee to select the winning paper. The papers in the volume were subject to refereeing by at least two referees. All papers which were controversial for some reason were discussed in depth by the Application Programme Committee. Ten referees from the industrial and commercial sector and nine referees from the academic sector assisted me in reviewing the papers. The review form asked the referee to score the papers according to a number of dimensions, to rate it overall, and to offer critical comments to me, and to the authors. It also asks the referee to score their expertise in the area of each paper they review. Only reviews from 'expert' referees are used.