Statistical Methods and Applications (SMA), the official Journal of the Italian Statistical Society, is an international journal aiming at promoting the development of statistical methodology and its applications in the biological, demographic, economic, health, physical, social and other scientific domains. SMA includes two sections: The first is devoted to statistical methodology and publishes original contributions in all fields of Statistics and, occasionally, critical reviews and discussions on recent developments in statistical theory and methods. The second section of the journal publishes papers devoted to original and/or innovative applications of recent statistical methodology and complex approaches of statistical data analysis. The journal is published four times a year. SMA provides a forum for the presentation of Italian and international research on methods that are of central interest to modern statistics. Discussions on methodological foundations and methods that have broad applications will be welcome and preferred.