The focus of this journal is on formal methods for designing, implementing, and validating the correctness of hardware (VLSI) and software systems. The stimulus for starting a journal with this goal came from both academia and industry. In both areas, interest in the use of formal methods has increased rapidly during the past few years. The enormous cost and time required to validate new designs has led to the realization that more powerful techniques must be developed. A number of techniques and tools are currently being devised for improving the reliability, and robustness of complex hardware and software systems. While the boundary between the (sub)components of a system that are cast in hardware, firmware, or software continues to blur, the relevant design disciplines and formal methods are maturing rapidly. Consequently, an important (and useful) collection of commonly applicable formal methods are expected to emerge that will strongly influence future design environments and design methods.