This paper proposes a new resource reservation protocol for optical burst switching networks, called enhanced just-in-time (E-JIT). E-JIT intends to improve and optimize the traditional JIT protocol, keeping all the advantages of its simplicity in terms of implementation. E-JIT aims to improve data channel scheduling, reducing the period of time in which the data channel remains in reserved status, optimizing channel utilization and reducing the burst loss probability. A performance assessment of E-JIT is presented for mesh optical burst switching networks with 16 nodes. It is shown that E-JIT may lead to a better performance than JIT for small burst loss probabilities.