In 2012, the Journal celebrated its 150^th volume with a number of changes. Firstly, the printed version was published in a new format: A4 sized and with a different typeface. These changes were designed to make the journal more visually appealing and easier to read. Secondly, in July 2012 Bob Naylor, Senior Editor for the Crops & Soils section of the paper for the last 10 years, retired and Paul Bilsborrow from Newcastle University took up the reins. Bob has made an outstanding contribution to this Journal during the last 10 years in his role as Senior Editor and we wish him well in his retirement.

Mervyn Humphreys, Sacha Mooney and Peter Kettlewell also relinquished their positions at the end of 2012. We thank them for their excellent contributions to the journal over the years and wish them well for the future. A number of new board members were appointed in December: Bronwyn Barkla (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México), Randy Dinkins (USDA-ARS, University of Kentucky, USA), Ajay Kohli (IRRI, The Philippines), Secundino Lopez (Universidad de Leon, Spain), Debbie Sparkes (University of Nottingham, UK) and Fangsen Xu (Huazhong Agricultural University, China). We welcome them to JAS and look forward to their contributions.

2012 was a record year for the Journal of Agricultural Science. Not only did the number of submitted papers climb higher than ever before (reaching the previous record of 450 by mid November), but the Impact Factor also reached its highest level ever at 2·041, which was an increase of 44% on the previous year. The Journal occupies 5^th position out of 57 in its subject category (Agriculture, Multidisciplinary). This success is a clear reflection on the innovations of the last few years, and in particular the inclusion of themes such as modelling of animal systems, wheat yield and climate change. The list of the top 20 papers contributing to the 2011 Impact Factor is dominated by themed content, particularly from ‘Climate Change and Agriculture’ papers.

We will be looking to build on this success in the forthcoming years and as a result we will be publishing more papers per issue throughout 2013 with the number of pages per issue increasing from 128 to 152. If the current trend continues, further changes may be made in the future to ensure that papers appear in hard copy more quickly.

Electronic publishing has proved invaluable during this time, as it means that papers are available to read and cite as soon as they appear on the First View part of the website, using the DOI. It will continue to be important in the future.

As always, we are indebted to our Editorial Board members and the many international reviewers who assist the Board by conducting detailed peer reviews. Without these willing volunteers, our task would be impossible and the continued success of the journal owes a lot to them. We recognize this by publishing a list of referees who have helped the Editorial Board each year; the list for 26 October 2011 to 13 Dec 2012 is available as a Supplementary File (online only) to this Editorial [Suppl Mat 1].

We look forward to another successful year in 2013 where we can continue to build upon the reputation that Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge has achieved over the last 107 years.