I wish you a Happy New Year. The year 2014, marks the 5th anniversary of the Society of Polymer Science, Japan’s (SPSJ) collaboration with the Nature Publishing Group (NPG). In the regular issues of 2013, we published some excellent papers covering all aspects of polymer science. Two special issues were also published on ‘Application of Quantum Beams to Polymer Science and Engineering’ edited by Professors Toshiji Kanaya, Kazuo Sakurai and Atsushi Takahara,1 and ‘Peptide Materials’ edited by Professor Mariano Venanzi and Professor Shunsaku Kimura.2

The quality of papers and resulting increased attention has meant the impact factor (IF) of the Polymer Journal has seen a steady increase since 2010. The IF for 2012, which is the latest available, is 1.496, while those of 2011 and 2010 were 1.258 and 1.133, respectively. It is a good demonstration of the progress that the Polymer Journal is making and I would like to thank all our readers, referees, advisory board and office members for supporting the journal.

The polymer community noted with pleasure that the JAPAN prize 2013 in the Materials and Production field has been awarded to Professor Jean MJ Fréchet and Professor C Grant Willson for ‘the achievement of the development of chemically amplified resist technology’.3 Chemically amplified photoresist polymer technology is one of the great achievements of polymer science and contributes greatly to the society. This technology continues to have a significant impact on the miniaturization of electronic devices and nearly all of today’s microprocessor and memory chip production is based on this concept. Professor Fréchet received the SPSJ International Award in 2008 for work done with the late Dr Hiroshi Ito, who received also the SPSJ award in 1989. Professors Fréchet and Willson published a paper on chemical amplification with colleagues in Polymer Journal,4 showing our long tradition of working with excellent authors to publish exciting and important papers in the journal.

In 2013, Professor Takeshi Serizawa, Tokyo Institute of Technology, joined us as an Associate Editor and from the beginning of 2014 we also welcome Professor Keiji Tanaka, Kyushu University, as an Associate Editor. Professor Atsushi Takahara, Kyushu University, and Professor Bruno Ameduri, Institute Charles Garhardt, France, have stepped down from their positions as Associate Editors. I would like to thank the associate editors for all their work and devotion to the Polymer Journal. We appreciate your continued support and assistance in achieving our goal to be a significant publisher in the field of polymer science.