It is a daunting task to take over the reins of Thorax, after the fantastically successful last years. Thorax is ranked second in the world among respiratory journals, with an impact factor of 7.069, and this is due mainly to the untiring efforts of the previous team, so ably headed by Wisia Wedzicha and Seb Johnston, building on the foundations laid by previous Editorial teams. It would be wrong not to acknowledge with respect and amazement the achievements to date. They have been the real giants on whose shoulders we stand (definitely not in the snide sense originally used by Newton). So we approach the next 5 years with some trepidation, but great excitement. Clearly we are not going to make radical changes; we want to continue to attract the best clinical work and basic science to the journal. We do believe there are areas on which we would like to focus to move the journal forward.