The departing Editor, Chris Schüller, will be a particularly difficult act to follow. Five years of his meticulous attention to detail and hands-on approach have left an enduring mark on the journal. During his time in the Editor's seat, the production of the journal has passed to IOP Publishing and the editorial process has become entirely IT based. Under his stewardship, the number of fusion technology contributions has increased and the appointment of Max Tabak as Associate Editor for inertial confinement should entice authors from that field. With all these changes, the Nuclear Fusion journal has gained and retained an impressive Impact Factor of 3.418.I believe that Nuclear Fusion maintains its position in the field because of the perceived high quality of the submissions, the refereeing and the editorial processes. I take it as my primary responsibility to maintain and, if possible, improve these high standards so that Nuclear Fusion is the journal of choice for authors and readers alike. One area in which we will be seeking to make early and visible improvements is the time taken from first submission to publication. Whilst this is somewhat at the mercy of, what is after all, volunteer effort in the peer-review process and the responsiveness of busy authors, we will do our best to streamline the processes and help the participants to trim this time as much as possible, whilst retaining the high quality of the final product.This year will see the take-off of ITER construction and procurement. It is my hope that Nuclear Fusion, with its international basis, would be the natural home for papers, which satisfy the editorial requirements, from the ITER and the Partner Teams. To this end, we are anticipating the imminent completion of an enormous special issue updating the ITER Physics Basis. If the quality of the chapters that have been accepted by the referees is anything to go by, this special issue will occupy pride of place on the desks of all workers in the field for years to come. One of my first tasks will be bring this project to completion during 2007.I look forward to working with the editorial team at Vienna, the Editorial Board, under Mitsuru Kikuchi, and the production and marketing team at IOP Publishing, Bristol. The first weeks have already indicated that not only is there much work to be done but that there is fun to be had with such a competent and dedicated group of people.It remains for me to wish you all a happy and successful New Year.