The first issue of Insectes Sociaux published by Birkhäuser Verlag appeared exactly 20 years ago, in February 1991. Although the cover of the present issue 58-1 looks very similar to the previous ones, the attentive reader will notice the small red Birkhäuser logo has been replaced by the Springer horse logo. This change reflects that Birkhäuser has now become fully integrated with Springer Science + Business Media, and has changed its name to “Springer Basel”. The shift to Springer Basel is accompanied by a new contract with the International Union for the Study of Social Insects (IUSSI) that owns the journal. The contract between IUSSI and Springer Basel to publish Insectes Sociaux includes some provisions very favourable for our Union.

IUSSI will share in the journal revenue income. We anticipate having substantial new funds for the Union, and at our recent Congress in Copenhagen the IUSSI adopted changes to its governance to responsibly manage those funds. In particular, we now have a Financial Subcommittee of the International Committee, which is charged with setting policies for expenditures of IUSSI funds. Members include Dr. Koos Boomsma (Northwest European Section), Dr. Mike Breed (North American Section), and Dr. Heike Feldhaar (Central European Section).

Springer-Basel will shortly change to the online manuscript submission system Editorial Manager; this shift will offer automatical workflow systems for the authors, the referees, the Editorial office, and the Publisher for an efficient handling of manuscripts.

A new clause provides financial incentives to publish review articles. Over the past 10 years, our journal has featured about 2 such reviews per year, and we aim to increase this number substantially. To facilitate that goal, we have expanded the Editorial office to include a new Review Editor. We have appointed Dr. Michiel (Mischa) Dijkstra, Université de Lausanne, as Review Editor to solicit and handle review manuscripts. Authors, please note: we now offer a financial incentive of accepted reviews!

Finally, the Financial Subcommittee has recommended that the Editorial Board develop protocols for identifying a new Union award for the best paper published every year in Insectes Sociaux. We believe this new award will generate good publicity for our journal, as well as the recipient.

We are very pleased with our renewed association with Springer Basel, and feel confident that our journal will continue along its pathway towards increased prominence and enhanced reputation.