The elections by the members of the German Geological Society (DGGV) in the Fall of 2021 resulted in my appointment as successor of Christian Dullo in his capacity as Editor-in-Chief of The International Journal of Earth Science (IJES) as of January 1, 2022. I will not withhold that I have great respect of this task and will humbly take over Christian’s responsibilities for the Journal and the DGGV.

Ever since its inauguration in 1910 as Geologische Rundschau, IJES enjoyed editorial guidance by reputable and outstanding scholars, such as Gustav Steinmann, Hans Cloos and Roland Brinkmann. However, none of the previous editors served the Journal as long as Christian did, which amounts to an impressive duration of 28 years. More importantly, under his editorship the Journal progressed from publishing about 60 articles in four issues per year to about 160 articles in eight issues per year. By now, some 500 manuscripts are submitted to the Journal each year. It is close to impossible to fathom the tremendous work that Christian, assisted by his wife Monika as Managing Editor and a most proficient Board of 25 Topic Editors, invested in advancing IJES to an internationally visible Earth Science journal. Christian’s dedication to the Journal, and thus to our scientific community, deserves our greatest respect. Likewise, those individuals, who are stepping down these days as Topic Editors and assisted Christian for many years, deserve our recognition for their outstanding work. These Topic Editors are: Heinrich Bahlburg, F. Christoph Breitkreuz, Eberhard Gischler, Sven Åke Larson, Christian Hübscher, Hans G. Machel, David McNamera, Jens-Alexander Nüchter, Michael Sarnthein and Thomas Voigt.

IJES continues to publish process-oriented research on the evolution of the Earth in form of Original Papers, Review Papers, Short Notes and Thematic Issues. Maintaining the quality of the Journal’s scientific contributions, its readership is used to, chiefly relies on the identification as well as the rigorous and constructive assessments of the most promising manuscripts submitted to, and honouring the scope of, the Journal. I will do my very best to upholding the scientific standing of IJES as one of Europe’s most reputable Earth Science journals and hallmark of the DGGV. In this regard, I am deeply honoured working closely with the Board of Topic Editors, many of which have a life-long experience in conducting and assessing research in Earth Sciences.

It is a pleasure to me serving the audience of IJES and the members of the DGGV as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal, and I look forward to facing this challenge.

Ulrich Riller

(Hamburg, December 2021)