The Journal of Ethology was first published in 1983 as the official journal of the Japan Ethological Society, and over the past 40 years has steadily grown into an international journal of behavioral ecology and animal behavior, one that is now widely recognized in the field. It cannot have been easy to maintain its status in the midst of many new journals being brought out. This has been possible thanks to the tireless efforts of successive generations of editorial staff and, above all, to the authors, who have contributed more than 1,000 high-quality papers to the journal.

In January 2023, I will succeed Kensuke Nakata, who served as Editor-in-Chief for six years, making me the 10th Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Ethology. Since 2008, I have worked as an editorial board member (two years) and associate editor (ten years) for articles on fish and other aquatic organisms. As such, I am quite familiar with the journal’s features, editorial policy, and recent trends. Our editorial structure and policies will essentially remain the same, but I will spare no effort to bring in new people and ideas. In the past, Journal of Ethology has been ahead of other journals in adopting new initiatives. We were one of the first to publish video data, which is now commonplace, and to introduce a new article type: Video Articles (Tsuji 2004). In 2019, we also made a Journal of Ethology channel on YouTube and began publishing video abstracts of Editor’s choice papers (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrGCbqqg-xQbWaecktRt03g). The fact that we accept articles on descriptive studies is one of the major features of our journal not found in other behavioral journals (Yasui 2011). Although it is difficult to gage the scientific importance of these articles, we believe they are certainly worth being published. Perhaps a different yardstick than the standard one and a bit more time are needed to determine their value.

The Journal of Ethology publishes review articles and original papers on all aspects of animal behavior. Papers on field, laboratory, and theoretical studies are equally welcome. We do not limit the range of subject organisms, and our editorial board members have the expertise to cover a wide variety of taxa, including humans. We also welcome studies on integrative and multidisciplinary approaches to understanding animal behavior by drawing on various fields such as physiology, genetics, psychology, etc. Such approaches may not be unique to behavioral science, but they are certainly one of its strengths. They will lead to a deeper understanding of behavior and will also attract researchers from across the field, sometimes even outside the field. The Journal of Ethology also welcomes submissions from other fields. As Editor-in-Chief, it is my great pleasure to contribute to the development of behavioral science in this way.

If there is one statistic that I am concerned about as Editor-in-Chief, it is the number of submissions. Fortunately, it has remained high over the past few years, but I am not optimistic that researchers will continue to choose our journal as a place to submit their papers among the many choices available. It will be difficult to even maintain the status quo unless we continually demonstrate our uniqueness. The most important thing, as we all know, is to continue publishing high-quality papers. I will continue to work passionately to make the Journal of Ethology an appealing journal so that it remains one of the top choices for people studying animal behavior. And I look forward to being among the first to read your next fascinating manuscript!