This has been such a turbulent year for all of us. The COVID-19 pandemic has touched all our lives, and the challenges have been immense; the consequences are far reaching. The way that the scientific community undertakes its work has changed, and some of the changes are likely to last beyond the pandemic. I believe that virtual working will become more prevalent than it was before COVID-19. At the moment, the community is not gathering together at international conferences and it is possible to argue that journals play an even more important role than they did in this new way of working.

During this difficult period, I am proud of the way that everyone involved in the Journal of Scheduling has pulled together to make sure that we continue to publish world-leading research articles and fulfil our role as one of the premier international publication outlets for scheduling research. We continue to welcome interdisciplinary research across a broad spectrum of activity that ranges from theory to practice.

This year has also been unusual in that it has been the first year, since the Journal’s launch in 1998, that Mike Pinedo has not been involved in the editorial decision making. Mike retired during 2020. Throughout the Journal’s history, Mike has been there to provide wise advice and strong support. He was instrumental in the launch of the Journal all those years ago, and he remained a key figure in the Journal’s development as it went from strength to strength. Indeed, Mike has played a critical and pivotal role in the Journal’s success. I am so grateful to Mike for all he has done for the Journal during the time that we have worked together. Thanks for the memories, Mike! I will miss you very much, and I know that this is a sentiment that is shared by everyone at the Journal.

I am pleased to be able to report that the key indicators that we monitor are demonstrating the strength of the Journal that Mike has done so much to establish. They can be outlined as follows:

  • Our Thompson Reuters impact factor has increased from 1.598 to 1.765.

  • In 2020, we had 245 new submissions and accepted 38 regular papers.

  • Our 2020 acceptance rate was approximately 16%.

  • The average time from submission to first decision in 2020 was 119 days.

  • The average time from submission to final decision was 220 days.

The number of article downloads continues to increase. Recent figures are outlined below:

2014:

31,986

2015:

38,660

2016:

42,508

2017:

47,943

2018:

51,120

2019:

54,895

2020:

60,881

It is particularly pleasing to note that the number of downloaded articles has increased significantly every year since 2014.

I have already mentioned how proud I am of how everyone at the Journal has worked together during the particularly difficult circumstances of the global pandemic. The main focus of my thanks in this Editorial is Mike, but I am also really grateful to the associate editors and the reviewers for continuing to donate their time and expertise so generously to ensure the quality of the papers that appear in the Journal. The editorial team at Springer continues to provide a very high level of support. Particular thanks should be given to Mangayarkarasi Lakshmiram, Subhashini Gopal, Karthikeyan Sekaran, and Matthew Amboy. I am really grateful for their continuing support. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the authors of our papers for continuing to submit their articles in such difficult circumstances. Finally, I thank our readers for continuing to take an interest in the Journal’s papers. I wish all our readers and authors, and everyone at the Journal of Scheduling, all the very best as we all face the ongoing challenges of the pandemic. Take care and stay safe!