This has been a particularly sad year for the Journal of Scheduling. During 2022, we lost two long-standing supporters and Associate Editors. We published In Memoriam articles for both colleagues, but I have known them both personally for such a long time that I really want to say a few words about them here too.

I first met Gerhard Woeginger at one of the Dagstuhl Scheduling seminars that were organised by Jacek Blazewicz and colleagues in the 1990s. I was struck by his friendly personality and his deep commitment to scientific research. When we were setting up this Journal in the 1990s, he was a very strong advocate and I will always be grateful for his support. In preparing this Editorial, I took Volume 1, Issue 1 (June 1998) from my bookshelf and there was Gerhard’s name amongst our Associate Editors. Moreover, he is a co-author of the third paper that we ever published in that very first issue. Not only was Gerhard among our first Associate Editors—but he was one of our first authors too! He made an outstanding contribution to this journal as an Associate Editor, a Guest Editor of special issues and as an author over a period of approximately 25 years. He will be very much missed.

By the early 2000s, the Dagstuhl Seminar had moved to the South of France and it was there that I met Moshe Dror for the first time. Moshe became an Associate Editor and strong supporter of the Journal. He visited me at the University of Nottingham on a number of occasions. We worked closely together and became co-authors. He visited my family home many times and became good friends with my very young children who still remember him fondly. It was a pleasure to work with Moshe, and I have many great memories of this time. Moshe supported this Journal as an Associate Editor for approximately 20 years, and it is with great sadness that I write these words.

Both Gerhard and Moshe worked hard to support this Journal. They would be pleased to see that it continues to thrive and flourish. The Journal’s impact factor now stands at 2.130. The year saw 165 new submissions and the publication of 55 regular papers. Our acceptance rate changed from 22 to 23%. There were 17 Open Access articles. Our average time from submission to first decision was 76 days.

In terms of the institutions and countries who have contributed the highest number of articles since 2020, we have the following:

1 Top contributing institutions (2020–2022)

  • KU Leuven, Belgium: 6 Articles

  • Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel: 6 Articles

  • Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel: 6 Articles

  • TU Wien, Austria: 5 Articles—Technical University of Berlin, Germany: 5 Articles

  • Poznań University of Technology, Poland: 5 Articles

2 Top contributing countries (2020–2022)

  • Germany: 22 Articles

  • China: 21 Articles

  • France: 15 Articles

  • Israel: 15 Articles

  • USA: 14 Articles

I am pleased to report that our article downloads continue to increase. The numbers since 2014 are:

2014:

31,986

2015:

38,660

2016:

42,508

2017:

47,943

2018:

51,120

2019:

54,895

2020:

60,881

2021:

65,325

2022:

84,253

The significant increase in downloads from 2021 to 2022 is particularly pleasing. It demonstrates the impact of the Journal, and it continues the trend of growth since 2014.

I will finish this Editorial by thanking all the people who have contributed so much during 2022 to ensure that the Journal continues to go from strength to strength. The Associate Editors and reviewers work hard to maintain the high quality of the Journal, and I am grateful to them for their commitment and dedication. I would like to extend a special word of thanks to our colleagues at Springer, particularly Mangayarkarasi Lakshmiram, Subhashini Gopal, Karthikeyan Sekaran and Matthew Amboy. Their professionalism and hard work are very much appreciated. It is a pleasure to work with you. Finally, I would like to say a particular thank you to all our authors and readers who continue to submit their work and read our articles.