Happy New Year from the Journal of Flow Chemistry and welcome to the first issue of 2018. The Journal of Flow Chemistry was founded in 2010 and launched in August of 2011 and thus this year enters its eighth year of publication. From 2012 onwards the regular publishing schedule with four issues per year was started which will be the format we will continue to operate. You may have noticed the new look and layout of the papers in this issue. This is due to the fact that as of this year the Journal of Flow Chemistry will be co-published by Springer. The official launch was made at the Flow Chemistry Society’s 8th Annual Flow Chemistry Europe conference held in Cambridge, February 6-7, 2018.

I expect that the co-publishing agreement between Akadémiai Kiadó and Springer will significantly increase the visibility and accessibility of the journal as all content of the journal will now be available on the SpringerLink platform for which many institutions have subscriptions. Since January, the Journal of Flow Chemistry is on Twitter (@JFlowChem) and under the hashtag #FlowChemMonday will alert the scientific community on interesting publications in the field of flow chemistry. With all these initiatives the Editors will actively try to increase the number of submissions to the journal, at the same time maintaining vigorous peer review of all submitted articles.

The last issue published in 2017 was a special all open access perspectives issue on the “Future of Flow Chemistry”. This dedicated issue of 100 pages contained 16 articles written by leading experts in the field where advances and visions on flow chemistry related to a variety of topics ranging from continuous API manufacturing, PAT, medicinal chemistry, photo- and electrochemistry, polymer science, 3D printing etc. were discussed. We have received very positive feedback from the flow chemistry community and I want to thank all the authors that have contributed to this special issue.

The primary objective of the Journal of Flow Chemistry is to stimulate the development and advancement of flow chemistry for the benefit and progress of the chemistry community. The Editors have been working hard to promote the journal by attending conferences and contacting prospective authors at these events. 2018 again will be a very busy year with a significant number of scientific meetings on flow chemistry being organized worldwide, some of them held in association with the Flow Chemistry Society (FCS, the owner of the Journal of Flow Chemistry).

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Associate Editors (Timothy Noël, Paul Watts and Thomas Wirth) for their devotion to the journal, and all members of our Editorial and International Advisory Boards, the Regional Editors, authors, referees and readers for their support and contribution to the success of the Journal of Flow Chemistry. Special thanks to Christopher Hone who is in charge of the Journal of Flow Chemistry’s Twitter activities.

C. Oliver Kappe

Editor-in-Chief