While the pandemic is still raging in many countries [1], the vaccination programs rolling out are cause of hope and offer some perspective as we inch towards the end of this nightmare. The intensive care community has found itself on the frontline in this pandemic year. Meanwhile, intensive care medicine (ICM) has thrived to support critical care professionals by keeping them updated [2,3,4], and by discussing how intensive care units (ICUs) of the future [5]—as well as our research models [6,7,8]—need reform after this pandemic. ICM has also served as a forum for communicating emotions and experiences, in the “From the inside” section [9, 10].

This year has also been challenging for ICM [11, 12]. The number of submissions increased by 75% (3214), with a peak between March and May, and the number of published manuscripts by 18% (455). The ICM editorial board and the ICM editorial office have been under great pressure but this reinforced our commitment. The average time from submission to first decision decreased from 10 to 6 days and, for accepted manuscripts, the interval from acceptance to publication was reduced from 51 to 42 days. We never bypassed the high-standard ICM evaluation process, with an early in-house evaluation by two–three editors followed by an external peer-review process. All the accepted manuscripts related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which would usually have gone online first within two weeks from acceptance, have been made available in 24 h on the website of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM). An impressive number of articles have been downloaded from the journal’s website, more than five million (+ 250% vs. 2019), demonstrating a worldwide interest in our journal. In the meantime, ICM has further bolstered its relationship with ESICM, by promoting the joint development of guidelines useful at the bedside. As of today, four guidelines are already in the pipeline, on fluid therapy in the ICU, echography head to toe, ARDS definition and treatment, and practical antibiotic stewardship. We plan to publish these guidelines in the second part of 2021, along with a renewed plan for ICM rapid practical guidelines [13]. Finally, ICM has invited as Guest Editor for 2021 a colleague from China who has been involved in the early management of the pandemic. Welcome to Professor Haibo Qiu!

These achievements would not have been possible without our valued reviewers. ICM invited more than 4800 reviewers in 2020 and most of them completed their reviews in fewer than 8 days. The Journal applied for EU CME credits for all reviewers as a gesture of recognition. Several reviewers were themselves ill with COVID-19, which makes us even more grateful and proud for their high-valued work. Kudos to all the reviewers listed at the end of this manuscript.

As Haruki Murakami wrote in his novel “Kafka on the Shore” “… once the storm is over…. you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”

ICM will continue to strive for excellence and to serve as a beacon in the storm for the intensive care community.

Top Reviewers (in alphabetical order; more than 15 reviews in 2020)

Aoife Abbey, Bruno Adler Maccagnan Pinheiro Besen, Sébastien Bailly, Peter Buhl Hjortrup, Luciano Gattinoni, Fernando Godinho Zampieri, Anders Granholm,Claude Guérin, Boris Jung, Kevin B. Laupland, John Marini, Anders Perner, Daniele Poole, Paola Rebora, Chiara Robba, Markus B Skrifvars, Paul Young.

Reviewers (in alphabetical order)

Yassir Aarab, Darryl Abrams, Fekri Abroug, Gareth L. Ackland, Neill Adhikari, Andrew J. Admon, Arash Afshari, Rachel S. Agbeko, Cara Agerstrand, Nadia Aissaoui, Hafid Ait-Oufella, Evangelia Akoumianaki, Murat Akova, Zainab Al Duhailib, Hasan M. Al-Dorzi, Laura Alagna, Guillermo Albaiceta, Waleed Alhazzani, Bernard Allaouchiche, Fayez Alshamsi, Andre Amaral, Finn H. Andersen, Brian J. Anderson, Peter J. D. Andrews, George L. Anesi, Hak L. Ang, Eduardo Angles-Cano, Djillali Annane, Gail Annich, Matthew H. Anstey, David Antcliffe, Massimo Antonelli, Andrew Argent, Robert T. Arntfield, Antonio Artigas, Nishkantha Arulkumaran, Kostoula Arvaniti, Karim Asehnoune, Pierre Asfar, Babak Asghari, Andrew Aswani, Cécile Aubron, Gerard Audibert, Elie Azoulay, Rafael Badenes, Sean M. Bagshaw, John Kenneth Baillie, Lorenzo Ball, Jonathan Ball, Zsolt J. Balogh, Gisela Banauch, Arun K. Baranwal, Ryan P. Barbaro, Ian Barbash, François Barbier, Matthew Barhight, David Baron, Gianluigi L. Bassi, Philippe R. Bauer, Michael Bauer, Karine Baumstarck, Eduardo Beck, Jeremy R. Beitler, Javier Belda, Giacomo Bellani, Giuseppe Bellelli, Emilie Belley-Cote, Giuseppe Bello, Francois Beloncle, Julie Sarah Benbenishty, Dominique Benoit, Dennis Bergmans, Jay Berkley, Jesus F. Bermejo-Martin, Lorenzo Berra, Andrew Bersten, Laurent Bertoletti, Alok Bhatt, Fausto Biancari, Dominique Biarent, Daniele G. Biasucci, O. Joseph Bienvenu, Shailesh Bihari, Federico Bilotta, Julian Bion, Bronagh Blackwood, Lluis Blanch, Frank Bloos, Stijn Blot, Virginia Boccardi, Bernd W. Boettiger, Nicolas Boissel, Pierre-Edouard Bollaert, Bernardo Bollen Pinto, Lieuwe D. Bos, Somnath Bose, Lila Bouadma, Thierry Boulain, Arnaud Bourdin, Salah Boussen, Pierre Bouzat, David L. Bowton, Andrew Boyle, Susanne Brandstetter, Richard Branson, Stephan Braune, Stephen Brett, Josef Briegel, Daniel Brodie, Martin Brodsky, Thomas Vincent Brogan, Karim Brohi, Shari B. Brosnahan, Evgeny Brotfein, Nicolas J. Bruder, Natale Daniele Brunetti, Anke Bruns, Niccolo Buetti, Aidan J.C. Burrell, Lisa D. Burry, Lindsay M. Busch, Hergen Buscher, Ethan Butler, Warwick Butt, Pietro Caironi, Carolyn S. Calfee, Clifton Callaway, Gilles Cambonie, Emmanuel Canet, Mathieu Capdevila, Gilles Capellier, Maurizia Capuzzo, Alain Cariou, Pedro Caruso, Michael P. Casaer, Jonathan Casey, Vincent Castelain, Gerald Chanques, Pierre E. Charles, Jean Chastre, Lakhmir S. Chawla, Yih-Sharng Chen, Sylvie Chevret, Michelle Chew, Osvaldo Chiara, Davide Chiumello, Benjamin Glenn Chousterman, Michael Christian, Kenneth B. Christopher, Giuseppe Citerio, Jan Claassen, Gilles Clermont, Sars Clohisey, Paola Cogo, Davide Colombo, Arnaldo L. Colombo, Kirsten Colpaert, Bronwen Connolly, Simon Conroy, Jean-Michel Constantin, Andrew Conway Morris, Colin R. Cooke, Craig Coopersmith, Alberto Corona, Francesco Corradi, Andrea Cortegiani, Andrea Cortegiani, Andrea Cortegiani, Jonathan Coutinho, Angel Coz, Tobias Cronberg, Gerard Curley, J. Randall Curtis, Brian Cuthbertson, Salvatore Lucio Cutuli, Heidi Dalton, Paul Dark, Dieter F. Dauwe, Marcelo Gama de Abreu, Candelaria de Haro, Evert de Jonge, Dylan W. de Lange, Daniele De Luca, Angelique de Man, Andrea De Maria, Gennaro De Pascale, Gennaro De Pascale, Nicolas de Prost, Edoardo De Robertis, Francesco G. De Rosa, Jan J. De Waele, M M. Deane, Guillaume Debaty, Agnes Dechartres, Johan Decruyenaere, Akash Deep, Freda DeKeyser Ganz, Anthony Delaney, Marcelo Dell'Aringa, Jelle Demeestere, Alexandre Demoule, Benjamin Deniau, Mark Dennis, François Dépret, Pieter Depuydt, Pierre-François Dequin, Lars Desmet, Clifford S. Deutschman, John Devlin, Franklin Dexter, Matteo Di Nardo, Jean Luc Diehl, George Dimopoulos, Joanna C. Dionne, Annemarie B. Docherty, Gordon S. Doig, Dirk Donker, John Donnelly, Claudia Dos Santos, Ghislaine Douflé, Martin Dres, David Dries, Wilfred Druml, Bin Du, Guillaume Dumas, Herve Dupont, Rainer Dziewas, Brian L. Edlow, Moritoki Egi, Stephan Ehrmann, Matthias Eikermann, Aly El Banayosy, Karen Ellekjær, Jonathan Elmer, Ruth Endacott, Ari Ercole, Simon Erickson, Andres Esteban, Elisa Estenssoro, Stine Estrup, Eddy Fan, Vito Fanelli, Rafael Fernandez, Ana Fernandez, Shannon M. Fernando, Lauren Ferrante, Suzie Ferrie, David Fischer, Joseph Fisher Fisher, Hans Flaatten, Jean-Marie Forel, Lui Forni, Paul Forrest, Giuseppe Foti, Bruno Francois, Jean-Pierre Frat, Georg-Christian Funk, Christian Fynbo Christiansen, Arnaud Gacouin, Marc GAINNIER, Ognjen Gajic, Laura Galarza, Stefania Galimberti, Helen F. Galley, Zhancheng Gao, José Garnacho-Montero, Nicolas Gaspard, Philippe Gaudard, Stephane Gaudry, Etienne Gayat, Thomas Geeraerts, James Geiling, Romergryko G. Geocadin, Guillaume Geri, Rik T. Gerritsen, Daniele Roberto Giacobbe, Evangelos Giamarellos-Bourboulis, Dimitrios Giannis, Ben Gibbison, Armand Girbes, Mette Gitz Charlot, Alberto Goffi, Ewan C. Goligher, Charles D. Gomersall, Jesus Gonzalez, Anthony C. Gordon, Rik Gosselink, Regis Goulart Rosa, John Granton, Giacomo Grasselli, Yonatan Greenstein, David Greer, Cesare Gregoretti, David Grimaldi, David Grimaldi, Antonello Grippo, Sabrina Grossenbacher-Eggmann, Ulf Guenther, Anne-Marie Guerguerian, Christophe Guervilly, Bertrand Guidet, Pablo Guisado-Vasco, Fabian Guiza, Jan Gunst, Jan Gunst, Dimitri Gusmao-Flores, Nicolai Haase, Sigrun Halvorsen, Okka Hamer, Naomi E. Hammond, Michael Haney, Michael O. Harhay, Steve Harris, David A. Harrison, Christiane S. Hartog, Laura Hawryluck, Guillaume Hékimian, Raimund Helbok, Marie Helleberg, Yigal Helviz, Claude Hemphill, Shane Henderson, Gonzalo Hernandez, Daniel Herr, Margaret Herridge, Leo Heunks, Cheryl Hickmann, Andrew Hilton, Karen Hirsch, Carol Hodgson, Cornelia Hoedemaekers, Helen Hogan, Lars Holst, Michael Holzer, Patrick M. Honore, Ramona O. Hopkins, Janneke Horn, Aparna Hoskote, Richard Hotchkiss, David T. Huang, David Hui, Arif Hussain, David P. Inwald, Erwin Ista, Matthieu Jabaudon, Samir Jaber, Jens-Ulrik Jensen, Angela Jerath, Michael Joannidis, Bèrangère S. Joly, Gilles Jourdain, Martin Joyce-Brady, Mathieu Jozwiak, Nicole P. Juffermans, Andre C. Kalil, Hari Krishnan Kanthimathinathan, Christian Karagiannidis, Marios Karvouniaris, Kianoush Kashani, John A. Kellum, Nancy Kentish-Barnes, Monika Kerckhoffs, Meeta P. Kerlin, Antoine Kimmoun, Jesper Kjærgård, Michael Klompas, Kada Klouche, Stefan Kluge, Martin Kneyber, Paul Knöbl, Philipp Koehler, seth koenig, Marin H. Kollef, Matthieu Komorowski, Erwin J. O. Kompanje, Maya Korem, Pierre Kory, John Kress, Pedro Kurtz, Andrea Kurz, Erwan L'Her, Jon H. Laake, John G. Laffey, Abdullah E. Laher, Ines Lakbar, Simon Lambden, Fran√ßois Lamontagne, Daniel Lane, Theis Lange, Thomas Langer, Raymond Langley, Fin Stolze Larsen, Sigismond Lasocki, Pierre-Francois Laterre, Dimitrios Lathyris, Jos M. Latour, Nicola Latronico, Alexandre Lautrette, Matthieu Legrand, Stephane Legriel, Virginie Lemiale, Robin Lemmens, Marc Leone, Marcel Levi, Mitchell Levy, Jerrold Levy, Jie Li, Adamantia Liapikou, Zachary Liederman, Miklos Lipcsey, Jeffrey Lipman, T. Lisboa, Vincent Liu, Roberto Lorusso, Christopher Lovejoy, Qin Lu, Jon O. Lundberg, Charles-Edouard Luyt, Andrew I. R. Maas, Rob Mac Sweeney, Peter Macdonald, Neil R. MacIntyre, Graeme MacLaren, Elyas Mahdjoub, Maximilian V. Malfertheiner, Alexander Richard Manara, Jordi Mancebo, Paul E. Marik, Eric Mariotte, Søren Marker, John Marshall, Greg S. Martin, Roberto Martinez Alejos, Gennaro Martucci, David Maslove, Stefan Matecki, Roland Matsouaka, Michael A. Matthay, Tommaso Mauri, Eric Maury, Stephan Mayer, Anthony S. McLean, Robert Medcalf, Gianfranco Umberto Meduri, Sangeeta Mehta, Armand Mekontso Dessap, Mario Menk, David Menon, Alexander Mentzer, Alain Mercat, Victoria Metaxa, Tine Sylvest Meyhoff, Iwan Meynaar, Ferhat Meziani, Andrej Michalsen, Frédéric Michard, Eran Mick, Johnny Millar, Ashley Miller, Scott Millington, Scott Millington, Olivier Mimoz, Taro Minami, Quen Mok, Djamel Mokart, Lyle Moldawer, Jacob Moller, Ann Möller, Kirsten Møller, Zsolt Molnar, Silvia Mongodi, Guillaume Monneret, Hugh E. Montgomery, Andrea Morelli, Michiel Morshuis, Marion Moseby-Knappe, Jarrod M. Mosier, Anna Motos, Paul Mouncey, Laurent Muller, Thomas Müller, Laveena Munshi, Srinivas Murthy, Sheila N. Myatra, Simon Nadel, Vinay M. Nadkarni, Mangala Narasimhan, Antonio P. Nassar Jr, Paolo Navalesi, Judith E. Nelson, Mihai Netea, Virginia Newcombe, Tri-Long Nguyen, Giampaolo Niccoli, Christian Nickel, Michael S. Niederman, Niklas Nielsen, Jeppe Sylvest A. Nielsen, Masaji Nishimura, Jerry P. Nolan, Saad Nseir, Peter Nydahl, Simon Oczkowski, Mauro Oddo, Theresa Olasveengen, Anders Oldner, Sam Orde, Marlies Ostermann, Marcin Osuchowski, Mehdi Oualha, Peter Paal, Valerie Page, José-Artur Paiva, Edward Palmer, Laurent Papazian, Federico Pappalardo, Jean-Jacques Parienti, Marcelo Park, Stephen M. Pastores, Jayshil Patel, Didier Payen, Giles Peek, Paolo Pelosi, Ithan D. Peltan, Frederic Pene, Joris Pensier, Nicolas Peron, Mark J. Peters, Marie Warrer Petersen, Jason Phua, Michael Piagnerelli, Philipp Pickerodt, Peter Pickkers, David Pilcher, Michael R. Pinsky, Lise Piquilloud, Romain Pirracchio, Romain Pirracchio, Gaël Piton, Simone Piva, Julien Poissy, Luciano Cesar Pontes Azevedo, Konstantinos Pontikis, Pedro Povoa, Geraldine S. Power, Jean-Charles Preiser, Hallie Prescott, Alessandro Protti, John Richard Prowle, Mireia Puig Asensio, Kathleen Puntillo, Christian Putensen, Zudin Puthucheary, Kathryn A. Puxty, Michael Quintel, Alejandro A. Rabinstein, Peter Leonhard Radermacher, Sumeet Rai, Adrienne Randolph, Marco Ranucci, Bodil Steen Rasmussen, Damian Ratano, Samiran Ray, David Ray, Konrad Reinhart, Annika Reintam Blaser, Jordi Rello, Matthieu Resche-Rigon, Andrew Retter, Joshua C. Reynolds, Steve Reynolds, Jean-Damien Ricard, Sven-Erik Ricksten, Deborah Ridout, Patricia Rieken Macedo Rocco, Jordi Riera, Ramzy H. Rimawi, Thomas J. Rimmele, Giuseppe Ristagno, Beatrice Riu, Rene Robert, Jason Roberts, Oriol Roca, Bram Rochwerg, Joao G. Rosa Ramos, Daniel Ross, Damien Roux, Nikoletta Rovina, Hadrien Roze, Gordon Rubenfeld, Francesca Rubulotta, Kristina E. Rudd, Etienne Ruppé, James A. Russell, Lene Russell, Sofie L. Rygård, Leif Saager, Jorge Salluh, Catherine Sassoon, Laurent Sattler, Rohit Saxena, Stefan J. Schaller, Peter Schellongowski, Olav L. Schjørring, Luregn J. Schlapbach, Matthieu Schmidt, Antoine G. Schneider, Frederique Schortgen, Marcus Schultz, Brendon Scicluna, Matthew W. Semler, Ary Serpa Neto, You Shang, Shane Shapera, Yahya Shehabi, Kiran Shekar, Reed Siemieniuk, Jonathan A. Silversides, Steven Simpson, Mervyn Singer, Benjamin Singer, Pratik Sinha, Fredrik Sjövall, Anna Skiada, Michel Slama, Arjen J.C. Slooter, Arthur Slutsky, David Smadja, Martin Smith, Romain Sonneville, Eldar Söreide, Thierry Sottiaux, Peter Sottile, Bertrand Souweine, Savino Spadaro, Peter M. Spieth, Peter E. Spronk, Charles L. Sprung, Patricia Stassen, Thomas Staudinger, Luzius Steiner, Francois Stephan, Robert D. Stevens, Ewout Steyerberg, Nino Stocchetti, Thomas Strøm, Manuel Florian Struck, Anthony Suffredini, Charlotte Summers, Kjetil Sunde, Alexander Supady, Raoul Sutter, Timothy Sweeney, Wojciech Szczeklik, Alexis Tabah, Fabio S. Taccone, Paolo Taccone, Andrew Tagg, Benjamin Tang, Leandro U. Taniguchi, Robert Charles Tasker, Guido Tavazzi, Kyriaki Tavernaraki, Matthew Taylor, Maddalena Teggia Droghi, Julien Textoris, Ravi R. Thiagarajan, Ronan Thibault, Arnaud W. Thille, Taylor Thompson, Hans-christian Thorsen-meyer, Shane M. Tibby, Jean-François Timsit, Pierre Tissieres, Ingrid Toews, Antoni Torres, Carsten Tschoepe, Pieter Tuinman, Alexis F. Turgeon, Martin A. Urner, Suvi T. Vaara, Sandrine Valade, Kamen Valchanov, Carmen Sílvia Valente Barbas, Saraschandra Vallabhajosyula, Thomas S. Valley, Andry Van de Louw, Mark van den Boogaard, Iwan van der Horst, Mathieu van der Jagt, Tom van der Poll, Frank van Haren, Niels Van Regenmortel, Ernest van Veen, Joseph Varon, Rosanna Vaschetto, Mario Venditti, Fabienne Venet, Leen Vercaemst, Geert Verleden, Paul Vespa, Agnés Veyradier, Antoine Vieillard-Baron, Elizabeth M. Viglianti, Laurence Vignaux, Philippe Vignon, Jesus Villar, Jean-Louis Vincent, Giovanni Volpicelli, Maja K. von Cube, Christian von Heymann, Ron Wald, Allan Walkey, Timothy S. Walsh, Jingping Wang, Lorraine Ware, Steffen Weber-Carstens, Bjoern Weiss, Emmanuel Weiss, Nicolas Weiss, Scott L. Weiss, Manfred Weiß, Tobias Welte, Blair Wendlandt, Mik Wetterslev, Tony Whitehouse, Eveline Wiegers, W. Joost Wiersinga, Eelco F. M. Wijdicks, M. Elizabeth Wilcox, Erika Wilkman, David R. Williamson, Xavier Wittebole, Tobias Wollersheim, Adrian Wong, Hector R. Wong, Jo Wray, Hermann Wrigge, Hannah Wunsch, Christopher Yarnell, Nadir Yehya, Takeshi Yoshida, Duncan Young, Bryan Young, Kai Zacharowski, Lara Zafrani, Bishoy Zakhary, Alberto Zanella, Alexander Zarbock, Marieke Zegers, Haibo Zhang, Zhongheng Zhang, Laurent Zieleskiewicz.