Well, it is what we have been working for since the journal was re-launched in January 2000. The journal now appeals to academic researchers and corporate professionals alike. As we have been seeing a significant growth of downloads to our online contents of the journal, we had rather hoped that this would result in a higher number of citations to the journal. We are really very pleased.

One main factor is certainly the increased scientific quality of our contents concomitant with a change from a national level focus of the precursor journal to EJLST’s global community of authors and readers. The Senior Editors of EJLST have been strongly committed to the journal and will continue to ensure timely and thorough peer-review.

“We recognized that not only fats and oils as a whole, but even more lipid molecular species and specific lipid classes play an increasingly important role in nutrition and health.”

Another main factor is that EJLST is now one of the fastest journals in terms of publication times. All submissions are handled with care and processed efficiently. In addition, Wiley’s EarlyView policy enables us to publish accepted papers online well in advance of the printed version. This gives us a very good visibility of our online and print contents.

The journal has moved from a fats and oils driven journal to a life sciences journal. We recognized that not only fats and oils as a whole, but even more lipid molecular species and specific lipid classes play an increasingly important role in nutrition and health. At the same time, lipid-based products contribute to raw materials and surfactants in agricultural and ecological processes. To accommodate these important and interdisciplinary areas, we expanded the Board of Editors in the fields of molecular and cell biology, health and nutrition, and process engineering accordingly. We now have a good representation of all subject fields with a well-balanced geographical distribution.

On the one hand, the concern of public health authorities and an increasing awareness of the public itself for problems related to obesity and being overweight brought lipids, fats, and oils into the limelight again. It has triggered our understanding of health issues related to the consumption of "fatty" products. On the other hand, industrial globalization and economic growth have brought forth a global vision of biomass and oil-crop based renewable resources. By publishing relevant interdisciplinary research work in the form of original papers and reviews at a very high standard, we have scored credibility and a high reputation for being a major information source for researchers worldwide.

Yes, we have been one of the first in Europe to pick up lipidomics with an editorial and to include lipidomics into our aims and scope to serve the community with this emerging approach. Further, discussions on health issues following the consumption of acrylamide in deep-fry oils and new developments in analytical instrumentation and techniques have been major topics in the public. Changing global conditions with regard to renewable energy sources brought seed-oil based biofuels into focus. EJLST has been a reliable source for scientific research in these areas, and we have noticed that papers published in these fields are among the most-cited publications.

As the official journal of the European Federation of Lipid Science and Technology (Euro Fed Lipid), the journal fulfills its mission to effectively bring scientists up-to-date on recent research results and new applications. High scientific quality and the interdisciplinary nature of the journal are very important to researchers and technicians working with lipids, oils, and fats.

The breadth and depth of our contents based on experimental approaches ranging from molecular biology, gene technology and breeding, to biotechnology and advanced analytical technologies highlight the role of lipids in gene regulation, health, and disease, as well as production of new quality oil crops.

Following the outcome of a recent survey which was supported by the Euro Fed Lipid, economy-driven challenges for lipid science in the future will be health and nutrition, technology and chemistry, quality, safety, and commerce.

EJLST will continue to publish focused dossiers and review articles together with original research results. It will strengthen its focus on life sciences related to understanding lipid function in disease prevention and dietary strategies, along with new technologies and renewable energy production. It is our goal to be a foremost driver for new knowledge in lipid science and technology.