This issue is something of a special one. Special for a number of reasons. It has two editorials, one from the outgoing editor and one from the incoming editor-in-chief. It has a carefully crafted opinion article about the history and development of the role of the scientific editors. It has a letter signed by scientific advisors and international editorial board members, with a response from the BDA chief executive. It also has a contents page — so why I am listing these items again?

The sleuths among you will not have been slow to deduce that each item is connected with the happenings over recent months within the BDA, with particular reference to the decisions and actions taken in relation to the BDJ. There is anger here, and disappointment; there is frustration and concern; there is confusion and apparent disharmony. Yet there is also one common and crucially important theme that both binds and transcends the quarrels, irrespective of the conscientiously held rights or wrongs of individual points of view. Each writer and every signatory cares. They care for the BDJ and it is that which has prompted them to action.

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