The first article in the last issue of this journal was a Commentary entitled ‘To those who have made Polar Record’. It was written by Beau Riffenburgh and marked his retirement after holding the appointment of Editor of this journal since 1992. During his long tenure of the office, he presided over no fewer than 54 issues, more than in the case of any previous Editor. In his note, he presented not only an outline history of the progress of the journal since its establishment in 1930 but also illuminating comment on who had done what to make Polar Record the successful academic publication that it is today (Riffenburgh 2006).