Editorial

Dear colleagues and collaborators:

The time has come for me to step down as the director of Grasas y Aceites because after a four and a half-year period, my function as Editor has finished. Henceforth, Dr. Juan S. García is going to take charge and has already been assuming this responsibility. Throughout the last few years I have dedicated a large part of my efforts to the journal’s tasks and together with the Editorial Board we had to make a number of important resolutions. With an input average of 230 manuscripts/year and the obligation of maintaining the number of publication per year, we had the unpleasant duty of rejecting more than 75 percent. This reality, together with other circumstances, made some decisions especially troublesome. Despite the difficult moments, I have to admit that it has been a positive experience for me and I feel satisfied with the work I have accomplished. I have learned a lot from the authors but mainly from the referees, especially from those whose hard and sharp criticism helped make good manuscripts become brilliant. Now, I also feel privileged to have had the exceptional opportunity of belonging to the Editorial Team of one of the most emblematic journals in the Science and Technology field of our Institution. When I accepted the direction of this journal, I had the responsibility of keeping up the excellence set by my predecessor Dr. R. Zamora, in first place by selecting the best manuscripts for publication and by taking each edition to print as soon as possible. The editorial CSIC established regular patterns in the output of the issues and we have complied with these rules. Since last year we have also taken on the challenge of becoming an on-line journal available in different formats: PDF, HTML and XML, all fully accessible to all our readers. At present, we are in the top Q3, according to the Journal of Citation Report and in Q2, according to Scopus, which has greatly raised our impact factor. I hope that time will tell us that all decisions we had to make were the appropriate ones in order to keep our position.

I would like to conclude by giving thanks to the IG-CSIC, our center, and to the Editorial CSIC for the support facilities. Thanks also to my colleagues of the Editorial Board, to our Scientific Secretary Dr. José M. García and all our reviewers worldwide, in particular to Dr. Carmen Dobarganes who does so much for this journal. Very special thanks to our Editorial Assistant Juan Aceituno, who in an exemplary manner and in record-time has taken control over our management with the readers, authors, reviewers and the Typesetting company. Many thanks also to Lisa Steinkamp, our English Grammar Reviser. My best wishes to the new Editorial Board and I hope they will do everything possible to continue making this journal a referent in the area and in the journals managed by Editorial CSIC.

M. Carmen Pérez Camino
Outgoing Editor of Grasas y Aceites