Reflecting on 2024 and looking ahead

2024 has been a year of continued growth and success for Pest Management Science. Despite the fact that our 2023 impact factor (IF) decreased slightly from 4.1 to 3.8, our journal is still one of the top journals in pest management, ranking 8th out of 109 entomological journals according to the 2023 Journal Citation Reports. We published almost 500 papers by the end of September 2024, including 35 front matter papers (reviews and perspectives). This nearly reached the goal of three front matter papers per issue, which was set several years ago. We believe these front matter papers will boost the citations and impact of our journal. We saw a substantial increase in submissions, exceeding 2000 for the year. This increase is mainly due to the expansion of the journal's scope to include pest biology. We hope this expanded scope will attract many more high-quality papers on pest biology that are relevant to pest management. We have to be more selective with the manuscripts sent for external review to prevent reviewer burnout. Around half of the submissions were rejected immediately, and our acceptance rate remained steady at around 30%. We will continue to be highly selective in paper acceptance to ensure that we maintain a high standard for research quality and timeliness. Steve Duke has served as the Editor-in-Chief for 13 years, and he stepped down from this position this year. During his tenure, the journal experienced significant growth, with a comprehensive enhancement of its influence and diversity. We sincerely thank him for his outstanding work as Editor-in-Chief. He will continue to serve our journal in his new role as Review Editor. We welcome Mithila Jugulam as the new co-Editor-in-Chief, whose expertise in weed science complements our existing strengths. In this co-Editor-in-Chief model, Yidong Wu and Mithila Jugulam will work diligently together to ensure the continued leadership and vision of our journal. Our editorial board has also undergone restructuring, with the addition of several highly accomplished scientists (Donato Romano, Paul Neve, Emmanuel Tzortzakakis, and Chen-Zhu Wang), while simultaneously thanking outgoing members (Erika Machtinger, Cynthia Scott-Dupree, Elizabeth Dann, Per Kudsk, Katherine Dentzman, Ke Dong, Yuji Oka, Troy Anderson, Aaron Gross, Hiroshi Matsumoto, and Grant Singleton) for their invaluable contributions to the journal over the years. We are committed to maintaining a balanced and diverse editorial board to ensure that we continue to publish cutting-edge research on the full breadth of topics encompassed by our scope. Looking forward to 2025, we have ambitious plans to further elevate Pest Management Science. We will improve the structure and increase the number of associate editors based on the research directions and volume of submitted manuscripts, thereby strengthening the journal's editorial board. We aim to increase the number of high-impact review articles and perspectives to provide even more valuable insights and analyses for our readers. We believe that Steve Duke, the new review editor, will recruit more impactful front matter articles on a wide range of topics of interest to our readers. If you have an idea for a review or perspective, please contact Steve ([email protected]). In the first half of 2025, we will publish the Special Issue: 'Recent Research Highlights and Innovations for Sustainable Crop Protection' based on papers from the recent IUPAC International Congress of Plant Protection Chemistry. We are also hoping to publish the Special Issue 'Harnessing Chemical Ecology for Improved Pest management' in 2025. If you have an idea for a special issue or in focus section of the journal, please contact Mithila ([email protected]) or Yidong ([email protected]). We are profoundly grateful for the continued support of our authors, reviewers, and editorial board members. The success of Pest Management Science is a direct result of your dedication to high-quality research and the advancement of scientific knowledge. Thank you for your ongoing contributions to the journal and the field of pest management. We look forward to another exceptional year of growth and impact for Pest Management Science in 2025.