nal as the official organ of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD). The Association itself, which passed its 20th birthday just a few months ago, is only slightly older than its journal [1]. In fact, founding a European journal for "clinical and experimental diabetes and metabolism" was one of the main aims of the EASD when a number of highly respected diabetologists ~ together to create the Association in the early sixties. Since its first issue, published on 1 August 1965, Diabetologia has become (one of) the leading scientific journal(s) in the field of diabetology. It has gained an international reputation as a forum for clinical, basic and epidemiological research related to diabetes mellitus. As an introduction to this Jubilee Issue of Diabetologia, I would like to sketch a little portrait of the journal and its development over the past 20 years.