The growing attractiveness of Comptes rendus Chimie results in a constantly increasing number of manuscripts submitted, whether as communications, articles, or reviews. We are of course delighted by the interest of the international scientific community and the steady progress in readership of Comptes rendus Chimie. Our authors and guest editors in charge of the thematic issues are responsible for this increased visibility, which is enhanced by the easy access to the published articles through the Internet portal “ScienceDirect”. This success implies of course an increasingly severe selection and a sharpening of the Editorial policy.

The manuscripts submitted should report work of high general interest or of outstanding specialized interest. Consequently, only submissions considered by the Editorial office as potentially meeting these criteria are sent out to referees. We understand the frustrations generated by a rejection not accompanied by detailed comments from the referees, but this is the only way to proceed, as also done by many other international scientific journals for similar reasons. Communications should focus on novel and important results, and full papers should report new results and include a detailed experimental section (the deposition of supplementary material is encouraged). We very much welcome short reviews in the form of accounts, focusing on the author(s)' research and placed in the context of most important recent advances.

The section called Block calendar was introduced in 2015 at the initiative of Dr. Ioana Fechete (Strasbourg, France), to provide historical perspectives on major scientists associated with each calendar day, and it was enhanced in 2016, a year during which the French Academy of Sciences celebrated its 350th anniversary, by a short biography of former members of our Académie who were born in the month of the relevant issue of the journal. New historical chronicles will appear in 2017, and I am very grateful to Dr. Ioana Fechete for her continuing collaboration.

Six theme issues have been published in 2016 that were coordinated by guest editors. They have again covered much diversified fields, in chronological order:

• • Emerging chemistry in France (guest editors: Ivan Huc, Jean-François Lutz, and Christian Serre).
• • Sixth International Renewable Energy Congress 2015: Focus on biomass energy, environment and sustainable development (guest editors: Lionel Limousy and Mejdi Jeguirim).
• • Workshop on alternative solvents for extraction, purification and formulation 2014 (guest editors: Anne-Sylvie Fabiano-Tixier, Natacha Rombaut, Antoine Bily, and Farid Chemat).
• • Chemistry and natural resources (guest editors: Robert Guillaumont and Mansourou Moudachitou).
• • Catalysis: From academic research to industrial applications (guest editors: Pascal Granger, Francine Agbossou, and Marc J. Ledoux).
• • From urolithiasis to pathological calcifications: A journey at the interface between physics, chemistry, and medicine. A tribute to Michel Daudon (guest editors: Dominique Bazin, Jean-Philippe Haymann, and Emmanuel Letavernier).

This year again, it has been a real pleasure to work with all of our authors, referees, and guest editors, and we congratulate them for their efforts and support. Suggestions are welcome if you wish to contribute to the success of Comptes rendus Chimie by acting as the guest editor of a thematic issue on a topic of your choice.

We are pleased to share with you that the quality and diversity of the articles published in Comptes rendus Chimie leads to a regular increase in the number of downloads from ScienceDirect, that is, 180,479 in 2014, 196,704 in 2015, and 228,674 in 2016 (at the time this editorial was written).

The broad coverage of Comptes rendus Chimie and the interest for its contents is also apparent from the lists of most accessed articles. The “top 10” most downloaded articles published in 2015 were as follows:

• • A. Di Giuseppe, R. Castarlenas, L. A. Oro, Mechanistic considerations on catalytic H/D exchange mediated by organometallic transition metal complexes (July 2015)—1050 downloads.
• • E. H. Mekatel, S. Amokrane, A. Aid, D. Nibou, M. Trari, Adsorption of methyl orange on nanoparticles of a synthetic zeolite NaA/CuO (March 2015)—997 downloads.
• • L. Angelo, K. Kobl, L. M. Martinez-Tejada, Y. Zimmermann, K. Parkhomenko, A.-C. Roger, Study of CuZnMO_x oxides (M = Al, Zr, Ce, CeZr) for the catalytic hydrogenation of CO₂ into methanol (March 2015)—922 downloads.
• • T. Loiseau, C. Volkringer, M. Haouas, F. Taulelle, G. Férey, Crystal chemistry of aluminium carboxylates: From molecular species towards porous infinite three-dimensional networks (December 2015)—866 downloads.
• • M.-N. Kaydouh, N. El Hassa, A. Davidson, S. Casale, H. El Zakhem, P. Massiani, Effect of the order of Ni and Ce addition in SBA-15 on the activity in dry reforming of methane (March 2015)—849 downloads.
• • O. Ouled Ltaief, S. Siffert, S. Fourmentin, M. Benzina, Synthesis of Faujasite type zeolite from low grade Tunisian clay for the removal of heavy metals from aqueous waste by batch process: Kinetic and equilibrium study (October 2015)—848 downloads.
• • P. Losch, M. Boltz, B. Louis, S. Chavan, U. Olsbye, Catalyst optimization for enhanced propylene formation in the methanol-to-olefins reaction (March 2015)—804 downloads.
• • M. Shirzad-Siboni, Al. Khataee, A. Hassan, S. Karaca, Preparation, characterization and application of a CTAB-modified nanoclay for the adsorption of an herbicide from aqueous solutions: Kinetic and equilibrium studies (February 2015)—797 downloads.
• • K. Styszko, K. Nosek, M. Motak, K. Bester, Preliminary selection of clay minerals for the removal of pharmaceuticals, bisphenol A and triclosan in acidic and neutral aqueous solutions (October 2015)—789 downloads.
• • J. Ahmadpour, M. Taghizadeh, Selective production of propylene from methanol over high-silica mesoporous ZSM-5 zeolites treated with NaOH and NaOH/tetrapropylammonium hydroxide (August 2015)—740 downloads.

Although the data were still incomplete at the time this Editorial was written, the top 10 most downloaded articles published in 2016 were as follows:

• • M. Bakail, F. Ochsenbein, Targeting protein–protein interactions, a wide open field for drug design (January–February 2016)—1550 downloads.
• • J. C. Védrine, I. Fechete, Heterogeneous partial oxidation catalysis on metal oxides (October 2016)—1471 downloads.
• • A. Filly, A.-S. Fabiano-Tixier, C. Louis, X. Fernandez, F. Chemat, Water as a green solvent combined with different techniques for extraction of essential oil from lavender flowers (June 2016)—1301 downloads.
• • M. Depardieu, M. Nollet, V. Schmitt, R. Backov, Integrative chemistry: Positioning chemical reactors within the geometric space as a tool for the design of advanced functional materials (January–February 2016)—1216 downloads.
• • Y. Pellegrin, F. Odobel, Sacrificial electron donor reagents for solar fuel production (article in press)—1179 downloads.
• • A. Wollinger, É. Perrin, J. Chahboun, V. Jeannot, D. Touraud, W. Kunz, Antioxidant activity of hydro distillation water residues from Rosmarinus officinalis L. leaves determined by DPPH assays (June 2016)—1005 downloads.
• • É. Duguet, C. Hubert, C. Chomette, A. Perr, S. Ravaine, Patchy colloidal particles for programmed self-assembly (January–February 2016)—962 downloads.
• • B. Baghdikian, A. Filly, A.-S. Fabiano-Tixier, E. Petitcolas, F. Mabrouki, F. Chemat, É. Ollivier, Extraction by solvent using microwave and ultrasound-assisted techniques followed by HPLC analysis of Harpagoside from Harpagophytum procumbens and comparison with conventional solvent extraction methods (June 2016)—959 downloads.
• • A. Galarneau, A. Sachse, B. Said, C.-H. Pelisso, P. Boscaro, N. Brun, L. Courtheoux, N. Olivi-Tran, B. Coasne, F. Fajula, Hierarchical porous silica monoliths: A novel class of microreactors for process intensification in catalysis and adsorption (January–February 2016)—862 downloads.
• • S. Mintova, J. Grand, V. Valtchev, Nanosized zeolites: Quo Vadis? (January–February 2016)—796 downloads.

Furthermore, the “top five” most cited articles published in 2014 were as follows:

• • N. Boussetta, E. Vorobiev, Extraction of valuable biocompounds assisted by high voltage electrical discharges: A review.
• • S. Khodabakhshi, B. Karami, K. Eskandari, S.J. Hoseini, Titanium dioxide nanowires as green and heterogeneous catalysts for the synthesis of novel pyranocoumarins.
• • E.H.K. Sin, R. Marriott, A.J. Hunt, J.H. Clark, Identification, quantification and Chrastil modelling of wheat straw wax extraction using supercritical carbon dioxide.
• • H. Faghihian, M. Moayed, A. Firooz, M. Iravani, Evaluation of a new magnetic zeolite composite for removal of Cs⁺ and Sr²⁺ from aqueous solutions: Kinetic, equilibrium and thermodynamic studies.
• • A. Khojastehnezhad, M. Rahimizadeh, F. Moeinpour, H. Eshghi, M. Bakavoli, Polyphosphoric acid supported on silica-coated NiFe₂O₄ nanoparticles: An efficient and magnetically-recoverable catalyst for N-formylation of amines.

• • A.P.C. Ribeiro, L.M.D.R.S. Martins, S. Hazra, A.J.L. Pombeiro, Catalytic oxidation of cyclohexane with hydrogen peroxide and a tetracopper(II) complex in an ionic liquid.
• • H. Akrout, S. Jellali, L. Bousselmi, Enhancement of methylene blue removal by anodic oxidation using BDD electrode combined with adsorption onto sawdust.
• • M.-N. Kaydouh, N. El Hassan, A. Davidson, S. Casale, H. El Zakhem, P. Massiani, Effect of the order of Ni and Ce addition in SBA-15 on the activity in dry reforming of methane.
• • T. Bohli, A. Ouederni, N. Fiol, I. Villaescusa, Evaluation of an activated carbon from olive stones used as an adsorbent for heavy metal removal from aqueous phases.
• • E.H. Mekatel, S. Amokrane, A. Aid, D. Nibou, M. Trari, Adsorption of methyl orange on nanoparticles of a synthetic zeolite NaA/CuO.

Major changes have occurred in 2016, since Comptes rendus Chimie is published now only in electronic format, although it remains possible to purchase the annual volume as a hard paper copy. Upon early request from the Guest Editor(s), special issues will be produced on hard copies at costs that have been negotiated with the publisher. More importantly, immediate and worldwide free access is now provided to those publications for which the corresponding author is associated with a French laboratory or institution. The author can subsequently deposit such articles in an open database system, such as HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne). For other publications, a pay-per-view system is available, and free access is granted after 3 years.

Finally, I am most grateful to the editorial and production staff of Comptes rendus Chimie, in particular to Marie-Christine Brissot (scientific secretary) and Fatima Messadi for their invaluable dedication and help. Their workload has continuously increased over the past years.

The continuing development of Comptes rendus Chimie depends on you! Please provide us with your thoughts and suggestions and help us to meet your needs.

I hope to receive outstanding contributions from you in the near future and wish you all a happy and most successful year 2017.