In a rapidly changing landscape where predatory scientific journals appear like mushrooms after the rain and competition in the world of publications takes on a growing place, the Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences represent a reference and stability element whose reputation has been built since 1835. The growing attractiveness of Comptes rendus Chimie, as monitored by the constantly increasing number of manuscripts submitted and of downloads and citations of the published articles, is a most pleasing encouragement. We are doing our best to meet the demands of the international scientific community, and we are most grateful to our authors and guest editors in charge of the thematic issues because they are responsible for this increased visibility. The latter is enhanced by the easy access of the published articles through the Internet portal “ScienceDirect” and by our “Open Access” policy. This success implies, of course, an increasingly severe selection and a sharpening of the editorial policy.

The manuscripts submitted to Comptes rendus Chimie should report work of high general interest or of outstanding specialized interest. As a result, only submissions considered by the Editorial office to potentially meet these criteria are sent out to referees. We all know how essential it is for a journal to be able to rely on high-level scientific referees with an ethic that lives up to their task, and we also know that these are being increasingly solicited. We take this opportunity to thank them warmly for their contribution to the success of our journal.

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 but placed in context for maximum impact among readers, specialists, or not of the field.

Five thematic issues, coordinated by guest editors and covering very diversified fields, have been published in 2018. These were, in chronological order, as follows:

• • Advances in catalytic reactivity and specific mechanisms of nanostructured catalysts – Memorial issue in honor of François Gault (Guest Editors: Iona Fechete, Daniel E. Resasco, Joachim Sauer, François Garin). C. R. Chimie 21 (2018) 153–470.
• • International Workshop on alternative solvents for synthesis, extraction, purification, and formulation (WAS 2017) (Guest Editors: Bruno Andrioletti, Ludivine Jean-Gérard, Anne-Sylvie Fabiano Tixier, Farid Chemat). C. R. Chimie 21 (2018) 553–638.
• • Second “Colloque français de chimie du fluor”: An overview of fluorine chemistry (Guest Editors: Katia Araujo da Silva, Marc Dubois, Pierre Bonnet). C. R. Chimie 21 (2018) 709–808.
• • The power of synthesis towards new materials. Joint Symposium of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the “Académie des Sciences”, Paris Halle (Saale), Germany, 23 & 24 November 2017 (Guest Editors: Michael Veith, Pierre Braunstein). C. R. Chimie 21 (2018) 907–986.
• • Spin crossover phenomenon (Guest Editor: Azzedine Bousseksou). C. R. Chimie 21 (2018) 1055–1300.

Such thematic issues always attract much attention, and 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 lead to a high number of downloads, ca. 194,000 in 2015, 259,000 in 2016, 218,000 in 2017, and 203,000 in 2018 (year-to-date at the time this editorial was written).

The broad coverage of Comptes rendus Chimie and the interest for its contents are also apparent from the lists of most accessed articles. The “top seven” most downloaded articles published in 2017 were as follows:

• • Y. Pellegrin, F. Odobel. Sacrificial electron donor reagents for solar fuel production. C. R. Chimie 20 (2017) 283–295.
• • M. Aissou, Z. Chemat-Djenni, E. Yara-Varon, A.-S. Fabiano-Tixier, F. Chemat. Limonene as an agro-chemical building block for the synthesis and extraction of bioactive compounds. C. R. Chimie 20 (2017) 346–358.
• • H. Guedouar, F. Aloui, A. Beltifa, H. Ben Mansour, B. Ben Hassine. Synthesis and characterization of phenanthrene derivatives with anticancer property against human colon and epithelial cancer cell lines. C. R. Chimie 20 (2017) 841–849.
• • C. Bernardon, M. Ben Osman, G. Laugel, B. Louis, P. Pale. Acidity versus metal-induced Lewis acidity in zeolites for Friedel–Crafts acylation. C. R. Chimie 20 (2017) 20–29.
• • M.J. Llansola-Portoles, D. Gust, T.A. Moore, A.L. Moore. Artificial photosynthetic antennas and reaction centers, C. R. Chimie 20 (2017) 296–313.
• • V. Melang Me Nze, C. Fontaine, J. Barbier. Synthèse et caractérisation d'oxydes mixtes de type MgAlCe pour l'oxydation catalytique de l'acide acétique. C. R. Chimie 20 (2017) 67–77.
• • C. François, S. Pourchet, G. Boni, S. Rautiainen, J. Samec, L. Fournier, C. Robert, C.M. Thomas, S. Fontaine, Y. Gaillard, V. Placet, L. Plasseraud. Design and synthesis of biobased epoxy thermosets from biorenewable resources. C. R. Chimie 20 (2017) 1006–1016.

Although the data were still incomplete at the time this editorial was written, the “top three” most downloaded articles published in 2018 were as follows:

• • H. Vanda, Y. Dai, E.G. Wilson, R. Verpoorte, Y.H. Choi. Green solvents from ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents to natural deep eutectic solvents. C. R. Chimie 21 (2018) 628–638.
• • J. Streith. RegioTriRhena. Chemical and pharmaceutical industries and the Mulhouse Chemistry School. C. R. Chimie 21 (2018) 131–151.
• • D.B. Tripathy, A. Mishra, J. Clark, T. Farmer. Synthesis, chemistry, physicochemical properties and industrial applications of amino acid surfactants: A review. C. R. Chimie 21 (2018) 112–130.

Furthermore, the “top five” most cited articles published in 2016 were as follows:

• • H. Isla, J. Crassous. Helicene-based chiroptical switches. C. R. Chimie 19 (2016) 39–49.
• • J.-C. Védrine, I. Fechete. Heterogeneous partial oxidation catalysis on metal oxides. C. R. Chimie 19 (2016) 1203–1225.
• • É. Duguet, C. Hubert, C. Chomette, A. Perro, S. Ravaine. Patchy colloidal particles for programmed self-assembly. C. R. Chimie 19 (2016) 173–182.
• • M. Sandroni, Y. Pellegrin, F. Odobel. Heteroleptic bis-diimine copper(I) complexes for applications in solar energy conversion. C. R. Chimie 19 (2016) 79–93.
• • A. Galarneau, A. Sachse, B. Said, C.-H. Pelisson, 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. C. R. Chimie 19 (2016) 231–247.

The top five most cited articles published in 2017 were as follows:

• • Y. Pellegrin, F. Odobel. Sacrificial electron donor reagents for solar fuel production. C. R. Chimie 20 (2017) 283–295.
• • M. Orojloo, S. Amani. Naked-eye detection of cyanide ions in aqueous media based on an azo-azomethine chemosensor. C. R. Chimie 20 (2017) 415–423.
• • K. Ladomenou, V. Nikolaou, G. Charalambidis, A. Charisiadis, A.G. Coutsolelos. Porphyrin–BODIPY-based hybrid model compounds for artificial photosynthetic reaction centers. C. R. Chimie 20 (2017) 314–322.
• • F. Ashouri, M. Zare, M. Bagherzadeh. The effect of framework functionality on the catalytic activation of supported Pd nanoparticles in the Mizoroki–Heck coupling reaction. C. R. Chimie 20 (2017) 107–115.
• • Ghorbani-Choghamarani, B. Tahmasbi, N. Noori, S. Faryadi. Pd–S-methylisothiourea supported on magnetic nanoparticles as an efficient and reusable nanocatalyst for Heck and Suzuki reactions. C. R. Chimie 20 (2017) 132–139.

Finally, I am most grateful to the editorial and production staff of Comptes rendus Chimie, in particular to Marie-Christine Brissot (scientific secretary), Fatima Messadi (Académie des sciences), and Jean-Michel Blengino (Elsevier) for their invaluable dedication and help.

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 2019.