In March 2008, when I accepted the position of Editor in Chief of the JBI, the journal was in its fifth volume having just moved from publishing three to four issues a year and now I leave it as 8(1) 2011 goes to press. I came to the journal with a wealth of experience in administration and ten years of interdisciplinary research and publication. I had co-founded a postgraduate journal during my doctoral candidature, been part of the production team of an online publication and I had acted as a peer-reviewer, but I had never had the full responsibility of Editor-in-Chief.

When I took over editorship of the JBI it already had a strong vision of inter- and multi-disciplinary scholarship in its aims and scope, with which I was in sympathy. Therefore, I saw my approach to editing the journal less as imprinting my vision on the journal and more as forwarding a vision I agreed with and, hopefully, bringing aspects of its as yet unfulfilled aims to fruition. I leave the journal satisfied that I have achieved that aim. In this, I was assisted and guided by the Editorial Board and the Executive. I have ample experience of sitting on boards, committees and other collaborative ventures. Even though the Editorial Board of the JBI only knows each other remotely, for the most part, it has proved to be one of the friendliest, most good-humoured and most supportive with which I have had the pleasure to work. I would like to thank all the members of the Editorial Board and the Executive, both past and present, for their individual contributions, particularly as Associate Editors, and their collective collegiality. There are two people to whom I would like to express my particular thanks: Managing Editor, Bronwen Morrell, without whom the journal would cease to function; and I would also like to thank a friend from a former life, Pia Smith, for her invaluable skills as a copy editor (she saved my sanity). I would also like to express my appreciation of the editorial staff at Springer, whom I have always found friendly, professional and responsive, in particular Maja, Esther, Stefan, Jan and Sheila Marie and her colleagues in production.

It is the contributions of all these people who have made possible the successful move toward themed print symposia which are now in place as regular features. In this issue, Michael Robertson has convened a symposium on Neuroethics, which I believe truly reflects the aims of the journal in its scope and approach. I know there are a range of intellectually exciting symposia and special issues in process for the next two years of the journal. At a time when, globally, universities are under pressure to meet a fiscal bottom line ahead of academic endeavour it is heartening to see so many people willing and eager to challenge the boundaries of research. My hope for the journal is that it will maintain a vision that allows plurality without losing its focus on challenging bioethical orthodoxies. I wish the JBI, its Board and its new Editor all possible success in the future.