This is my first editorial since being appointed as the Editor-in-Chief of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM), taking over from the previous editor, Dana Loomis. Lesley Rushton, a long-time member of the OEM editors’ group, has taken over from me as Deputy Editor. Under Dana's time as editor over the past 5 years, OEM has gone from strength to strength, recording its highest ever Impact Factor of 3.64 and publishing a series of commentaries on key papers from the journal's archives. Dana also played a pivotal role in enhancing the scientific quality of the original articles published in OEM, and we will miss his wise counsel on methodological issues and other aspects of the journal's development.

This changeover of the editorial team provides a useful opportunity to reflect on the past achievements of OEM and to consider the future direction of the journal. OEM has had a long and illustrious history in identifying many occupational and environmental causes of disease and injury since it began as the British Journal of Industrial Medicine (BJIM) in 1944. Many of the key papers have been highlighted in a series of commentaries, which have been published over the past few years.1 Many of these OEM papers have played a major role in developing exposure guidelines and helping to shape policy and practice …