We're pleased to begin this editorial with a piece of good news. After a detailed assessment of the quality of Spanish journals conducted by FECYT (Fundación Española de la Ciencia y la Tecnología), whose mission is to guarantee editorial and scientific quality, the foundation has awarded Materiales de Construccion its certificate of excellence. With this award comes a seal of scientific and editorial quality, valid for 3 years. In this fourth edition of the programme, only 28% of the journals assessed were granted the certificate and seal. The attached photo of the awards ceremony held on 6 October 2014 shows FECYT's Information Management Department Director, Cristina González Copiero, handing the certificate to the Editor-in-Chief of Materiales de Construcción.

Last August, Journal Citation Reports (JCR) released the 2013 impact factors (I.F.) for its Web of Science. Our journal's new I.F. (valid for 2 years) is 0.734, practically the same as the value obtained in 2012 (I.F. = 0.788). That score ranks Materiales de Construccion 32^nd of the 58 journals listed in the subject area Construction and Building Technology (the upper end of the third quartile, Q3) and 185^th of the 251 in the group Materials Science, Multidisciplinary. With a 5-year impact factor of 0.870, ours is a second quartile journal in Construction and Building Technology, ranking 27^th of a total of 58. In 2013, Materiales was cited on 325 occasions.

The journal's (SCOPUS-Elsevier) SCImago factor or SJR (Scimago Journal Rank) indicator for 2013, in turn, was 0.595. With that score, Materiales de Construccion was the leading Spanish journal (with Q2 status) in the following three categories: Building and Construction, where it ranked 48^th of 236 journals, Materials Science, Miscellaneous, 152^nd of 529 journals and Mechanics of Materials, 114^th of 359 journals.

These WoS and SCImago scores stand as proof of the journal's national and international prestige. Beginning in 2014, the articles published in Materiales de Construcción appear in the English language only The Editorial Board and management believe this policy, which will have to be analysed in the years to come will have a beneficial effect on the journal's internationalisation. A further indication of internationalisation lies in the origin of its articles: over 58% of the manuscripts received in 2014 to date were authored by American, Asian or (non-Spanish) European scientists. One of our priority mid-term objectives is to continue to foster this trend, while maintaining the journal's status as a national benchmark and indispensable vehicle for conveying the latest scientific and technical advances made in the field of construction materials by researchers across the country.