Dear friends and readers,

The editorial staffs of Materiales de Construccion have good news to share. According to the latest edition of Web of Science’s (WoS) Journal Citation Reports (JCR 2016) released (as it is every year) in mid-June, at 1.343 our scientific journal’s impact factor (2016) exceeded 1 for the first time since its initial listing, nearly 20 years ago in 1998. We are delighted to celebrate this milestone for the journal with its readers, reviewers and authors.

Further to the data published on the respective page of the Thompson Reuters website, (https://jcr.incites.thomsonreuters.com/JCRJournalProfileAction.action?pg=JRNLPROF&journalImpactFactor=1.343&year=2016&journalTitle=MATERIALES%20DE%20CONSTRUCCION&edition=SCIE&journal=MATER%20CONSTRUCC), this score is 28 % higher than the 0.96 reported in 2015. The total number of citations, 600, is up by 22.5 % on 2015 and the impact factor after removing self-citations is a significant 1.085. With a 5 year impact factor of 1.220, we rank 27^th of 61 journals in the second quartile (Q2) of the ‘Construction and Building Technology’ category and 183^rd of 273 journals in the third quartile of the ‘Materials Science, Multidisciplinary’ category.

Materiales de Construccion may well have one of the highest impact factors of all the journals published by Spain’s National Research Council.

These very positive results attest to the quality and scientific and editorial rigour of our journal, something I have aimed to maintain and consolidate over the nearly 20 years that I have stood at its helm. From the outset, I (my apologies for the personal reference) pursued a dual goal: to consolidate the journal’s position in JCR and raise its impact factor to over 1. This year we have met both objectives.

In the midst of our elated satisfaction, the journal’s editorial staffs wish to thank everyone who over the years has worked for Materiales de Construccion, in particular our Editorial and Advisory Committees, for their selfless devotion to the everyday tasks that keep the journal on track. Dr Mar Alonso’s energy and efficiency, so essential to the journal’s compliance with readership expectations, merit special mention, as does Ms Teresa Solesio’s constant support in years past. My gratitude likewise goes to Mr Eduardo Fernández for his professional and consistently enthusiastic editorial management.

Allow me to look back for a moment to someone who worked tirelessly for the journal and whom I succeeded close to 20 years ago: Professor Tomás Vázquez would have indisputably been enormously gratified by this year’s impact factor.

My sincere thanks to all.

Francisca Puertas

Editor-in-Chief

Materiales de Construccion