First I would like to wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year.

We have had another busy year in 2012 in which everyone involved with the Journal of Human Genetics (JHG) has been contributing to the further growth of the journal.

Since 2009, when the journal relaunched in its current format and on the nature.com platform, the number of submissions to JHG has been increasing and the editorial team is working hard to maintain our speed in processing papers to avoid delay. Currently, we are screening all manuscripts received, and send papers that pass this initial screening to the Associate Editors to handle through the peer-review process. I am feeling that the number of rejections we have to make at this stage has been increasing over last year, so that only those papers judged most likely to meet our editorial criteria are sent out for formal review. This also helps us to deliver decisions to authors promptly and saves the referees time. At the same time, I expect that this will also improve the quality of the journal.

I would like to introduce some new things happening in JHG in 2013 and beyond. As we announced in the November and December 2012 issues, the Japan Society of Human Genetics has relaunched an award; the JSHG—Journal of Human Genetics Young Scientist Award will identify articles that have made a significant contribution to JHG and have been contributed by young authors from around the world. Inaugural winners of the award will be selected from the articles that were published in JHG in 2011 and 2012, and will be announced at the 59th JSHG annual meeting in November 2013.

I should also mention that JHG introduced an open access option from November 2012, in which authors are offered the choice to publishing their papers open access under a creative commons license, to make it freely available online immediately upon publication. Many journals now provide authors the option to publish their papers open access, and many new ‘fully open access’ journals are being launched. This is a recent model of publishing that has been well received and even demanded by the members of the scholarly community including researchers in genetics studies. Eventhough this model is currently less common in Japan and other regions of Asia compared with US or European countries, I think it is good time for JHG to introduce this option now.

Finally, I am very pleased to announce that JHG will start publishing special issues of solicited high-quality papers that fall under a specific topic of recent interest in the human genetics field. We will aim to publish one or two special issues every year, with guest editors appointed for each issue. Some of the articles from the special issues will be made free online and will be widely promoted to draw readers’ attention. I am sure that special issues will contribute a lot to an increased readership base. Since 2009, the monthly average number of visits to the JHG website has grown by 50%. I am keen to publish high-quality articles in these special issues, as well as in regular issues, to keep attracting our readers.

I am looking forward to working with Associate Editors and special issue guest editors in planning interesting issues over the years to come.

Finally, in closing this message, I’d like to acknowledge those reviewers who have helped us to read and assess manuscripts and make decisions throughout 2012. The Journal of Human Genetics relies on their expert knowledge and warm support. The following individuals have provided reviews of papers submitted to JHG since November 2, 2011.

Abbes, Salem

Abnet, Christian C

Akiyama, Masashi

An, Wenfeng

Aoki, Yoko

Ariyoshi, N

Bae, Joon Seol

Barbujani, Guido

Bergen, Andrew

Boer, Judith

Bonilla, Carolina

Bost, Muriel

Bradley, Brenda

Bravi, Claudio

Burns, Kathleen

Calafell, Francesc

Capelli, Cristian

Cha, Pei-Chieng

Chaiyaratana, Nachol

Chan, Jonathan

Chang, Shun-Jen

Chang, Wei-chiao

Cheong, Hyun Sub

Cho, Yoon shin

Collod-Béroud, Gwenaëlle

de Neve, Jan-Emmanuel

DeJong, Jeff

Deng, Hao

Domino, Edward F

Echizen, Hirotoshi

Eguchi, Mariko

Elson, Joanna L

Farrington, Susan

Fregel, Rosa

Fujimoto, Akihiro

Fukami, Maki

Fukumoto, Seiji

Fukushima, Kunihiro

Funayama, Manabu

Furukawa, Yoichi

Garcia-Barcelo, Maria-Merce

García-Martín, Elena

Gleicher, N

Gojobori, Jun

Goto, Akiteru

Goto, Jun

Hagerman, Paul

Harada, Naoki

Harms, Matthew

Has, Cristina

Hasegawa, Hisaya

Hasegawa, Tomonobu

Hayashi, Shin

Hayashi, Yukiko

Hegele, Robert

Hirankarn, Nattiya

Hirose, Shinichi

Hishimoto, Akitoyo

Horikawa, Yukio

Hosoi, Takayuki

Hotta, Kikuko

Houlden, Henry

Hui, Zhou

Huster, Dominik

Ichikawa, Iekuni

Imamura, Toshihiko

Imoto, Issei

Inoue, Haruhisa

Inoue, Ituro

Inoue, Ken

Ishiguro, Hiroki

Ishikawa, Kinya

Ishikawa, Shumpei

Ishizuka, B

Isomura, Minoru

Iwai, Naoharu

Iwamoto, Kazuya

Iwamoto, Sadahiko

Iwasaki, Naoko

Iwata, Takeshi

Jensen-Seaman, Michael I

Jin, Yan

Johnson, Todd

Kamatani, Yoichiro

Kaname, Tadashi

Katagiri, Toyomasa

Kato, Mamoru

Kaur, Gurvinder

Kazazian, Haig

Keicho, Naoto

Kent, Lindsey

Kim, Heebal

Kim, Jeong Hyun

Kimberling, William

Kimura, Ryosuke

Kinoshita, Akira

Kirschfink, Michael

Kivisild, Toomas

Kiyotani, Kazuma

Kobayashi, Kazuhiro

Kochi, Yuta

Kohara, Katsuhiko

Kohda, Kazuhisa

Koizumi, Akio

Kong, Qing-Ping

Konishi, Hiroyuki

Kosho, Tomoki

Kowa, Hisatomo

Kozaki, Ken-ichi

Kumasaka, Natsuhiko

Kurahashi, Hiroki

Kure, Shigeo

Kurima, Kiyoto

Kurosawa, Kenji

Kurosawa, Motohiro

Kurotaki, Naohiro

Lao, Oscar

Lee, Hsin-Chen

Li, Hui

Liu, Tze-Tze

Liu, Yu-Li

Loh, Han Chern

Long, Jirong

Luo, Xiaoping

Maeda, Shiro

Mahasirimongkol, Surakameth

Mahdieh, Nejat

Malyarchuk, Boris

Mano, Shuhei

Matsuda, Koichi

Matsumoto, Naomichi

Matsunaga, Tatsuo

Matsuo, Hirotaka

Matsuura, Tohru

Maxwell, Patrick H

Mayr, Johannes A

McElreavey, Ken

Michel, Martin

Mikami, Koichi

Minucci, Angelo

Misawa, Kazuharu

Mitamura, Takashi

Mitsunaga, Shigeki

Miura, Masatomo

Miyagawa, Taku

Mizuta, Ikuko

Mona, Stefano

Mori, Daisuke

Mori, Yasumichi

Morisaki, Takayuki

Muramatsu, Masaaki

Murayama, Kei

Mushiroda, Taisei

Muto, Kaori

Nagai, Yoshitaka

Nakabayashi, Kazuhiko

Nakagawa, Masanori

Nakajima, Atsushi

Nakajima, Toshiaki

Nakamura, Akinori

Nakamura, Kimitoshi

Nakamura, Takuro

Nakanishi, Koichi

Nakano, Yoshiro

Nakao, Mitsuyoshi

Nakaoka, Hirofumi

Nakata, Yoshio

Nakayama, Tomohiro

Nanba, Eiji

Neagos, Delia

Noguchi, Emiko

Numabe, Hironao

Numata, Shusuke

Ogata, Tsutomu

Oh, Bermseok

Ohashi, Hirofumi

Ohashi, Jun

Ohashi, Toya

Ohira, Miki

Ohno, Kousaku

Ohnuma, Tohru

Okada, Yukinori

Okamoto, Nobuhiko

Onouchi, Yoshihiro

Onuma, Hiroshi

Oota, Hiroki

Orr, Nick

Osada, Naoki

Osawa, Haruhiko

Ota, Masao

Ozaki, Kouichi

Ozono, Keiichi

Papenfuss, Anthony

Park, Hae-Sim

Peerapittayamongkol, Chayanon

Peng, Min-Sheng

Perez de Nanclares, Guiomar

Pithukpakorn, Manop

Richards, Martin B

Rogers, Jeff

Rojas-Martinez, Augusto

Roy, Puspita Das

Rund, Deborah

Russo, Antonio

Saito, Shinji

Saitoh, Shinji

Sakaeda, Toshiyuki

Sakai, Norio

Sakamoto, Tohru

Sakurai, Akihiro

Saleem, Mohammad

Sasaki, Hidenao

Satake, Wataru

Sato, Noriko

Savas, Sevtap

Seielstad, Mark

Senter, Leigha

Sharma, Swarkar

Shaw, Philip

Shibata, Hiroki

Shigemizu, Daichi

Shintaku, Haruo

Shotelersuk, Vorasuk

Shuin, Taro

Sim, Edith

Sinnett, Daniel

Skaar, Todd

Slama, Abdelhamid

Soares, Pedro

Soejima, Hidenobu

Solomon, Sheila

Sorio, Claudio

Sueoka, Kou

Sugano, Kokichi

Suriyaphol, Prapat

Suzuki, Akari

Suzuki, Yoichi

Suzuki, Yutaka

Swallow, D

Tabara, Yasuharu

Tajima, Atsushi

Takahashi, Atsushi

Takahashi, Yuji

Takeuchi, Fumihiko

Tamari, Mayumi

Tamiya, Gen

Tamura, Kazuo

Tang, Clara

Taniguchi, Atsuo

Tashiro, Kei

Teh, Bin

Thiele, Susanne

Thongnoppakhun, Wanna

Tohru, Ohta

Tomita, Hiroaki

Tongsima, Sissades

Tornesello, Maria Lina

Toyoda, Tetsuro

Tsai, Shih-Jen

Tsuchiya, Naoyuki

Tsujikawa, Motokazu

Umetsu, Kazuo

Usami, Shin-ichi

Van den Bosch, BJC

Van Oven, Mannis

Veltman, Joris

Walsh, Tom

Wang, Lin

Wang, YM

Watanabe, Yoshinori

Weese-Mayer, De

Wilson, James

Winge, Marten

Xu, Shuhua

Xu, Xiangmin

Yamada, Ryo

Yamada, Shizuo

Yamagata, Zentaro

Yamaguchi, Tetsutaro

Yamaguchi-Kabata, Yumi

Yamamoto, Ken

Yamamoto, Toshiyuki

Yang, Wanling

Yang, Zhenglin

Yao, Yong-Gang

Yasuda, Kazuki

Yasui, Kohichiroh

Yasunami, Michio

Yin, Jiaoyang

Yoon, Kyong-Ah

Yoshida, Kunihiro

Yoshida, Shousei

Yoshida, Teruhiko

Yoshimura, Kunihiko

Yoshino, Makoto

Yoshiura, Koh-ichiro

Yu, Long

Yuasa, Isao

Zhang, Xin-Xin

Zheng, Shu-Sen