Abstract: In this first issue for 2015 I would like to reflect on some of the activities of the journal in 2014. Each year the board membership is revised and the following people retired from the board at the end of 2014: Allan Bell, Richard Halliwell, Patrick Hensel, Rui Kano, Sadatoshi Maeda, Danielle Reel and Tony Yu. We are very grateful for their expertise and knowledge which they brought to reviewing papers for the journal. The editorial board welcomes Alessandra Fondati, Cherie Pucheu-Haston, Aline Rodriques Hoffmann, Tetsuro Kobayashi, Barbara G. McMahill, John Munday, Jennifer S. Pendergraft, Vanessa Schmidt, Stephen Shaw and Gila Zur. The new members include clinicians and pathologists, together with expertise in the microbiome – an increasingly important focus for veterinary research and particularly for dermatology given the propensity for animals to develop skin infections. In 2014 the following people were invited to provide reviews for submitted manuscripts. Wael Al-Daraji, Zeineb Alhaidari, John Angus, Joy Barbet, Mar Bardagí, Wolfgang Bäumer, Allan Bell, Mark Bennett, Emmanuel Bensignor, Darren Berger, Samuel Black, Ross Bond, Mona Boord, Charles Bradley, Rory Breathnach, Femke Broere, Jeanne Budgin, Christine Cain, Maristela Camargo, Karen Campbell, Brian Catchpole, Rosario Cerundolo, Olga Chernova, Bruno Chomel, Lynette Cole, Lissandro Conceicao, Kimberly Coyner, Kelly Credille. Manuel de Rojas, Alison Diesel, Robert Esch, Carmen Espinosa, Karen Farver, Claude Favrot, Anelize Felix, Lluis Ferrer, Alison Flynn-Lurie, Jon Foster, Cecilia Friberg, Jean Greek, Wayne Greene, Gregory Griffeth, Craig Griffin, Richard Halliwell, Ann Hargis, Ewan Harrison, Lucy Hart, Patrick Hensel, Peter Hill, Stefan Hobi, Marie Innerå, Hilary Jackson, Anja Joachim, Kristina Kadlec, Stephen Kania, Kenneth Keppel, Nobuhide Kido, Derek Knottenbelt, Tetsuro Kobayashi, Andrea Lam, Christoph Lammler, Stephen Lemarie, Keith Linder, Michael Livesey, Jennifer Luff, Alan Lymbery. Richard Malik, Christoph Mans, Geneviève Marignac, Ian Mason, Elizabeth Mauldin, Alex McCarthy, Bernard Mignon, Andres Moreira, Eric Morgan, Ralf Mueller, Nobuo Murayama, Koji Nishifuji, Chiara Noli, William Oldenhoff, Mark Papich, Manon Paradis, Sue Paterson, Adam Patterson, Andrea Peano, Vincent Perreten, Ivan Ravera, Érica Reis, Joan Rest, Cecilia Robat, David Robson, Wayne Rosenkrantz, Rod Rosychuk. Domenico Santoro, Manolis Saridomichelakis, Anthea Schick, Vanessa Schmidt, Christy Secombe, Stephen Shaw, David Shearer, Michael Shipstone, Meng Siak, Shanker Singh, Bronwyn Smits, Marlene Spinner, Jessica Stahl, Laura Stokking, Kathy Tater, Sheila Torres, Donato Traversa, Emilie Vidémont, Linda Vogelnest, Monika Welle and Shijun Zheng. Any journal has to rely heavily on the expertise and goodwill of its reviewers to provide a review in a timely fashion. We are very grateful to all of our reviewers for contributing to the work of the journal. All journals have some form of guidance on how a manuscript should be formatted for submission. Veterinary Dermatology has a set of notes that aims to cover the requirements for most parts of a manuscript. Even so, we receive some articles which have to be returned to the authors for re-formatting before they can go out for review. One particular topic that can take up a considerable amount of time in dealing with some manuscripts is the quality of images including particularly clinical cases and histopathology. We have revised the guidance in the author guidelines about the preparation of images and it is hoped that authors will work closely with the journal to make the best use of the image files submitted. Authors need to make sure that they capture images for the first time at the highest possible quality (this usually translates into the highest dpi rating) because no amount of modification can overcome a low dpi rating. We still receive images that are not in focus and or do not show microscopic cellular details given in the figure legend. Authors are encouraged to use the current Author Guidelines and to examine recent issues to appreciate the journal's requirements when preparing a manuscript for submission. One particular issue that we have addressed with the recent revision of the Guidelines is the format for case reports and brief communications. We receive a large number of case reports and while some are not suitable for publication, others are of interest but do not need to be 1500 words long – which is the standard length for case reports/brief communications. In the past we have offered authors an option to submit an abridged version of their case report as a letter which limits the word count to 750 words. Some authors are reluctant to submit case material as a letter. We have introduced a new abridged version of the case report and brief communication which will be limited to 750 words; they will still include an abstract which will appear in databases such as PubMed. The editors will make the decision and recommend that a case report is converted to the abridged version although prospective authors are welcome to submit shortened case reports if they wish. We remain committed to publishing case reports even when they include a description of a single case. The five editors work as a team to screen all case reports and decide to return without review or to send the manuscript out for review; abridged versions of case material were formerly invited for resubmission as a letter. We will now offer some authors the option of an abridged case report. Letters will be accepted where they briefly highlight an issue with a previously published paper or seek to generate discussion or awareness of a developing area. The International Committee for Allergic Diseases of Animals (ICADA; www.ICADA.info) has arranged for a series of detailed reviews on the pathogenesis of canine atopic dermatitis. The series comprises six papers which cover clinical and histopathological manifestations; the role of antibodies, autoantigens and food allergens; the skin barrier and micro-organism interaction; innate immunity, lipid metabolism and nutrition; lymphocytes, cytokines, chemokines and the Th1-Th2 balance; and genetics and the environment. The papers will be printed in one issue of Veterinary Dermatology later in 2015 with a covering editorial by the ICADA authors.