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These are interesting times! We are participating in a revolution of biological knowledge and in the manipulation of medical phenomena. But accompanying these scientific developments, there is also a realization that the pace of change and the pressure to publish may undermine scientific rigour, prompting increased scrutiny and the challenge to find ways to improve reproducibility in scientific data and publication. [Opening paragraph]

We have just completed another busy and fruitful year for The Journal of Physiology as we continue our mission to promote excellence in the communication of physiology to the world. The Journal is without international boundaries, and below is a summary of where we have recently been, and where we plan to go in 2014–15. We value the support of our readers and those who publish their outstanding findings with us. At the beginning of 2013, The Journal of Physiology Consulting Editor Carol Robinson FRS was made a Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (DBE) for Services to Science and Industry. She is widely recognised for her ground-breaking research in mass spectrometry and as a role model for women scientists. In the 2014 New Year Honours list, Peter Ratcliffe FRS, another of The Journal's esteemed Consulting Editors, was awarded a knighthood for his services to clinical medicine. Sir Peter is Head of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine based at the Henry Wellcome Building for Molecular Physiology in Oxford. His laboratory works on understanding the mechanisms by which cells sense and signal hypoxia. In 2013 we published a paper based on the Annual Review Prize Lecture which Peter delivered at Physiology 2012 (the annual meeting of The Physiological Society), Edinburgh, UK, 4 July 2012. Oxygen sensing and hypoxia signalling pathways in animals: the implications of physiology for cancer Ratcliffe PJ (2013) J Physiol 591, 2027–2042 http://jp.physoc.org/content/591/8/2027.full Sadly in 2013 we said goodbye to one of the legends in the field of physiology who had his Nobel Prize winning work in The Journal. David H. Hubel FRS passed away in October after a long and distinguished career in visual neuroscience. Physiology lost one of its giants. The Journal of Physiology lost one of its heroes. David H. Hubel – A man of vision J Physiol 592, issue 1. http://jp.physoc.org/content/592/1.toc

We have sequenced the genome of a second Drosophila species, Drosophila pseudoobscura, and compared this to the genome sequence of Drosophila melanogaster, a primary model organism. Throughout evolution the vast majority of Drosophila genes have remained on the same chromosome arm, but within each arm gene order has been extensively reshuffled, leading to a minimum of 921 syntenic blocks shared between the species. A repetitive sequence is found in the D. pseudoobscura genome at many junctions between adjacent syntenic blocks. Analysis of this novel repetitive element family suggests that recombination between offset elements may have given rise to many paracentric inversions, thereby contributing to the shuffling of gene order in the D. pseudoobscura lineage. Based on sequence similarity and synteny, 10,516 putative orthologs have been identified as a core gene set conserved over 25–55 million years (Myr) since the pseudoobscura/melanogaster divergence. Genes expressed in the testes had higher amino acid sequence divergence than the genome-wide average, consistent with the rapid evolution of sex-specific proteins. Cis-regulatory sequences are more conserved than random and nearby sequences between the species—but the difference is slight, suggesting that the evolution of cis-regulatory elements is flexible. Overall, a pattern of repeat-mediated chromosomal rearrangement, and high coadaptation of both male genes and cis-regulatory sequences emerges as important themes of genome divergence between these species of Drosophila.

These days, readers of the scholarly literature usually find what they want via keyword searching and are often unconcerned with which journal is carrying the article of interest. However, as authors they care very much about where their articles are published. This latest Annual Report of The Journal of Physiology is addressed to readers as authors looking for an appropriate home for their research. From this perspective, we review developments over the past year, present plans for the future and review the latest journal statistics.