EDITORIAL Goodbye International Journal of Andrology, welcome Andrology! This issue of the International Journal of Andrology (IJA) is the last one. The reason for its disappearance is quite unprecedented: the two top journals in the field of andrology, IJA and its American counterpart, Journal of Andrology (JA) have decided to join forces rather than continue competing against each other. This historical move will undoubtedly strengthen the combined journal and the transatlantic collaboration between the two socie- ties endorsing the two journals: the European Academy of Andrology (EAA) and the American Society of Andrology (ASA). In this editorial, written jointly by the founder and long-term chairman of the IJA publication committee, and the current and former chief editors, we look back at the history of the journal and its achievements. A bit of bibliometric data are presented to reflect on the most dis- cussed and cited topics during the journal’s existence. It is noteworthy that the current year, 2012, marks two anniversaries: 35 years of IJA and 20 years of EAA. Round anniversaries are a good excuse to look back but they are also a perfect opportunity for good wishes for the future. The birth and early years of IJA (by Rune Eliasson) The beginning of ‘organized androlo- gy’ in Europe dates back to 1968 when I initiated the European Androl- ogy Group, supported by Schering AG (Schirren & Toyosi, 1970). Indepen- dently, in 1970, a few clinicians and scientists interested in the develop- ment of andrology, from Barcelona, Spain, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, created the Comite ´ Internac ¸ional de Andrologia (CIDA), with Antoni Pu- igvert (Barcelona) and Roberto Mancini (Buenos Aires) elected as Presidents. The two groups learned about each other’s activities in 1970 when Mancini and I met at a Nobel Symposium on ‘Control of human fertility’ in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1972, CIDA arranged a meeting in Barcelona and I was elected as the next president. During CIDA’s initial years, financial support for its activities and congresses was provided by the Fundac ¸io Puigvert, run by an administrative board (Drs A. Aakvaag, W. Bardin, D. de Kretser, R. Eliasson and Miss M. Marti). Andrologia was used as the official journal but it served also as the official publication for the German Society of Andrology. After the First International Congress of Andrology organized in Barcelona (1975), CIDA decided to create its own journal and the first volume of IJA was published in 1978. At the Second International Congress of Andrology in Tel Aviv (1981), CIDA was – as planned long before – transformed into the International Society of Andrology (ISA) with Eberhard (Ebo) Nieschlag as president. However, at that stage, it was not possible to transfer IJA to ISA as two of its member societies already had their own journals. Fundac ¸io Puigvert accepted to keep CIDA as a silent organization with the mission to continue publishing IJA. A publication committee was formed, with me as chairman. Financially, IJA was running with a deficit and after a few years the publisher, Scriptor A / S cancelled the contract, and Blackwell Publishing in Oxford, UK, stepped in. However, IJA remained without any profit for several more years. In 1989, Fundac ¸ion Puigvert withdrew from the journal and donated it to me, so I decided to find a new more permanent home for it. Negotiations with ASA opened a possibility but I was worried that IJA might disappear and therefore decided to find another option for the journal. On the flight back to Europe from that meeting with ASA in late 1991 I read about the European Academy of Anaesthesi- ology (Zorab & Vickers, 1991) and became inspired to form a similar organization for andrology, and to make such an organization the new home for IJA. Professor Richard Sharpe was the first to be involved and the dis- cussions resulted in a more focused approach. The ISA president, Ebo Nieschlag, was also supportive. At the 7th European Testis Workshop at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria, Germany (May 1992), an interim committee was formed. Soon after, the European Academy of Andrology (EAA) became a reality and the journal was donated to the new organization. Ebo Nieschlag was elected the first president of EAA, and I became treasurer and also chairman of the Publications Committee (and stayed in the latter function until 2008). It is with great satisfaction I noticed that, in 2009, IJA had the highest Impact Factor of the andrology journals and that IJA up until now has been able to generate around €500 000 in revenues for the EAA. This is of course the result of the excellent work by all its Chief Editors, who have been intensively engaged in improve- R. Eliasson international journal of andrology ISSN 0105-6263 ª 2012 The Authors International Journal of Andrology, 2012, 35, 769–774 International Journal of Andrology ª 2012 European Academy of Andrology 769