Welcome to 2017. This promises to be an exciting year for Brain Impairment. First, we are delighted to announce the Special Issue on Disorders of Social Cognition; Advances in Theory, Assessment and Treatment guest edited by Professor Skye McDonald. The Editors wish to thank Professor McDonald for her hard work in organising an issue of the highest class. This issue will lead off Volume 18.

The other major new initiative for Brain Impairment is the announcement of the establishment of the Douglas and Tate prize. The prize provides a means to recognise the seminal contribution made by Professor Jacinta Douglas and Professor Robyn Tate as founding editors of Brain Impairment. The prize will recognise the best research article published in Brain Impairment in the previous year as judged by the Co-Editors and a sub-committee of the Editorial Board. The prize will be judged on the (i) innovation or significance of the contribution it makes to the field of brain impairment and (ii) the scientific rigour of the work. The inaugural prize will be awarded for the best paper published in 2016 and be announced at the ASSBI conference in Melbourne in 2017. The successful authors will receive a prize sponsored by Cambridge University Press.

Looking forward, the journal has been attracting a strong level of submissions over the past 2 years, reflected in the 60% rejection rate. Furthermore, published articles have come from a wide range of countries including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Italy, The Netherlands, Canada, France, United Kingdom, and the United States of America. We are hoping to build on this strong level of submissions and international focus in the years to come.