‘A description of the organisms found in South Russian sour milk products is not new to Russian literature. For example, fermented milk from the district of Don has been examined, and it has been found that both lactic and alcoholic fermentation products are present… A preliminary examination of Kuban fermented milk (Kuban being adjacent to the district of Don) showed that its bacteriological components are essentially similar to those of Don fermented milk. A mere repetition of earlier work was, therefore, clearly unnecessary. The present work was undertaken not so much with the object of isolating and describing the organisms responsible for the lactic acid fermentation, as of studying their symbiosis with one another as well as with the yeasts. This question has been given very little consideration by earlier workers.’ This passage is taken from Bogdanoff (Reference Bogdanoff1934), which was published in the fifth volume of the Journal of Dairy Research. This article is significant, in that with one exception all of the preceding content of the Journal's first five volumes came either from the UK or from three other English-speaking countries, namely Canada, New Zealand and Australia. The exception was Denmark, specifically KVL, Den Kongelige Veterinær- og Landbohøjskole (Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University). Much has changed in the intervening years, culminating in the process now recognised as globalisation, defined as ‘the increasing interaction of people, states, or countries through the growth of the international flow of money, ideas, and culture’. In its most recent two volumes (83: 2016 and 84:2017), our Journal has published research from 46 different countries spanning the globe, North to South and East to West (shaded area in Fig. 1) and speaking upwards of 40 different languages. One of these countries (St Kitts and Nevis) is officially the eighth smallest country in the world, but it has a University (Ross University) with a veterinary faculty. I can say with complete justification that we are, indeed, promoting interaction through the international flow of ideas. It is curious (but coincidental) that Russia is a global omission from our recent coverage: had Dr Bogdanoff's article been received recently (or a 2016 submission from Kazakhstan been acceptable for publication) the majority of the globe would have been shaded. In a European context, Norway is arguably the major omission from our recent contributor's list (although we have received two unsuccessful submissions, and a Norwegian paper was published in volume 81: 2014).As further evidence of change it is worth noting that in 1934, Norway would have existed as an independent country for less than 30 years. This is our first issue of volume 85, and amongst its content we have papers from three more countries. From Lithuania we have research using commercially available ‘rumen boluses’ measuring temperature and pH to predict the likelihood of reproductive success (Antanaitis et al. Reference Antanaitis, Juozaitienė, Rutkauskas, Televičius and Stasiulevičiūtė2018). From Japan, heat-induced denaturation of casein micelles is shown to alter the strength of the acid milk gel through dissociation of κ-casein (Oka et al. Reference Oka, Ono, Ohara, Noguchi and Takano2018). From Morocco, the aroma profile of the local fermented butter (Smen) is characterized, in collaboration with scientists from Malaysia (Iradukunda et al. Reference Iradukunda, Aida, Ouafi, Barkouch and Boussaid2018). These three countries bring our recent total to 49. Sometimes an Editor might be tempted to manipulate data in order to achieve a statistic such as a ‘half-century’, but that would be bad science so I have resisted the temptation to include Norway! Had I done so I could also have included Serbia, since that 2014 paper was a collaborative effort. International collaboration is an increasing feature of research, notably in this current issue an article from Iran that involves collaborators sixteen hours flying time Eastwards in Maryland, USA, and 17 h Westwards in Melbourne, Australia (Fig. 1) studying the impact of synthetic and naturally-occurring PPAR-γ ligands on oxidative stress in overweight dairy cows (Gheise et al. Reference Gheise, Riasi, Celi and Shahneh2018). Of course I am citing these various papers, as is normal practice in an age of accessible literature. This has not always been the case: the statement ‘fermented milk from the district of Don has been examined’ (Bogdanoff, Reference Bogdanoff1934) was not supported by any reference, although the authors were probably Drs Kolenoff, Unitsky and Batchinsky. Google them by all means. You will almost instantaneously be referred to our article, which is a nice way of realising that the Journal does create more of a lasting impression than some unknown others! Another feature of Bogdanoff (Reference Bogdanoff1934) was an almost complete absence of methodological detail, meaning that repetition would have been difficult. On the other hand, the similarities between Don and Kuban fermented milks leads to the statement ‘A mere repetition of earlier work was, therefore, clearly unnecessary’ which is an important message that is not always heeded nowadays. Clearly, novelty has always been prized, and is still. Damascus goats, zebu and Hanwoo cattle and dairy donkeys all feature in the current issue or on First View; Editorial policy is to welcome articles that have restricted geographical relevance, but the science must be good and original, the research must be likely to have beneficial impact and the manuscript should usually be submitted in Research Communication format. In 1931, inclusion of the article from Denmark broke new ground for the Journal. It was entitled simply ‘Starters’ (Knudsen, Reference Knudsen1931). It was truly the start of our international presence, but of course Denmark remains the world leader in starter technology to this day. KVL ceased to exist as an independent University in 2007, becoming first the Life Sciences Faculty of the University of Copenhagen and now split between Medical Sciences (Veterinary Departments) and Science (Agricultural and Food Departments). It is sad to reflect that the Copenhagen continuum within the dairy foods chain has been broken. Also in 1931, several articles from the Hannah Dairy Research Institute, in Scotland, appeared in the Journal. The term ‘Dairy’ was dropped from the Institute's title in 1971, but to reinforce the close relationship between the Hannah Research Foundation (the Institute itself closed in 2006) and the Journal of Dairy Research, as of January 2018 the term has been reinstated and the Foundation is now officially the Hannah Dairy Research Foundation. Plus ça change!
Countries of origin of articles published in Journal of Dairy Research volumes 83: 2016 and 84: 2017 (blue shading). The red circles and lines depict the authorship of Gheise et al. (Reference Gheise, Riasi, Celi and Shahneh2018).
