The Journal of Agricultural Science retained its multidisciplinary nature for one more year with the published articles covering the areas of crop and animal physiology, agronomy, soil science, nutrition, climate change, environmental impacts, climate-smart agriculture, integrated crop-livestock systems, modelling and molecular biology with agricultural relevance, and innovations in experimental design and statistical analysis. The latter remit also reflects the new definitions of scientific areas that The Journal of Agricultural Science will cover in 2026 onwards. Recognizing the role that papers in relation to silage technology play in the journal’s output, a new category of Silage papers has been created to complement the existing list of categories for scientific articles of Animal Research and Animal Review papers, Climate Change & Agriculture Research papers, Crops & Soils Research and Crops & Soils Review papers, Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems Research and Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems Review papers, and Modelling Animal Systems Research papers.

The Journal of Agricultural Science foresees to support the publication of high-impact review papers going forward and four review papers have been published last year. These were: ‘Optimizing geophysics, biotechnology and other emerging tools for livestock production and management: a review’ by Folarin et al. (Reference Folarin, Folarin and Olanloye2025); ‘Optimising intensive grazing: a comprehensive review of rotational grassland management, innovative grazing strategies and infrastructural requirements’ by Maher et al. (Reference Maher, Egan, Murphy and Tuohy2025); ‘Threats to global food security from emerging phytoplasma crop diseases’ by Ablormeti et al. (Reference Ablormeti, Honger, Lutuf, Obeng, Muntala, Osabutey, Ochar, Otoo, Sossah, Ndede Yankey, Dofuor and Aidoo2025) and ‘Unlocking the potential of artificial nighttime lighting in agricultural fields: a novel approach to enhancing crop productivity’ by Tonello et al. (Reference Tonello, Schneider, Chiomento and Chavarria2025).

Among the papers published in 2025, the Top-5 downloaded papers were: Optimising intensive grazing: a comprehensive review of rotational grassland management, innovative grazing strategies and infrastructural requirements (Maher et al., Reference Maher, Egan, Murphy and Tuohy2025); Solid and liquid digestate generated from biogas production as a fertilizer source in processing tomato yield, quality and some health-related compounds (Alan et al., Reference Alan, Budak, Sen, Ongun, Tepecik and Ata2025); Optimizing geophysics, biotechnology and other emerging tools for livestock production and management: a review (Folarin et al., Reference Folarin, Folarin and Olanloye2025); Calibration and bias correction of seasonal weather forecasts from the North American Multi-Model Ensemble: Potential applications for regional crop modelling and irrigation management (Su et al., Reference Su, Ale, Himanshu, Singh and Singh2025); Threats to global food security from emerging phytoplasma crop diseases (Ablormeti et al., Reference Ablormeti, Honger, Lutuf, Obeng, Muntala, Osabutey, Ochar, Otoo, Sossah, Ndede Yankey, Dofuor and Aidoo2025).

The Journal encourages and offers a platform for all published authors to disseminate their papers in the format of blogs. The following blogs were published in 2025 (details of the associated papers are given in the reference list):

• • Lodging in Vetch Crops: How Moddus Can Help Boost Resistance (https://www.cambridge.org/core/blog/2025/01/10/lodging-in-vetch-crops-how-moddus-can-help-boost-resistance/) (Zorić et al., Reference Zorić, Živanov, Karagić, Karanović and Luković2024).

• • Using Solid and Liquid Digestate as Fertilizer for a Sustainable Processing Tomato Cultivation (https://www.cambridge.org/core/blog/2025/02/11/using-solid-and-liquid-digestate-as-fertilizer-for-a-sustainable-processing-tomato-cultivation/) (Alan et al., Reference Alan, Budak, Sen, Ongun, Tepecik and Ata2025)

• • Intensive Grazing: Maximising Pasture Potential and Animal Performance Through Infrastructure (https://www.cambridge.org/core/blog/2025/03/04/intensive-grazing-maximising-pasture-potential-and-animal-performance-through-infrastructure/) (Maher et al., Reference Maher, Egan, Murphy and Tuohy2025; blog post written by Patrick Tuohy)

• • The Future of Global Corn Production: A Data-Driven Outlook (https://www.cambridge.org/core/blog/2025/03/26/the-future-of-global-corn-production-a-data-driven-outlook/) (Vieira et al., Reference Vieira, Uhdre, Scapim and van Becelaere2025; blog post written by Renan Santos Uhdre)

• • Harvest management strategies for tall and dwarf elephant grass genotypes (https://www.cambridge.org/core/blog/2025/05/10/harvest-management-strategies-for-tall-and-dwarf-elephant-grass-genotypes/) (Silva et al., Reference Silva, Santos, Silva, Magalhães, Cunha, Silva, Souza, Alencar, Souza and Ferreira2025)

• • Whey to Grow: Uncovering the Potential of Whey Protein in Broiler Nutrition (https://www.cambridge.org/core/blog/2025/08/28/whey-to-grow-uncovering-the-potential-of-whey-protein-in-broiler-nutrition/) (Sugiharto et al., Reference Sugiharto, Adli, Ujilestari, Sholikin and Inggrida2025; blog post written by Danung Nur Adli)

• • Can dietary additives in combination be potentiated to help laying hens at an advanced age? (https://www.cambridge.org/core/blog/2025/08/28/can-dietary-additives-in-combination-be-potentiated-to-help-laying-hens-at-an-advanced-age/) (Watanabe et al., Reference Watanabe, Watanabe, de Melo, dos Santos, Nepomuceno and Freitas2025)

• • Balancing Act: How Starch and β-Hydroxybutyrate Affect Hindgut Fermentation in Early Lactation Cows (https://www.cambridge.org/core/blog/2025/09/01/balancing-act-how-starch-and-%ce%b2-hydroxybutyrate-affect-hindgut-fermentation-in-early-lactation-cows/) (Abd Rahim et al., Reference Abd Rahim, van Laar, Pellikaan, van Gastelen, Bannink and Dijkstra2025; blog post written by Jan Dijkstra)

• • Can a millennia-old ploughing tradition compete with modern low-disturbance systems in Ireland’s wet climate? (https://www.cambridge.org/core/blog/2025/11/03/can-a-millenia-old-ploughing-tradition-compete-with-modern-low-disturbance-systems-in-irelands-wet-climate/) (Jameson et al., Reference Jameson, Forristal and McDonnell2025)

• • Developing a novel machine learning-based index (ISA) for reproductive cow selection for wetlands (https://www.cambridge.org/core/blog/2025/11/03/developing-a-novel-machine-learning-based-index-isa-for-reproductive-cow-selection-for-wetlands/) (Martínez-López et al., Reference Martínez-López, Mariela Centurión and Esfrain Pereira2025)

From January 2026 onwards, the Journal is moving from publishing six issues per year in a single volume to continuous publication. This means that there will still be one volume per year, but we will no longer publish discrete issues. Instead, papers will be published into the volume as soon as the approved proof is ready, with an online identifier instead of page numbers. This will allow papers to be fully published with all relevant information more quickly.

To facilitate the process of revision of articles and transparency of the requirements, we have introduced a new re-submission checklist to help authors prepare their accepted manuscripts before they re-submit an article after revision or move to the production stage. The checklist brings together the practical points that often cause small delays, such as formatting, units, tables, figures and the required declarations. By asking authors to review these items through a structured checklist, we hope to make the final stages of the process smoother for everyone involved and facilitate the quicker movement of papers through to publication.

We would also like to note the progress of the Journal Impact Factor for The Journal of Agricultural Science in 2024, which, according to Clarivate Analytics, increased from 1.7 (in 2023) to 2.2 (in 2024), being in Q2 quartile in the category Agriculture Multidisciplinary; with a 5-year Journal Impact Factor of 2.3. The Journal Citation Indicator remain at similar levels (0.49 in 2023, 0.48 in 2024).

We would like to express our deepest thanks and gratitude to the members of the editorial board whose editorial role came to an end in December 2025, Professor Alexander Hristov (Penn State University, USA), and Professor Darshani Kumaragamage (University of Winnipeg, Canada). Professor Hristov has been a member of the editorial board since October 2016 and handled 46 articles in total, of which 20 have been published in the journal to date. Professor Kumaragamage joined the editorial board in July 2022 and handled 31 articles, of which 8 have been published to date. Their contribution to maintain excellence in our published work is noted and we would like to wish to both editors all the best in their future endeavours. During 2025, the journal was honoured to recruit two excellent scientists to the editorial board, initially for a 3-year term: Dr Katie McDermott (University of Leeds, United Kingdom) to offer expertise in the areas of non-ruminant production, management, physiology, health and gut microbiology; and Dr Anni Halmemies-Beauchet-Filleau (University of Helsinki, Finland) to support the evaluation of articles related to forage production and preservation, ruminant nutrition and metabolism, rumen microbiology and probiotics, milk and calf health, environmental sustainability and molecular and -omics approaches to dairy science. We are delighted to have both new members of our editorial board in the team, and we look forward to working with them. In addition, we would like to reference the recent editorial that honours the impressive 27-year long service of Professor Julian Wiseman in The Journal of Agricultural Science, who stood down from his position as Editor-in-Chief with responsibility for Animal papers in March 2025. He was among the longest-serving Editors-in-Chief for the Journal, if not the longest, handling over 2000 articles, and approving the publication of 648 articles (Hoogenboom et al. Reference Hoogenboom, Stergiadis and Sage2025). The publisher and the editorial board would like to express their sincere thanks to Professor Wiseman for his contribution to the Journal.

We would also like to express our deepest gratitude to the members of the editorial board, and their continuous support to the Editors-in-Chief by carrying out the challenging tasks of identifying, inviting and securing reviewers for each article; critically evaluating the revision and re-submission process; and supporting with their scientific expertise the decision-making process and the publication of high quality scientific articles. We express our thanks to the reviewers across the world that have accepted the invitations to review submitted articles to The Journal of Agricultural Science, as the process relies on their contribution and the expert knowledge they bring to the revision (a list of the reviewers who have contributed in 2025 can be found in the Supplementary Material). As a result, the scientific rigour of a number of articles has been greatly improved prior to publication. The Editors-in-Chief are grateful for the continuous support and commitment of the staff of Cambridge University Press. Last but not least, we are grateful to the authors and readership of the Journal for their contributions and trust in publishing in, and using in their work, The Journal of Agricultural Science, emphasizing the journal’s ongoing role in supporting and informing the agricultural science community globally.