As I conclude my tenure as Editor from the launch of the Journal of Nursing Staff Development in 1984 until now, I am awed by the impact the Journal has had on the specialty of nursing staff development (now nursing professional development) and on the organization for which it was the official publication (National Nursing Staff Development Organization, now the Association for Nursing Professional Development).

I am grateful to the many individuals involved in ensuring that the Journal was the essential resource in nursing professional development. Starting with the publisher (J. B. Lippincott, now Lippincott Williams & Wilkins) and the editorial, production, and advertising staff, the Journal could not have had a better team invested in its successful design, development, direction, and evolution.

The success of the Journal is evidenced by its growth from a few subscribers in its first year to nearly 5,000 now, including members of the Association for Nursing Professional Development, individual nonmembers, healthcare institutions, and libraries. The reach of the journal has expanded from the United States and Canada to worldwide as well.

The Editorial Board members, past and present, served in a volunteer capacity to review manuscripts for publication and to assist in setting the direction of the Journal. These dedicated individuals devoted countless hours and could always be counted on to keep the Journal at the forefront of their responsibilities.

Those who wrote for the Journal deserve special recognition. Authors from Australia, Canada, Finland, Egypt, Japan, and Pakistan, in addition to the United States, have been published in the Journal.

Writing for publication is not easy[horizontal ellipsis]success can be elusive. I am proud to say that many individuals wrote their first published articles for this Journal. One of the high points as Editor was hearing from these first-time authors as well as more experienced ones about how pleased they were to be published in this Journal.

Finally, my deepest thanks to the readers of the Journal-without them, the publication would not exist. Readers influenced the scope and direction of the Journal through their responses to the periodic reader survey and anecdotal feedback.

As I leave my position as Editor in Chief of the Journal for Nurses in Professional Development, I wish Susan Bindon and Kari Schmidt an equally amazing experience as co-editors of this prestigious journal.

Stay well, be happy, and enjoy reading the Journal for Nurses in Professional Development!