With its origins being in one of the world's leading chemistry journals, the German Chemical Society journal Angewandte Chemie, it is no surprise that initially Advanced Materials' strengths were in chemistry and in Germany. From its very first issue in 1988, however, Advanced Materials was intended to have an international and interdisciplinary approach and this has led to an increase in the number of countries represented by authors from 8 in 1989 to 21 in 1993 and in the contribution from physicists increasing from 10% in 1989 to 42% in 1993. Around 30% of contributions now originate in Germany with around 20% each from the USA and Japan (Japan has the fastest growth rate), and rapidly increasing contributions from many European countries, particularly France, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands and Spain. The number of pages has increased from 470 in 1989 to 960 in 1993 while the personal subscription rate has remained (almost) constant. This has only been possible because of the popularity of the journal. In terms of the number and type of papers published, 65 papers were published in 1989. while in 1993 it was 167, the largest growth area being the Communications, which started publication in 1989 with around three per issue and currently run at an average of 9 per issue. This growth has been accompanied by a steady increase in the rate of outright rejection, from around 10% in 1989 to around 22% in 1993. As only around 10% of Communications are accepted without change (or requiring only linguistic changes) this means that the vast majority of manuscripts are returned to the authors for revision on the basis of the comments of two or more referees. Over 300 referees were active for Advanced Materials in 1993, providing the expert assessments which are undoubtedly one of the main reasons for the progress of the journal. Another important factor in this process is the speed of response of the referees (and of the authors to their comments) enabling Advanced Materials to maintain the fast publication times (Communications 6-12 weeks, Reviews 3-6 months) appropriate for such a fast moving field. These factors have together resulted in the journal attracting ever more excellent papers, several of which have been covered in the world's scientific press and quality daily newspapers. The progress achieved to-date would also not have been possible without the dedication and hard work of our Editorial Advisory Board. Profs. D. Haarer, G. Petzow and G. Wegner (all Germany), Prof. J. M. Thomas CUK), Prof. N. Ogata (Japan), and Dr. E. Engler (USA), together with Dr. P. Golitz who was responsible, amongst many things, for launching Advanced Materials as part of Angewandte Chemie and for guiding its early progress. In order to further intensify our efforts towards providing an international and interdisciplinary forum for materials chemists and physicists we have decided to expand our Editorial Advisory Board. The new Board Members, listed below, are engaged in further improving the coverage of the Journal and we hope these efforts will continue to be appreciated by our audience. We are delighted that so many distinguished scientists have agreed to act on our Advisory Board and we look forward to working together in producing an ever-more interesting, informative, and exciting Advanced Materials in future.