Special issue devoted to novel trends in rheology

Abstract

We usually define rheology as the study of deformationand flow of matter. However, our discipline is evolving ata rapid pace, and it is relevant to identify the trends andfuture of rheology. With this in mind, we invited a number ofresearchers in the early stages of their career to contribute apaper to a special issue of Rheologica Acta. We asked themto write an original contribution, which underwent the regu-lar reviewing process, but the authors were able to commenta bit more on the reasons for doing their work and couldbe more speculative about the possible impact. We wantedto give these researchers, who are in the process of becom-ing the leaders in the field of rheology, a platform to presenttheir work and share their ideas. We hope this will give usall a vision of the vibrant discipline of rheology. The choicesof those individuals invited were made by us, as editors, andare in no way meant to be exhaustive.We were positively surprised by the enthusiastic responseto our invitations, and we will have at least two specialissues this year and will follow up this initiative in the nextfew years. The first issue already gives a clear overview ofthe broad range of topics that are being dealt with.Rheologica Acta has always been the home to paperswhich focus on theory or experiment or both. Not surpris-ingly, novel experimental tools take up an important placein the special issue. Techniques are discussed which aim