The first issue of J.Mater.Sci: Materials in Electronics was published in 1990, and so this year represents completion of the first 25 years in the journal’s history. As the founding Editor, and Editor-in-Chief for the all of that time, it is a great pleasure to write an Editorial to mark the occasion. As a companion journal to the main Journal of Materials Science, the initiative to launch this journal, together with J.Mater.Sci: Materials in Medicine, was very much thanks to the then Editor of Journal of Materials Science, Professor Bill Bonfield, and the publishing Editor of Chapman and Hall (who published these journals then), Michael Dunn. Their foresight in recognising the strength of these disciplines, and the need to cover them with specialist journals, cannot be emphasised too strongly, and the subsequent success of this journal is witness to their initiative. In the first few years, both Bill Bonfield and Michael Dunn helped to ensure a strong launch to make it successful, and both are recognised here for their invaluable contribution to the journal. As a new journal in this field, to join the respected and established TMS/IEEE Journal of Electronic Materials, whose Editor, Professor Ted Harman, was always extremely encouraging to me personally, this journal was able to embrace a wide range of aspects of materials in electronics, which has been recognised more recently on the mast-head to cover Optoelectronic Materials and Photonics in addition to the more traditional areas. The first issue contained papers on solar cells, electroceramics, infra-red detector materials, resistors, high-Tc superconductors, optical fibres, magnetic materials, glasses, thin films and phosphors, in only 12 papers! Likewise these first papers included authors from the UK, USA, Japan, France, Italy, Australia, India and Egypt. This Special Issue starts with a series of specially submitted reviews and regular papers, representing important fields covered by the journal over those 25 years, bringing them up to date with the latest progress. Fields covered include some of those appearing in the first issue 25 years ago, such as solar cell materials and magnetic materials, together with subjects covered in past featured issues such as lead-free solders (January 2012), but also reflects very recent developments such as graphene, flexible electronics, energy storage, lead-free piezoelectrics, organic semiconductors, solid state lighting, magnonic and spintronic devices, and electrically conducting adhesives. All reviews which are a regular feature of our journal, have been edited by my distinguished colleague, Professor Safa Kasap from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, & Arthur Willoughby A.F.Willoughby@soton.ac.uk