This editorial is somewhat special, as it is the one occasion during the year in which I get to thank our referees for making the journal the quality publication it is. Without their tireless efforts, it would be impossible to process the quantity of manuscripts we receive every year, and it would certainly be impossible to distinguish the wheat from the chaff. The Journal of Applied Polymer Science is a truly global enterprise, spanning all five continents and both academia and industry in its quest to publish the best in applied, useful polymer research. These values are reflected in our list of referees, in which we have been able to integrate scientists from most countries in the reviewing process. We feel that this is important, because it stresses the “peer” part of peer review, which would be stunted if our authorship were global, but our referee base were coming from only a few countries. In addition, this year we have started a program by which young researchers can volunteer to referee for the Journal of Applied Polymer Science, with the editors evaluating step by step their abilities as technical referees. This process gives the journal a younger outlook, and the referees themselves the experience and confidence they need to gain the place they deserve as true experts in the field. This program could not have been more successful, with over 100 new, young referees recruited, who have contributed in a very substantial manner to our peer review process during 2012. Continuing a tradition for our journal (though we only started it last year, it already feels like it is a tradition) we are going to thank, in particular, a few outstanding referees, who have gone above and beyond the call of duty, helping the editors of the Journal of Applied Polymer Science in evaluating truly remarkable numbers of manuscripts, without ever losing track of quality in their reports. The time they dedicated to our journal has taken from their day-to-day activities in industry or academia, but it is an invaluable asset for the community of polymer scientists around the world. The list really shows, if there ever was additional need, how interdisciplinary, varied, and once again global the science and technology of polymers is, with researchers from industry side by side with very young (as well as more experienced) researchers in academia. The criteria that we used to come up with this list are numbers of articles refereed, quality of the reports, and help given to the editors in cases of suspected scientific fraud. It is our pleasure to award these 10 referees a certificate that will be mailed to them. I would like to congratulate again the scientists we have selected for this year's award, as well as all the other high-quality referees who help the Journal of Applied Polymer Science every day to uphold scientific integrity, and to help in turn other scientists make their work achieve its full potential. Stefano Tonzani Editor-in-Chief Journal of Applied Polymer Science