In the mid-1980s the European Journal of Biochemistry setout to publish review articles. The enterprise provedsuccessful resulting in high-level reviews written bywell-known scientists appearing in the Journal. The reviewsrepresent emerging and rapidly growing fields of research infundamental as well as applied areas of biochemistry, suchas medicine, biotechnology, agriculture and nutrition. Novelmethodological andtechnological approaches which stimulatebiochemical research are also included. The authors of thereviews are explicitly asked to be critical, selective,evaluative and interdisciplinarily oriented. The reviewsshould encourage young scientists toward independent andcreative thinking, and inform active investigators about thestate of the art in a given field.