In 2025 Nuncius. Journal of the Material and Visual History of Science reaches volume 40—an important milestone for a journal that is known under this name since 1986, but that had already been existing ten years earlier as Annali dell’Istituto e Museo di storia della scienza di Firenze, when it was founded by the historian of science Maria Luisa Righini Bonelli, the then director of the Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza in Florence (now known as Museo Galileo). The pages of this journal reveal generations of Italian and international historians of science, research issues and historiographical trends. Great importance has always been given to the history of instruments, scientific institutions, illustrations, museums and collections, as well as to primary sources such as the critical edition of scientists’ correspondence, the analysis of books and scientific objects and representations.

Today the journal’s objective is mainly to explore the historical importance of material and visual culture in science, encompassing the history of a wide range of visual and material tools at the intersection of different fields of research, timelines, traditions and contexts. After 40 volumes, Nuncius continues to foster dialogue across disciplines and areas of expertise. Of course, a lot has changed over the years, not only the journal in itself and its new editorial format—chosen when it joined the group of scholarly journals printed by Brill in 2011—or more in general the history of science as a field of research in transformation. Also the “rules” of the editorial market and academic publishing have changed completely over the last decades. Despite these constant challenges, the journal continues to grow in the international arena of periodicals dedicated to the history of science, fostering a constant dialogue among its community of readers, authors, reviewers, and also libraries (that substantially support the printing of hard copies)—a wide and diverse scholarship that recognizes itself in Nuncius and its objectives.

Since 2015 Nuncius has been publishing three issues for a total of around 750 pages annually. A great attention is devoted to early career scholars thanks to the Nuncius Essay Award, which is now at its second edition. The essays of the winner and the three selected honorable mentions will be announced and published in the second issue of 2025, marking the publication of the 40th volume of the journal. To celebrate this goal, we have also decided to put in free access 40 old articles, that will be therefore available throughout 2025 in the online version of the journal, thanks to the collaboration of the publisher and the support of the new Brill acquisitions editor Alessandra Giliberto, whom I want to thank here. With this initiative we intend to highlight some of the key moments of the long history of the journal, retracing how issues, historiographic trends and approaches on the material and visual history of science have changed in a long-term perspective. Published under the auspices of the Museo Galileo, in 2026 Nuncius will celebrate also the 50 years from its foundation as Annali. Thus, we are planning to organize a set of initiatives, especially in Florence, where all started at the end of the 1970s.

I have been learning a lot from my editorial experience in Nuncius. Journals are peculiar publishing enterprises—collective and collaborative. Sometimes they demand hard working and great efforts, but in return they make you feel part of something bigger. I am proud to contribute to the life of this journal and I am very much grateful to the editorial board that helps and supports me at every stage of the work. In her letter to Harry Woolf, a historian of science at the Johns Hopkins University, in 1976 Maria Luisa Righini Bonelli called the Annali “my new baby.” The baby has now grown up and we will make sure that it may continue to evolve and adapt.

I wish you a good read of the first issue of this 40th volume of Nuncius.