Dear Reader,

It is probably not the first time (and hopefully not the last) that you keep an issue of our journal in your hands. This time, however, you have a possibility to join celebration of its remarkable 90th anniversary and share our joy on this occasion.
It is a great honor for me to write a foreword to the anniversary issue of the journal, seen as theirs by not only biochemists but also scientists who are akin to us in terms of research interests. Formerly Ukrains’kyi Biokhimichnyi Zhurnal, its title today is The Ukrainian Biochemical Journal (UBJ). It is not a mere tribute to the presently most wide-spread language of science but rather an evidence of the fact that the Ukrainian fundamental science is an organic integral part of the world’s science, what it has always been, as a matter of fact.
We try hard to make The Ukrainian Biochemical Journal a really popular international publication. But to be frank and open, it is still Ukrains’kyi Biokhimichnyi in effect, despite the presence of foreign scientists among its authors. Some see it as a shortcoming, that the UBJ is more Ukrainian than international, others see it as an advantage. However, it actually was and remains now the only biochemical journal in Ukraine and one of its best journals for publishing works on various branches of life sciences. You can hardly even imagine how many scientists have published the findings of their research in UBJ (or, more habitually for biochemistry stagers, UBZh), and how many of these reports have become the basis for their doctoral theses over the 90 years!
Anniversaries are, in the first place, an occasion to pay homage to outstanding scientists – full and corresponding members of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, as well as doctors renowned for their achievements in their respective fields of science. With thanks and reverence do we recall our teachers – the patriarch of Ukrainian biochemistry: Aleksandr Palladin, Maksym Huly, Volodymyr Belitser, Davyd Ferdman and others. It was them who have developed the Ukrainian biochemical science and won for it honor and glory. Following them were hundreds and hundreds of scientists – young (and not quite young) authors and coauthors of papers published in the UBJ during this time. They did not belong to the cohort of coryphaei but bore the major weight of experimental science. And they were the most numerous creators of the journal at all stages of its development. Working in research laboratories, production, medicine, agriculture, that is, where there is demand for their expertise, they do good to the science, society and country. I also cannot help mentioning our reviewers – high-skilled experts who contribute significantly to raising the journal’s level in terms of scientific theory and methodology.
So the journal can be proud of its achievements. With years the 90-year-old has been looking younger (look at its cover!) and smarter (read the published papers!). Let us congratulate each other and those who in some way or other have had anything to do with this anniversary, as well as all those who have devoted their life to one of the world’s most interesting and advanced sciences – BIOCHEMISTRY!

Serhiy Komisarenko
Member of the National Academy of Sciences
and National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine