AbstractContrary to the overall trend in the worldwide economy, 2009 actually has turned out a good year for the physica status solidi journal series. With more than 10.000 published pages, pss (a), pss (b), pss (c), and pss (RRL) continue to be major players on the stage of journals covering the entire broad spectrum of solid state physics. While more and more highly specialized journals appear on the market, the broad scope of physica status solidi constitutes an opportunity and a challenge at the same time: An opportunity for those who from time to time look across the borders of their own field of specialization and become interested in and are inspired by seemingly unrelated results of colleagues in other fields. A challenge, because the organization of a high quality peer review process for a broad range of topics requires a much larger base of knowledgeable referees and puts a higher demand on the Editorial Boards and the editorial staff. Although we at physica status solidi are certainly not perfect, I am confident that we have done a pretty good job here again in 2009.This is reflected by the continuously increasing Impact Factor of the ISI‐listed pss journals (see figure), as well as by the large number of accesses and downloads on the internet. We are particularly proud of the fact that the first official Impact Factor of the youngest member in the pss family, the Rapid Research Letters, is higher than 2. This is definitely a good start and motivates us to further develop the unique profile of pss (RRL) as the fastest peer‐reviewed journal in solid state physics.To give you an idea of the broad range of topics covered by the various journals of the pss series, below please find a list [1–16] of highly cited, respectively downloaded, or otherwise outstanding articles published in 2008/2009. They reflect the many scientific facets of modern solid state physics: solar cells, carbon‐based materials, spin physics and magnetism, nanotechnology, electronic devices, solid state theory, ferroelectricity, auxetic materials, photocatalysis, organic/inorganic hybrid systems, etc., etc. This ‘Best of pss’ collection can also be reached through the materials science portal of Wiley‐VCH materialsviews.com, and all articles are freely accessible until June. If you have a couple of minutes or – even better – an hour, just browse through this list and enjoy!My best personal wishes and thanks go to all our contributors, readers, referees, my fellow Editors, and the dedicated staff of the Editorial Office in Berlin. May 2010 be a good year for all of you!