I am very happy and privileged to greet our readers and authors in 2021.

The year just ended was extraordinary. The global pandemic forced all of us to change our familiar daily habits, lifestyles and accustomed ways of going about our work and research activities. Yet, this difficult time did not and in this new year will not discourage the work of the BRICS Law Journal. Our contributing authors persevere in their research and submission of excellent articles; our readers are following up and citing the articles; and our editorial team compiles issues and organizes events with professional dedication. Moreover, with this new year, the Journal has reached a new benchmark and enters a new stage of its development.

In 2021, I take up the post of Editor-in-Chief of the BRICS Law Journal. This is an honor and a great responsibility that I take very seriously. Before I discuss our plans for the future, I would like to thank the founding Editor-in-Chief Professor Dmitry Maleshin for his distinguished contributions and outstanding work. Dmitry is the inspiration and architect of the Journal and under his editorship BRICS Law Journal has become a recognized open forum for legal scholars, practitioners, decision makers and young career legal professionals to reflect on issues that are relevant to the BRICS countries and internationally significant. His steadfast commitment to the Journal has been exceptional indeed. His efforts, dedication, networking and intelligent leadership have placed the Journal on the map of internationally recognized law journals and resulted in its indexing by the international research databases HeinOnline, EBSCO, Scopus and Web of Science. He engaged outstanding authors and reviewers, assembled the editorial team and created the platform for relevant comparative research and legal development not only in and between the BRICS countries themselves, but also between BRICS and the wider world. Upon assuming my new role, I want to acknowledge Dmitry’s incomparable contributions and express my appreciation for all the efforts he put into the development and success of the BRICS Law Journal.

With its entry into a new stage of its development, the BRICS Law Journal will set new objectives, to be accomplished by new people, who will face new challenges. As the Editor-in-Chief, I will always be open to the suggestions and recommendations of our Boards, and I will rely on the support of the Journal’s editorial team and partners. Guided by its commitment to serve the BRICS community, the Journal will undertake the following initiatives now and in the coming years. We will give renewed energy to the Editorial Board and the Editorial Council by involving additional prominent academics who together with the returning members will contribute to the further success of the Journal. We will expand the scope of the Journal by calling for interdisciplinary papers and research from fields intersecting with law – political studies, history, anthropology, sociology and economics. The Journal will aim at participating in more international and national events, and at sponsoring conferences, research forums and seminars with our new partners.

Today, as a result of the pandemic, the legal, research, funding and publishing landscapes are experiencing rapid and dramatic changes. The world has become more unpredictable. We continue to face turbulence in all spheres of our lives, which tests our resilience. Research journals and legal institutions in the BRICS countries should play an active and constructive role in these circumstances. We must formulate a new agenda and offer real solutions for people, for the citizens of our countries, for businesses and for public authorities. We, as researchers, think tank fellows, colleagues in academia, judges and practicing lawyers, must take up higher responsibility, and in forums such as the BRICS Law Journal suggest effective, efficient and adequate tools for our countries to respond to global challenges of every sort. The view of the BRICS Law Journal has been in the past and remains today an ever increasing recognition that people-to-people ties are a crucial means to that end.