At the end of December 2019, I conclude six years of service as the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Advances in Optics and Photonics (AOP). I am grateful to the founding Editor, Bahaa Saleh, and to The Optical Society (OSA) for selecting me as the second Editor-in-Chief of this OSA journal. It has been a privilege to serve in this capacity and to have the opportunity to continue to build on the strong base left by Bahaa Saleh. In this farewell editorial, I reflect on my tenure and introduce my successor.

When I began my term in January 2014, AOP was only five years old and had yet to receive its first impact factor. I was quite happy when AOP received its first impact factor of 10.1 in June 2014, reflecting the strong foundation provided by Bahaa Saleh. I was even more pleased when the impact factor of AOP increased successively to 12.4, 17.8, and 21.3 over the next three years. Even though the impact factor for 2018 was back to near 14, AOP remains among the top optics journals in terms of its impact and reputation. Relatively large year-to-year fluctuations in the impact factor are expected for a journal that publishes a small number of reviews and tutorials. AOP celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2019 by publishing several editorials and viewpoints from the AOP authors whose published reviews have been most cited.

I am very happy to share that, effective 1 January 2020, Prof. Guifang Li of the University of Central Florida will be the next Editor-in-Chief of Advances in Optics and Photonics. Guifang knows this journal well as an author, because he has the distinction of publishing two reviews: the first one in 2009 [1] and the second one in 2014 [2]. Guifang is well-respected for his work in the area of optical fiber communications and has served as an Associate Editor for several OSA journals. He is a Fellow of OSA as well as IEEE and was chosen in 2015 as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. During the year 2014, he was a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Photonics Society. With all these accomplishments, I can say without hesitation that AOP will be in very good hands with Guifang Li as its next Editor-in-Chief.

In farewell, I would like to express my appreciation for the opportunity provided to me by OSA to contribute to the success of Advances in Optics and Photonics for the last six years. I am thankful to several optical scientists who agreed to serve as Associate Editors and who helped me in various ways in carrying out the mission of AOP. I also acknowledge the hundreds of reviewers who helped me by providing timely reviews of longer than usual articles. Last but not least, I thank the excellent AOP staff for our monthly meetings and their dedication to the success of AOP.