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“Giovanni, we should write an editorial about passing the baton at JN”. “Farwell editorials are so damn boring,” was the answer. “And presentation editorials are usually pretty pretentious...” Being the incoming editor of Journal of Nephrology, JN to its friends, is like directing Le Nozze di Figaro after Carlo Maria Giulini. It is practically impossible to do better. There is no point asking a shy man to comment on his achievements, and no point presenting a list of high-sounding proposals. JN is the international journal of the Italian Society of Nephrology, an association that like all similar societies has seen friendships and fights, alliances and gossip. No scientific society is perfect. We hope, however, to continue the tradition of JN as a journal that can take advantage of Italian curiosity and elegance, our slightly anarchic dynamism, to involve new authors and learn from the international community. JN is alive and on the move; many changes are underway, many will follow (Table 1). Working with Giovanni in recent months has allowed me to reflect on the joy of science, and on the importance of friendship in our profession; we therefore decided to exchange our thoughts on these topics, involving our editors and, we hope, highlighting the common line we are following to make Journal of Nephrology a journal that conveys good science and shares outstanding papers, while remaining open to new ideas and new voices, a journal in which the Italian tradition is an added value, and in no way a means of discriminating against researchers in other countries. Giovanni, what is the role of research in medicine? It is obvious to say that it is important. I think it is the essence of medicine. When we think about research, we imagine laboratories, cohorts of patients, databases, teams of investigators, etc. Even though science is an essential part of practicing medicine, being a doctor involves much more than having scientific knowledge. In my opinion, the general practitioner treating one single patient, in a small village in a remote valley can be a researcher, if this person applies scientific reasoning. The intensive-care doctor in the small hospital in Codogno in Lombardy who discovered “Patient 1” during the SARSCovid 19 pandemic, marking the official start of the epidemic in Italy, was engaging in lateral thinking, experimenting with a new hypothesis. In my opinion, this research has the same dignity as the research done in a laboratory or in investigating large cohorts. Giovanni’s views chime with those of our board. One comment stands out in his ironic declaration of his love of medicine: the role of research is essential for human survival (from an optimistic point of view) or for human extinction (from a pessimistic one). Personally, I like doing research, even my (modest) clinical research because it is an essential aspect of my love for my job; doing research helps my brain to continue to perform (as much possible with the residual neurons it has). Medicine without research would be destined to become a merely technical performance. Another editor underlined humility: medicine without research is an empty shell; everybody can be self-promoting and present expert opinions. Research is humbling and constructive. A third editor commented more broadly on the medical profession: my strong conviction about the difference between a bad/mediocre doctor and a good one is that the former does not have the gift Members of the Editorial Board of Journal of Nephrology: Carlo Basile, Antonio Bellasi, Vincenzo Bellizzi, Paolo Cravedi, Rosanna Coppo, Sandro Mazzaferro, Umberto Maggiore, Andrea Onetti Muda.

Research, friendship, the joy of writing and the editorship of Journal of Nephrology