Editor's letter

Over the past seven years, we have had the privilege of serving as Editors of The International Spectator, the peer-reviewed journal of the Istituto Affari Internazionali, founded by Altiero Spinelli in 1966. During this period, we chose to guide the journal's activities according to principles of integrity, quality, diversity and sustainability, as outlined in the editorial published in 2023.

Through these seven years, the journal has experienced a significant increase in readership (from 79,000 yearly downloads in 2018 to 224,000 in 2025), enhanced its global standing (consistently ranking in the top 20 percent of journals worldwide in rankings such as SCImag, Journal Rank and Scopus CiteScore, and obtaining an impact factor of 1.6 in 2024), and strengthened its international reach (with the share of non-European readers rising from 36 percent in 2018 to 45 percent in 2025). It has also improved its gender balance (with the proportion of female authors increasing from 31 percent in 2018 to 64 percent in 2024).

These achievements have been made possible thanks to the trust placed in us from the outset by the outgoing Director of the lAl, Nathalie Tocci, and the invaluable support of our Editorial and International Advisory Boards.

It is our hope that the journal will continue to grow and improve in the years ahead under the new editorial leadership to be appointed by the lAl, which will take over from us starting on 1 May.

Rome, 27 April 2026

Leo Goretti & Daniela Huber