EditorialMilestones of Triple Helix in a year of hardships

As new Co-Editors-in-Chief, replacing Professor Henry Etzkowitz, the former Editor-in-Chief of the Triple Helix journal run by the Triple Helix Association (THA), we are pleased to write the editorial on this issue. While we are thrilled about assuming such an important position for promoting knowledge advancement in research on innovation and entrepreneurship in the contexts of interactions between university, industry and government, we are clearly aware of our responsibilities for carrying forward the official journal of the THA. We feel obligated to the THA for entrusting us to take this task at a crucial time. In the past two years, the Triple Helix Journal has encountered extraordinary challenges, and, meanwhile, reached milestones. The first challenge was related to the change of publisher. The Triple Helix Journal was initiated in 2014 with Springer. At that time, a generous sponsorship granted to the THA enabled the journal to be “Triple free access”: Free to readers as the journal is open access; free to authors as there is no article processing charge (APC); free to the publisher as the operation cost is covered by the THA. However, due to the discontinuation of the sponsorship, the model of “Triple free access” was no longer sustainable. In order to lessen the financial burden of APCs for authors, we accepted Brill’s offer of a very reasonable APC rate which still allows the journal to remain open access. However, the transition from Springer to Brill did cause confusion to readers and this led to a significant drop in submitted manuscripts in 2019. Thankfully, 2020 saw a visible increase of submitted papers and special issue proposals. This is a sign that the journal has got out of the hardships. The second challenge is related to the pandemic caused by COVID-19. The fast scenario change, hitting badly the THA and its members like many other organizations, has required quick moves and thought decisions. The THA’s