To celebrate 30 years of publication of Invertebrate Systematics, this virtual issue contains some of our most highly citing papers.

Invertebrate Systematics has focused on the publication of primary research and review articles on all aspects related to systematics of invertebrates, including taxonomic papers with a focus on evolution and ecology. Some of these papers are highly cited and have introduced novel concepts broadly used in evolutionary biology, such as ‘short-range endemics’. Many articles have had a traditional focus on the Australian biota, our journal having served as a major venue for publishing new discoveries on the stygobiont Australian fauna and groundwater biology, or to understand endemism in different Australian biomes.

From a taxonomic perspective, the journal has published major systematic and revisionary studies in a variety of invertebrates belonging to most animal phyla from all over the world and covering terrestrial, limnic and marine taxa. Many systematic studies have introduced new techniques, phylum-level analyses, or densely-sampled phylogenies of specific groups, almost always bearing on broader aspects of the biogeography of those groups.

Finally, a collection of more theoretical papers related to aspects of the practice of systematics, the use of DNA for describing taxa, or discussions about whether morphology should always be required for describing species, have appeared in issues of our journal in the past few years. Clearly, Invertebrate Systematics has become one of the preferred journals for many invertebrate systematists from around the globe.