The editorials for this journal, Geoscientific Model Development (GMD), are grouped together in this open-ended special issue. Founded in 2008, GMD has been a pioneer in the publication of peer-reviewed papers specifically describing computational models, model developments, and experiment descriptions in the geosciences. As this area of scientific endeavour develops, the requirements for peer review at GMD also evolve. From time to time the executive editors update the editorial policy, and these changes are recorded in editorials.