This editorial introduces a special issue of the Schizophrenia Bulletin, which examines new frontiers in prodromal research. Just over a decade ago, in the spring of 1992, this journal published a two-part special issue on the study of first episode schizophrenia, which encouraged a major shift in focus to the early phases of schizophrenia. Hundreds of studies later, the field is now much richer in knowledge concerning this critical period. In turn, it has appeared increasingly likely that a push to even earlier phases of illness will benefit the field still further. The initial set of such very early illness studies was first introduced in a 1996 special issue of Schizophrenia Bulletin. Since then, there have been many new developments and many new prodromal studies launched. It is the authors' hope that the articles in the current issue will provide the foundation for the next generation of research concerned with prevention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)