To celebrate the success of the Journal of Controlled Release and the research covered in the journal, here we highlight some of the most cited research articles in the history of the journal. Based on the literature search in Google Scholar in July 2013, we identified similar to 30 research articles that have received most number of citations. Authors of these articles were invited to provide a commentary on these articles. This compilation of commentaries gives a historical perspective and current status of research covered in these articles. (C) 2014 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.