The Six Decades of Acta Cytologica commemorates the past six decades of the journal, which coincide with the development of clinical cytology and its emergence as an independent discipline of modern medicine. This issue combines past, present, and future in an intriguing way. The most influential articles from each of the past six decades, published in previous issues of Acta Cytologica, have been reprinted in their original version. Each is accompanied by a commentary from a prominent expert in the respective field. This commentary summarizes the original article and its significance and describes its impact on the development of the discipline, and its role in increasing our understanding at a conceptual level. This publication is a tribute to the scientific and clinical work of the pioneering generation of cytologists and their successors, as well as an acknowledgement of the ever increasing complexity of the innovations made by the younger generation of professionals working in this field.