In May 2022, American Thoracic Society (ATS), European Respiratory Society (ERS), Japanese Respiratory Society (JRS) and Latin American Thoracic Society (ALAT) jointly published “Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (an update) and progressive pulmonary fibrosis in adults: an official ATS/ERS/JRS/ALAT clinical practice guideline”, which partially updated the guideline released by ATS/ERS/JRS/ALAT in 2018 and put forward a new definition of “progressive pulmonary fibrosis (PPF)”. On the anniversary of the publication of the 2022 guideline, this article rethinks and interprets the impact of the amendments to the guideline on the clinical research and practice concerning interstitial lung diseases, and further discusses the potential direction of development and future trends in the field of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) / PPF.