We introduce, characterise and provide a combinatorial interpretation for the so-called q-Jacobi–Stirling numbers.
This study is motivated by their key role in the (reciprocal) expansion of any power of a second order
q-differential operator having the q-classical polynomials as eigenfunctions in terms of other even order operators,
which we explicitly construct in this work. The results here obtained can be viewed as the q-version of
those given by Everitt et al. and by the first author, whilst the combinatorics of this new set of numbers is a
q-version of the Jacobi–Stirling numbers given by Gelineau and the second author