It has been two years and eight months since the first issue of Photonics Research was published in June 2013. During that time, the photonics and optics community has progressed on many fronts, as has the journal! Advances have been reported in lasers, microring resonators, nanowaveguide properties, nano-optics, ultrafast optics, metamaterials, and nonlinear optics, to name but a few that continue to push forward the boundaries of photonics and optics research. In 2014, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for “the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources,” and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to “the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy,” both of which are at the heart of photonics.

Since the launch of Photonics Research, three volumes have been published. PR has already published 171 articles and reviews to date, including four feature issues containing papers from internationally recognized research teams. The median time from submission to publication is 92 days, with a 50% acceptance rate.

Research topics published in Photonics Research have included, for example, laser materials, microlasers, metamaterials, plasmonics, optical resonators, nanophotonics, optical manipulation, photonic crystals, photovoltaics, quantum well devices, quantum optics, nonlinear optics, and dispersion engineering. The four special issues were focused on Group IV Photonics (2014), Microwave Photonics (2014), Photonics Based on Two-Dimensional Materials (2015), and Integrated Photonics: Challenges and Perspectives (2015).

The citation and download numbers of Photonics Research articles are very positive and continue to increase. This is a strong indicator that Photonics Research has been attracting and publishing papers that meet the needs and interests of the global optics and photonics community. We were very pleased that Photonics Research was indexed by SCI-E in 2015 and we expect its first Impact Factor will be published in the next Thomson Reuter’s Journal Citation Report (expected June 2016).

The journal’s current editorial board is composed of a distinguished international group of 18 leaders who reflect and serve the needs of authors and readers in the greater photonics and optics community. Our peer-review system, and thus the quality of the journal, has been our top priority. For every manuscript submitted to Photonics Research, the editors have been prompt and dedicated in handling the review process to ensure constructive feedback to authors. We wish to take this opportunity to thank those of you who have already supported the journal by contributing manuscripts and by reviewing submissions. In particular, the time commitment and high-quality content of Photonics Research’s volunteer reviewers is greatly appreciated. We would like to thank them as well as all of our contributing authors.

Looking to the future, it is our sincere hope that Photonics Research will become your first choice when communicating your latest research to the international optics and photonics community.