It is my great pleasure to present to you the inaugural issue of Annals of Eye Science (AES), the official journal of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center (ZOC) affiliated with Sun Yat-sen University. 

“Why another journal” You might ask when seeing Annals of Eye Science. The number of Chinese ophthalmologists has reached 35,000 now and English has become an international language of communication for ophthalmologists, however, only a handful of English language journals dedicated to the field that are published in China. Since its inception in 1983, ZOC has become the largest eye center in China. ZOC has been recognized for its advanced achievements in quality clinical care and ophthalmic research and granted the status of State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology (SKLO) by the Ministry of Science and Technology as the only one of its kind in China. There is no doubt that advancing ophthalmology sciences have become an important mission of ZOC. 

As a new international, open-access, peer-reviewed journal, AES is dedicated to providing a forum for the rapid dissemination of latest discoveries in ophthalmology, publishing articles that focus on cutting-edge findings in this rapidly growing field and providing up-to-date, practical information on diagnosis, prevention and clinical investigations. Specific areas of interest include, but are not limited to, multimodality therapy, markers, imaging, biology, pathology, genetics, neuroscience, and immunology, and technical advances in ophthalmology. AES encourages submission from all countries and regions, including countries with emerging and developing economies.

Every effort will be made to present our audience with a well-constructed, informative and educational journal by providing rapid, authoritative, insightful and arresting news and interpretation of topical and coming trends affecting science, scientists and the wider public. 

At this landmark moment for AES, I would like to thank all our colleagues, our editorial board members and staff for their assistance and efforts to make possible the launch of this newborn journal. I am grateful to everyone who supported the idea of creating a new journal. Of course, your future support and nurture on AES would be greatly appreciated. I believe that AES will grow into an internationally respected tool turn out a great contribution for biomedical scientists and clinicians working in the field of ophthalmology.