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. AES is published in English by AME Publishing Company and publishes manuscripts that describe new findings in the field to provide current and practical information on the diagnosis and treatment of conditions related to ophthalmology.

“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. With ambitious projects, ZOC is happy to launch our official English Journal with the support of excellent scientists and physicians joining the editorial board and the cooperation with AME Publishing Company.

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.

AES is published by AME Publishing Company. Since AME is currently managing several top quality journals, I am confident that manuscript submission and review process in the online system of AES will be straightforward and user-friendly. The open-access policy of AES will allow all readers from the medical science community to utilize all material published in this journal freely without obstacle.

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. We, together with all the editorial board members and the publisher AME, are proactive in making the journal a top-tier publication.

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.