We are very pleased to introduce the inaugural issue of Biomedical Optics Express. Published by The Optical Society, Biomedical Optics Express is a new peer-reviewed journal focusing on biomedical optics and biophotonics. Biomedical Optics Express is intended to become OSA’s principal outlet for serving the biomedical optics community with rapid, open-access publication of biomedical content. All published articles will be freely available on the Internet immediately upon publication, and archived by one of the world’s most distinguished professional societies.Many features of this new journal mirror and expand upon those of the pioneering and highly successful OSA publication, Optics Express. These include rapid, online, open-access publication and availability of free color figures, movies, animations, and live reference links. HTML with MathML (XHTML) versions of each Biomedical Optics Express article, suitable for viewing on a range of electronic devices, are published along with the formatted PDF. Additional new features of particular interest to biomedical authors will include Interactive Science Publishing (ISP) capability for online visualization of large and/or reference datasets and automated submission of published articles to PubMed Central to assist in compliance with U.S. federal open-access requirements. The journal’s web presence will include innovative features such as enhanced graphical content, author videos, links to upcoming meetings and events, and a compendium of biomedical content throughout OSA’s journals in the Virtual Journal for Biomedical Optics (VJBO).The journal scope encompasses theoretical modeling and simulations, technology development, biomedical studies and clinical applications. Please note that this scope is somewhat broader than that of OSA’s other journals, in that innovation in the applications, as well as the development, of biophotonic technologies are welcome. Topics to be featured in the journal include many familiar to those in the active community of authors and readers who have benefitted from the consistently high quality of OSA journals for years, including:

We are honored to have assembled a distinguished international group of leaders in biomedical optics to serve on complementary advisory and associate editorial boards (see journal masthead). The advisory board will help guide the journal’s editorial direction and scope. The associate editorial board is dedicated to managing the challenging task of conducting expert and timely peer review of all submitted manuscripts.

Due to the tremendous response we have received since opening the journal for submissions in May, we have advanced the publication date of this inaugural issue to August 2. Consistent with the journal’s goal of rapid publication, all papers will be published online soon after acceptance on the journal’s forthcoming page, and then included in the next available monthly issue. Depending upon the number of contributions, feature issues may accumulate papers over several months, during which they will also be available on the feature issue collections page. Invited and review papers will also be included in the journal.

We welcome your readership, your support as peer-reviewers, and your submissions to Biomedical Optics Express. The latest issue and instructions for submission of manuscripts can always be found at www.opticsinfobase.org/boe. Potential authors, please note that manuscripts submitted within the first year will have no author charges, and there will be a reduced rate in the second year.

We are personally excited to have been selected to lead this new journal and to ensure that it serves the needs of authors and readers in our community. If you have suggestions on how to improve this journal, please don’t hesitate to let us know. Contact us at boemss@osa.org.