NPG Nature Asia-Pacific in partnership with the Tokyo Institute of Technology is delighted to welcome you to this special inaugural issue of NPG Asia Materials. Since it first appeared in 2008, NPG Asia Materials has highlighted the best of materials science research originating from the Asia-Pacific region. Now the project marks a significant milestone by publishing original, timely and detailed review articles written by leading materials science researchers in the region. This is the next important step toward publishing original research articles — the ultimate goal of NPG Asia Materials.

Initially, NPG Asia Materials will publish 12 review articles each year in four quarterly installments. This print edition also includes a small number of carefully selected concise, informative and accessible research highlights that have appeared recently on the NPG Asia Materials website to show the breadth of coverage of the publication. However, this is only a snapshot of what is being published every week on the web. The weekly highlights, along with the review articles, can be viewed completely free of charge at the journal website (http://www.natureasia.com/asia-materials/). Whilst there, we invite you to take the opportunity to register for free email alerts so that you will never miss the publication of new reviews and research highlights from NPG Asia Materials.

Dr David Swinbanks

CEO, NPG Nature Asia-Pacific

Tokyo