We are now celebrating the anniversary of our launch by making selected highlights from our first year free for a limited time period. Although it seems like yesterday, an entire year has now passed since the launch of Nature Photonics in January 2007. To celebrate our first anniversary we have created a webpage with selected highlights from our first 12 issues.

The page provides links to 28 articles from throughout 2007 that we think best represent the diversity and intentions of Nature Photonics, and can be found at www.nature.com/naturephotonics. This content comprises an assortment of Reviews, primary research papers, News and Views pieces, Interviews and Commentaries, which will be free to download until 31 May 2008.

Fittingly, it shows the broad coverage that Nature Photonics has successfully achieved. In 2007 we published research papers reporting exciting results in topics spanning from quantum optics, plasmonics, photonic crystals, metamaterials and silicon photonics through to terahertz science, biophotonics and free-electron lasers, and many other areas besides.

Looking back, to name just a few highlights, we started 2007 with reports of state-of-the-art photonic-crystal structures and microring resonators that could act as temporary memories for storing optical data, as well as a design for fabricating an optical invisibility cloak. This was followed by reports of a high-power free-electron laser in the extreme UV that reaches down into the water window, an all-optical modulation scheme that uses plasmonics to enable light to control light, a detector that can measure the number of photons in a light pulse, and a high-frequency single-photon source.

Despite their great diversity, all these papers have something in common. They have all been assessed by our referees, trusted researchers in the photonics community, and by ourselves to be highly significant findings of broad appeal that represent the cutting edge of photonics and are likely to prove influential in the field's evolution.

However, there is more to Nature Photonics than just reporting these peer-reviewed findings. Alongside these papers we have published numerous articles of general interest, such as our News and Views pieces, Commentaries, Interviews and Out of the Lab articles, which aim to provide an informative, yet easy-to-read account of the latest important trends and developments in photonics. These pieces have not just been limited to research findings, and topics covered in our first year also include advice on careers, starting up companies and patenting research.

In addition, our series of six Technology Focus supplements in 2007, which focused on the topics of LEDs, optical communication, displays, semiconductor lasers, biophotonics and imaging, are designed to help encourage interaction between academia and industry.

Throughout 2007 we have often been asked “What makes a paper suitable for Nature Photonics, and what are you looking for?” In essence, we are seeking papers of the highest quality that satisfy one of two criteria. Either they must document an important advance in conceptual understanding that provides new insights into a photonics-related process, or report a new level of technological performance or functionality that acts as a milestone for the future development in that field. In either case, they must offer broad appeal to the community.

Throughout 2008, we look forward to working with you to continue this mission and would like to take this occasion to say a big thank-you to all of you who either submitted papers or acted as referees, or perhaps have even done both. Without your continuing support in both of these roles we would not be where we are today.