The period since 2010 has been a very successful one for the journal, with an increase in submissions, a decrease in the average time to decision, and very positive author feedback. Over this time the Journal has seen a significant increase in submissions and accepted papers originating from Asia-Pacific region, especially from greater China. To help us respond to this trend, and to assist in further reducing time from submission to publication decision, we are pleased to announce the appointment of a third Editor-in-Chief, Dr Yaping Zhang. Dr Zhang is a Lecturer in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. She holds a BSc in Applied Optics (Shandong University, China), an MSc in Applied Physics (National Defense University of Technology, China) and a PhD in Optoelectronics (The University of Nottingham, UK). She brings experience of working in various world leading high-tech industries and academia, with specific expertise in the fields of laser and semiconductor physics, telecommunications, fibre optics, photonics, nanotechnology, electromagnetics and optical biosensing technology. Dr Zhang’s present research interests include the application of telecom technologies in sensing technologies, and advanced signal/data/image processing techniques. She will be assisted by two new Executive Editors, Prof. Weida Hu of the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, who is an expert on photodiodes, and Professor Daoxin Dai of the Center for Optical and Electromagnetic Research, State Key Laboratory for Modern Optical Instrumentation, Zhejiang University, whose expertise lies in silicon micro-/nano-photonics for optical communications, optical interconnections, and optical sensing. In association with these new appointments we are planning to publish a forthcoming issue of the Journal highlighting research in Greater China.

We are also pleased to announce another exciting development, the introduction of a streamlined route for the rapid publication of a limited number of short papers (maximum of 3–4 published pages) concentrating on new results. Authors will be encouraged to nominate referees on submission; referees will also be selected from members of the Editorial Board and others. We aim to publish these short papers on-line with a maximum turn-around time of 6 weeks. Koby Scheuer, School of Electrical Engineering, Department of Physical Electronics, Tel-Aviv University, has kindly agreed to take on primary editorial responsibility for submissions made via this new track.

We thank you for your continued support of Optical and Quantum Electronics.