2D materials: a transition in leadership—reflecting on our successes and looking forward to the future

Abstract

Dear reader, We write this editorial to highlight this important transition period from the current Editor-in-Chief to the new one. Since the journal’s inception, our goal was to establish a journal that serves all sides of this multidisciplinary field by publishing urgent research of the highest quality and impact [1]. Being the first journal to represent solely the 2D materials community and report its research findings, there was considerable excitement during its launch. Over the subsequent seven years, we have achieved this with considerable success not only in terms of the impact and importance of the work published in 2DM, but also in terms of the journal’s collaborationwithmajor research programmes such as the EU Graphene Flagship (an example of which is the Flagship’s major whitebook, ‘Production and processing of graphene and related materials’ that was published last year [2]). We also published a number of highly influential focus issues covering diverse topics such as phosphorene and related 2D materials for electronics and optics [3], transition metal dichalcogenides [4] and tailoring spin-dependent transport in 2D materials [5]. Looking more broadly at the applications of 2D materials, we also considered how to bring graphenebased technology to the market with the publication of two Roadmap Briefs: ‘Graphene Roadmap Briefs (No. 1): innovation interfaces of the Graphene Flagship’ [6] and ‘Graphene Roadmap Briefs (No. 2): industrialization status and prospects 2020′ [7] which both provide market-based analyses of the commercialisation of graphene, an important driver for graphene and related materials research over the next decade. Other important developments have also happened on 2DM over the past year such as Institutional Open Access Agreements, where authors at institutions with such agreements in place can benefit from publishing Open Access without direct cost to themselves [8]. So, after the seven years the journal is in excellent health and well placed to transition to its next phase in its life under the leadership of Professor Wencai Ren. The journal will remain on course to publish the highest quality research in 2D and related materials bringing you, the reader, work from the most influential researchers in the field. Indeed, the journal will retain its focus on publishing multidisciplinary and inter-disciplinary research, and we will be engaging more at the interface with chemistry through future focus issues on MXenes, energy storage and catalysis to name mention just three areas. More immediately, the upcoming focus issues on twistronics [9] and graphdiyne [10] will shine the spotlight on these two important but emerging areas of research. Innovation will continue be a major theme as we develop the journal further. We will be launching an Emerging leaders award, which will serve to highlight the excellent work done by the next generation of scientists. In these difficult times, such recognition becomes even more important especially for young scientists as they struggle to establish their reputations through reduced collaborationnetworks.We are still working out the details, but we will announce more in due course. In addition, we will be increasing our outreach further by holding a series of webinars on the hottest areas of 2D materials research. Our first one that we held in March this year was based on the focus issue on Twistronics and was a resounding success with over 4500 viewers watching the event live [11]. Our aim is to replicate that success, and even exceed it, bringing the fascinating world of 2D materials research to an even broader audience than before. We are sure there aremany ideas out there, be that topics for focus issues and/or topical reviews or new and novel initiatives and we would encourage you to come forwardwith your suggestions by contacting the journal team at [email protected]. Aswemark this transition in leadership, wewould like to thank you all over the past seven years, whether