This editorial accompanies the full launch of the latest new BMC Series journal, BMC Energy. Written jointly by the journal Section Editors, the Chair of the Editorial Advisory Board and the Editor at Springer Nature, this editorial outlines how this new journal plans to serve the energy research community and describes in detail the scope of the work that it hopes to attract. BMC Energy joins a number of new physical science journals that have been launched recently in the BMC Series, each following BMC Series' ethos of openness and inclusivity, aiming to publish quality research that is accessible for all.

BMC Materials is a new, community-focussed venue for all publishable research across the broad discipline of materials science. It joins the mature and reputable BMC Series of journals, adhering to the same standards of publishing and the ethos of open research set by the Series. Together with its sister journals BMC Chemical Engineering, BMC Biomedical Engineering, BMC Energy and BMC Chemistry, BMC Materials furthers the BMC Series' expansion into the physical sciences and engineering.

This editorial accompanies the launch of BMC Chemical Engineering, a new addition to the BMC Series. The journal follows the BMC Series ethos of being fully open access and making editorial decisions based on scientific validity and quality rather than perceived interest or impact. The scope of the journal is broad, considering fundamental and applied research in all areas of chemical engineering with the ultimate aim of providing an inclusive, community-focussed venue to ensure that the most relevant chemical engineering research is disseminated widely for all to read and build upon.