It is my great pleasure to welcome you to Nanomaterials, a new open access journal, which is dedicated to the fabrication, characterization, functionalization, modeling and application of nanomaterials. In answer to the title question, I would like to (mis)quote one of my favourite pieces of literature: I "[We] hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men ... are endowed ... with certain unalienable rights, that among these are ..." free access to information and education. The prime goal of Nanomaterials is to publish first-class, original research articles under an open access policy with minimal fees for the authors. The quality of the published articles will be assured by a fast yet rigorous peer-review process. [...].