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In this issue, SelfCare introduces a new service which we hope will be useful to our online community.  ‘SelfCare Focus’ is a new section of the website which provides links to recently published papers on self care selected from the worldwide literature.

Self care involves many professional groups and encompasses a broad spectrum of subjects: from encouraging sufferers of long term illnesses to become knowledgeable in their own care as an adjunct to professional management, to the appropriate self medication of many acute conditions by consumers.  This very spread of interest means that papers relating to self care appear in a diverse range of journals.  The aim of ‘SelfCare Focus’ is to bring together some of the most interesting work that is being done worldwide, as a stimulus for further research and discussion.

The ‘SelfCare Focus’ section of the website will be updated weekly so that each issue of the journal will feature up to 40 articles. Each featured item will be identified by category (e.g. long term illness) and all items will be archived by issue to provide a useful repository of contemporary links.

We welcome your views on this new feature of the journal and how to adapt it to best meet your needs. If you feel we are missing important work, please let us know and we will seek to improve our coverage over time. The evidence base for self care is scattered and this can lessen the impact of important work on those involved in similar areas. We hope this service will help to consolidate some of the best material and focus minds on the potential for new research in self care.