The International Journal of Epidemiology is an essential requirement for anyone who needs to keep up to date with epidemiological advances and new developments throughout the world. It encourages communication among those engaged in the research, teaching, and application of epidemiology of both communicable and non-communicable disease, including research into health services and medical care. Also covered are new methods, epidemiological and statistical, for the analysis of data used by those who practise social and preventive medicine. The International Journal of Epidemiology is published six times yearly.