Critical Care – 10 years on

When Critical Care's first issue was published we were on the brink of the electronic revolution. In the same year the number of online websites reached 1 million (a mere fraction of the vast resources now available) and for the first time more e-mails were sent than letters [1]. The Internet was swiftly seeping into mainstream use. The initial concept behind Critical Care was to make the most of this emerging resource and utilize the Internet as a platform for sharing of ideas, discussion and education within the intensive care community [2]. The Critical Care Forum website was launched alongside its accompanying journal Critical Care. Now in our 10th year of publication, the website and journal have evolved into a single entity – Critical Care – which continues to strive to make the most of the ongoing 'e-revolution'. Since its launch Critical Care has been a dynamic force in the intensive care community, continually evolving and growing to meet the needs of our ever-increasing audience and to make the most of what the Internet has to offer. Ten years later, we have made the decision that all articles published in the journal (from volume 10 onward) will appear online only. This is a reflection of the increasing popularity of online articles over the printed journal and the way in which most readers find articles of interest. With the continuing development of faster and more user-friendly Internet search engines, most readers identify articles of interest using online tools such as PubMed [3], from which they can link directly to their chosen article in Critical Care, rather than browsing through print issues. Online articles also have much more to offer than the printed version. While browsing the full-text of any Critical Care article, readers can link to the PubMed record, find articles in PubMed published by the same authors or on related topics, or find articles in which that article is cited. In addition, readers can e-mail the article to a friend, download the references, link straight from a reference to its PubMed listing, or 'post a comment' if they would like to add their point of view. In particular, this latter facility allows Critical Care to continue to serve as a forum for discussion. We are not alone in our movement away from print; this is a trend being mirrored by many journals in different fields and by a number of …