GMS-HTA: Information out of the world of HTA - up-to-date, comprehensive and valid

Dear Readers: At this, the fifth anniversary of the German Agency for Health Technology Assessment (DAHTA@DIMDI) we present a new medium for a new age: the electronic journal GMSHealth Technology Assessment. The journal expands the current palette of publication media of DIMDI. The agency, DAHTA@DIMDI, thereby utilizes the potential of DIMDI's participation in the German Medical Science portal the initiative of cost-free access to quality scientific papers. Those seeking information appreciate, among other things, the timeliness of swiftly-published, yet highquality articles, as well as the cost-free distribution of fulltext versions. This standard of high quality is assured by the collaboration of the GermanNational Library of Medicine (ZB MED), the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany (AWMF) and the German Institute for Medical Documentation and Infor-mation (DIMDI). DAHTA@DIMDI offers the benefits of electronic publication with the goal of publishing timely, current research results that are affordable, quality assured and peer reviewed for health policy decision making. Thus, the Agency can offer interested parties a publication platform for the systematic evaluation of medical processes, HTA. This is particularly important for us within the backdrop of international cooperation, which is currently developing as the European HTA Network (EuNetHTA) initiative.