The International Epidemiological Association (IEA) and Oxford University Press (OUP) are pleased to announce that work has begun on the 5th edition of A dictionary of epidemiology, whose first four editions were edited by John Last (Ottawa) and published by OUP. This new edition will be edited under the leadership of Miquel Porta (Barcelona), who was selected for such task by the IEA Council in 2000. The tentative publication date is September of 2008, to coincide with the IEA world congress of epidemiology in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Members of IEA and all other epidemiologists worldwide are cordially invited to contribute to the work by submitting to the editor amendments, corrections of existing definitions, and new material. There is already a small file of suggested amendments and possible additions to the new edition, which John Last received and kindly guarded since publication of the 4th edition in 2001.¹

Further contributions, corrections, and comments are warmly welcomed at our exciting new wiki: rather than communicating via email, we have established a collaborative web site—a wiki (http://tinyurl.com/h44w3)—where all interested parties can participate in the creation of this new edition. Unlike occasionally chaotic and often unstructured email based discussions,² the wiki is designed to organise and structure contributions from a great diversity of professionals. Please note that the wiki is the only way to make your contribution.

If you would like to contribute to the 5th edition, for more information, and for specific instructions, please visit http://tinyurl.com/h44w3.

To submit a contribution, suggestion, or comment you do not need to be a full time epidemiologist. Rather, I expect that potential contributors will have one of at least three broad types of professional relationships with epidemiology: (1) a significant portion of contributors will have some to extensive training in epidemiology and currently work or have professional experience as an epidemiologist (they may also have professional experience in other fields); (2) some will consider that their main job is not as an epidemiologist, but will often use epidemiological knowledge, methods or reasoning in their work; and (3) still other potential contributors will have little to no training in epidemiology, and seldom or never use it in their work (their contribution is nevertheless also welcomed).^3,4 Therefore, I shall do my best to enable participation from a broad range of academic cultures and for the dictionary to continue to enlighten the many uses of epidemiology in contemporary science, teaching and practice—within and outside public health and the other health, life, and social sciences.^5–7

We look forward to your criticisms, comments, and suggestions. Thank you all for your kind attention!