The long awaited EJCH has emerged again with a new look, new Editor, and Editorial Advisory Board. Although it is now the official publication of the British Association of Medical Hypnosis (BAMH), its original mission has not changed. It is, and will remain, the forum for all professionals involved in the clinical application of hypnosis. The increasing demand of the medical fraternity to accept what is described as ‘evidence based practice’, and the high expectation of the public have prompted two major issues which the Journal will endeavour to establish: good quality research into the clinical applications employing strict ethically approved protocols in controlled trials, and Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

European Journal of Clinical Hypnosis aims to publish articles of relevance to the day-to-day practise of clinical hypnosis undertaken by a wide range of individuals from many different professions with a variety of special interests and expertise. It is a peer-reviewed journal, and thus depends crucially upon the reviews of submitted articles made by a large number of independent reviewers. The aim of peer review is to select articles for publication in the journal, selection being based on:

• The scientific merit and validity of the article and its methodology;
• The relevance of the article to the clinical practice of hypnosis;
• The interest of the topic to the clinical reader; and
• The understandability of the article itself
  

Those of you who have seen the latest issue of the EJCH would have realized the quality and variety of the articles, which have reflected a wide range of interests and practises. The quality was assessed by strict adherence to published ‘guidelines to authors’, and the fact that each article was independently reviewed by at least two referees. This has resulted in a uniform appraisal system and produced good quality papers. Those articles that did not meet the strict criteria were returned to the contributing authors for revision.

The concept of CPD is very important for the profession in general, but it is of a particular interest to the individual practitioner. In order to be up-to-date with skills and knowledge, each practitioner should maintain a minimum standard, as demonstrated by attending courses, conferences, master classes, and other educational activities as appropriate. However, it is well-known that technical difficulties and constraints could be barriers which might limit the ability of the practitioner to take an active part in such activities. The EJCH can be considered an alternative means of CPD. The variety of the published articles will enable the readers to keep themselves abreast of new research findings, reviews of literature, book reviews and interviews with leading hypnotherapists. We are trying to establish a system of documenting CPD among the readership by self-reflection and the completion of a short set of questions in each issue.