On November 9th 2011, BioMed Central attended the 4thjoint European Public Health Conference combining the 19th annual European Public Health Association (EUPHA) meeting and the 33rd annual meeting of the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) in Copenhagen, Denmark. Organized by the Danish Society of Public Health and themed ‘Public Health and Welfare – Welfare Development and Public Health’ this year’s conference brought together just under 1,500 public health experts to exchange information on the field’s contribution to welfare by means of health promotion, health protection, diseases prevention and health services.

The EUPHA conference was an ideal showcase for BioMed Central’s wide range of public health journals, which include BMC Public Health, Archives of Public Health, Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, BMC Infectious Diseases and Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention and Policy. We were delighted to meet Herman Van Oyen and Oliver Bruyère, Editors-in-Chief of Archives of Public Health, the official journal of the Belgian Association of Public Health, which aims to contribute to public health knowledge, enhance the interaction between research, policy and practice and stimulate public health monitoring and indicator development.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Lea Maes, Section Editor of BMC Public Health and Ossi Rahkonen, Cecile Boot, Martin Lindstrom, George Thomson and Anton Kunst, Associate Editors of BMC Public Health for taking the time to discuss the performance of the journal which, in the last year, has seen a 60% growth in the number of the submissions it has received. We appreciate the hard work they and other members of the Editorial Board have contributed to the journal as this success would not have been possible without them. We hope to meet more of you and extend our thanks to you personally at APHA 2012, which will be taking place on October 27-31 in San Francisco next year.

Natalie Pafitis
Senior Executive Editor
BMC Public Health