In the January 2012 editorial, the PLoS Medicine Editors review the journal's contents in light of its mission and scope, referring back to their April 2009 editorial, which announced that PLoS Medicine would both reflect and draw attention to the world's health priorities. They now identify and call for papers on specific research topics and risk factors, to help ensure that a range of under-researched and neglected issues in medical research are elevated on the agenda of political and scientific discussions. The January image, a montage by Pat Margis and Clare Weaver, illustrates many of these issues.

The Editors conclude: “We feel that we have succeeded in our aims of three years ago: to highlight neglected issues, to promote globally relevant questions in health, to scrutinize ethics in biomedical publishing, and to advocate for integrity in research. However, it is not enough to simply raise awareness among our readership by publishing on issues that really matter in global health; it is now essential to leverage this awareness to bring about change in health care priorities globally.”

Image Credit: Montage created by Pat Margis and Clare Weaver, PLoS. Original images by (clockwise from left) tuppus, DownTown Pictures, ItzaFineDay, United States Department of Defense, Tammy Wong, cosmo flash, Eddie~S, Spec-ta-cles.