ARD Online First is an exciting innovation that will allow publication of selected articles within days of acceptance, and therefore months before they appear in the print version of the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. From February 2004 selected articles will appear in the raw manuscript form (not edited or typeset) in a new section on the ARD website (http://www.annrheumdis.com) indicated by the Online First logo (fig 1⇓).