We begin this year with an issue that highlights food insecurity – its measurement, correlates, outcomes and directions for the future. An editorial from Dr Mark Nord, from the Economic Research Service in the US Department of Agriculture, provides some context for the articles on food insecurity that appear in this issue.

In other news regarding Public Health Nutrition, you might notice a slight increase in the heft of the journal. To accommodate the increase in number of submissions we receive, we have increased the number of pages in the journal from 192 to 240. This should help reduce the time to hard copy publication, although time to online publication, which is quicker, will be unaffected.

We also introduce our first Call for Papers for a special issue on Sustainability and Public Health Nutrition. The motivation for the Call for Papers is this: first, that current systems of food production, distribution and consumption are likely to have negative consequences on food insecurity, malnutrition, overnutrition and nutrient deficiencies; and second, that by 2050 we will need our food systems to produce enough to feed 9–10 billion people. New research and thinking are needed to develop a food system that is driven by sustainable diets and that ensures the best nutritional outcomes. Our challenge, and the objective of the special issue, is to bring together current knowledge and experience in analysing food systems, producing meaningful data for monitoring and suggesting steps to move forward. More details can be found at http://journals.cambridge.org/images/fileUpload/images/PHN_call_for_papers_sustainability.pdf.

And as always, we welcome your ideas as well, in the form of letters, commentaries and suggestions for future themed issues, in addition to research articles and reviews.