There has been a rapidly increasing volume of research undertaken in the field of acute and chronic cough at both basic scientific and clinical levels. However, until now there has been no journal dedicated to publishing work in this field. In this editorial, we introduce the new online, open-access journal entitled Cough which has been founded specifically for this purpose. We also review the clinical problems posed by acute and chronic cough and highlight some of the current issues that are being tackled by cough researchers.