Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a frequent and serious clinical condition which is associated with poor outcomes, including high mortality rate. Classically, it was considered as an acute condition, potentially reversible with full restitution if patient survives the acute phase of the disease. However, recent epidemiologic and observational studies underscore the association of an episode of AKI with long-term adverse outcomes such as chronic kidney disease, end-stage renal disease, cardiovascular events, and premature death. It remains to be proved whether this relationship is causal (mediator) or just a consequence of similar underlying risk factors (marker).

The increasing incidence of AKI, the association with severe in-hospital complications and long-term outcomes and death, the rise in costs, and the potentially preventable nature of AKI make it a major public health issue, raising the interest of investigators in the field. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Epidemiological pattern of AKI according to the setting (community versus hospital-acquired) or the geographic area in which occurs (developed versus developing world)
• Prevention of AKI
• Early diagnosis and treatment of AKI
• Validation of the new definitions of AKI (RIFLE, AKIN, KDIGO)
• Outcomes on AKI
• Long-term followup of patients who survived an episode of AKI
• Health costs associated to AKI
• AKI as a public health concern

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal’s Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/bmri/nephrology/aki/ according to the following timetable: