In 2017, the World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG) has published the 47^th issue which containing 19 articles including 3 reviews, 12 original articles, 1 meta-analysis, 2 case reports and 1 letter contributed by scientists worldwide. Among these comprehensive articles are (1) “Clinical epidemiology and disease burden of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease”, a review by Aijaz Ahmed, MD, Associate Professor, et al from Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Stanford University School of Medicine, United States; (2) “Polymorphisms in oxidative pathway related genes and susceptibility to inflammatory bowel disease”, a basic study by Nezha Senhaji, PhD, et al from  Laboratory of Genetics and Molecular Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Casablanca, University Hassan II. 19, Morocco; and (3) “Rifaximin ameliorates hepatic encephalopathy and endotoxemia without affecting the gut microbiome diversity”, a case control study by Kosuke Kaji, MD, PhD, et al from third Department of Internal Medicine, Nara Medical University, Japan, etc. We invite you to peruse all 19 articles in this issue, as they present the latest research progress/findings and provide insightful comments in gastroenterology and hepatology that will guide basic research and clinical practice in these fields.

Figure 1 The cover of the issue. Editorial board member of World Journal of Gastroenterology, Yoshihisa Takahashi, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Tokyo 173-8605, Japan.

We encourage gastroenterologists and hepatologists worldwide to submit manuscripts to the WJG describing their original basic or clinical research findings that are of high academic value and which report new diagnostic techniques or summarize their treatment experiences.

We invited the readers to download and read the E-Journal of this issue.