Greetings of the Season! eSocialSciences (www.esocialsciences.org) has had an image makeover. It looks different and is better organised, more user friendly. Our aim has been to make the eSS portal more relevant to the needs of social scientists working on and in Asia. eSS is a repository of over nearly 4500 research papers from over 250 (and growing) institutions plus articles, documents, commentaries and book reviews. Uniquely eSS also showcases grassroot research, investigation and development reports of people's organisations, civil and human rights groups and campaigns in addition to the work of formal institutions. These are available on the same searchable database as academic papers. eSS Papers are available via RePec too, so expanding the reach of research output. So What's New? Once you log in you can now create your own library and store the papers and articles that you want for later in My Library. eSS News: eSS collates news across countries in this region on academic, research events and developments as well as on development issues that are largely under represented elsewhere making eSS a single location for such news. http://www.esocialsciences.org/News/listNews.aspx Chai Chatter: Originally Research Blog, Chai Chatter is designed to encourage informal exchanges on current issues, research ideas research methods, problems in field work and so on. Only just launched, we hope it will find full utilisation in the months to come. http://www.esocialsciences.org/Research_Blog/Research_Blog_List.aspx eSS Columns: Theme-wise columns written by one or several columnists who are in some way equipped for writing on specific issues. 'Medicines: Policy and Consumer Issues' reflects consumer and policy issues in the field of pharmaceuticals and is grounded by Gopal Dabade, S.Srinivasan and Dr Gulati, highly respected activists in the field of drug consumer action. http://www.esocialsciences.org/ESS_Column/Ess_Column_List.aspx The second column to be launched this month is a newsletter from Japan as seen through the eyes of a young social scientists who is spending time in that country, Binti. In the pipeline are two columns on Media Ethics and Labour respectively. eSSays: Often an idea/s may need to be explored outside the constraints of a formal paper. eSSays offers an opportunity for authors to explore new ideas, perspectives or pose issues for debate. These are original and exclusive to eSS. eSS Papers for Open Review/eSS Working Papers series Authors can now post papers directly on the portal. (http://www.esocialsciences.org/essResearchPapers/essResearchPapersDetails.aspx?acat=0 ). These are available for comment and review and are simultaneously sent to referees. After the refereeing and processing selected papers are published in the eSS Working Papers series for which an ISBN registration has been applied. eSS Research: eSS has undertaken small research studies, the first of which is here: (http://www.esocialsciences.org/Articles/showArticle.aspx?acat=Recent+Articles&aid=4573 ). eSS is now on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/eSocialSciences. Do connect with us! The Old in New Format Keeping true to our original concept of providing a platform for dialogue and debate among social scientists in academia, policy makers, social activists and the media, we have now expanded the section presenting parliamentary debates in India. It now presents debates in the legislatures across Asia, wherever they are available. In Parliament is now In the Legislature reflecting the fact that we now post debates in the legislatures of several Asian countries regularly. http://www.esocialsciences.org/News/InParliamentNews.aspx The Policy Matters section offers commentaries on current policies and programmes accompanied by the original policy document/Bills/Acts. Our intention is to track all activities, events and debates around these policies. Multimedia Files We now post not just texts but also presentations and videoclips. http://www.esocialsciences.org/Articles/showArticle.aspx?acat=Recent%20Articles&aid=4606 http://www.esocialsciences.org/Articles/showArticle.aspx?acat=Recent%20Articles&aid=4614 Our Books section lists the latest titles in social sciences. We have added a QR image. So you need only to scan this with you smartphone and store the info when you go book shopping. Books are tagged to their respective Book Reviews (http://www.esocialsciences.org/BooksInfo/Book_Reviews.aspx ) on the site where available. The Institutional Papers section now provides more information about the institutions with their full address and contact details. The Conference Section has spawned a new microsite, eSS Opportunities (http://opportunities.esocialsciences.org/Home/Index.aspx) where users can log in and post information about events, conferences, call for papers, academic job vacancies, fellowships and so on. There are no charges for such posting. The Journals Repository is being completely revamped and will continue to hold and expand journals eithr in full or the contents pages of every issue. eSocialSciences is a core activity of IRIS Knowledge Foundation (www.iriskf.org ), a non-profit company, an NGO. IRIS-KF has been set up with the objective of leveraging technology for knowledge management and dissemination for social and economic development. It is a CSR initiative of IRIS Business Ltd a technology for information initiative that is currently an acknowledged leader in the development of the XBRL platform. Among IRIS-KF's projects is the Global Youth Help Desk a portal focused on youth for development and youth-led development created, designed and managed by IRIS-KF for UN-HABITAT's Youth Programme. Welcome to the refurbished eSS! Make it a habit. If you have any query then please write to us at support@eSocialSciences.org.