Research in Clinical PracticeIntroduction to the PortfolioThe research articles to be critiqued relate to the author's area of ​​practice; community nursing and in particular; The cost-effectiveness of community leg ulcer clinics. The author currently runs an ulcer clinic and an in-depth insight into the research underlying their cost-effectiveness would be helpful in her quest to provide evidence-based practice in line with the principles underpinning clinical governance. The management of venous leg ulcers has made considerable progress over the past decade. This is due to various factors, from increased knowledge of the aetiology of leg ulcers to more recent developments, such as dedicated leg ulcer clinics (Dowsett, 2004). However, it is worrying that leg ulcer clinics are being justified by nurses and organizations on the basis of uncontrolled studies and narrative reports (Bosanquet et al, 1993; Fletcher, 1995; Stevens et al, 1997; Thorne, 1998; AuditCommission, 1999). It has been widely suggested that the establishment of community leg ulcer clinics could increase legume healing rates and standardize care (Moffatt et al, 1992; Simon et al, 1996; Stevens et al, 1997). However, research on their cost-effectiveness is extremely limited. As interest in health research has grown, the number of definitions and explorations of the topic has increased. Most definitions of research follow a similar theme, emphasizing the pursuit of knowledge as a fundamental reason for undertaking research studies (Clifford, 1997). Cormack (2000) defined research as an attempt to increase the sum of what is known through discovering… middle of the paper… truth. BMJ, 312, 1648 - 1651. Simon et al (2004) Management of venous leg ulcers BMJ Online, Vol.328 (7452) 2004. [Online]http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/ 328 /7452/1358 (accessed January 2005).Stevens J, Franks PJ, Harrington M, (1997) A community/hospital legulcer service. Wound Care Journal. 6, 2, 62 - 68. Tingle J and Cribb A, (2002) Nursing law and ethics. 2nd ed. Oxford,Blackwell Science.Thorne E, (1998) Community leg ulcer clinics and effectiveness of treatment. Wound Care Journal. 7, 2, 94 - 99. Thurlby K and Griffiths P, (2002) Community leg ulcer clinics versus home visits: which is more effective?. British CommunityNursing Newspaper. 7, 5, 260 - 264.Valente S, (2003) Critical analysis of research articles. Journal forNurses in Staff Development. 19, 3, 130 - 142.