In the year 2007, approximately 1000 original burn research articles were published in scientific journals using the English language. This article reviews approximately 90 of these which were deemed by the author to be the most important in terms of clinical burn care. Relevant topics include epidemiology, wound characterisation, critical care physiology, inhalation injury, infection, metabolism and nutrition, psychological considerations, pain management, rehabilitation, and burn reconstruction. Each selected article is mentioned briefly with editorial comment.