Background: Journal Clubs have been used for over 100 years to promote an increased awareness of research, educate students to critique and use research findings, and to aid in the translation of research into practice. Objectives: To develop a regular online Cochrane Journal Club (CJC) with a broad focus, covering academic and clinical subjects suitable for researchers, medical students, trainees and registrars. To collect data on visitors to the site and to survey users to ascertain if CJC is meeting their educational requirements. Methods: Working with Mike Clarke (Director, UK Cochrane Centre) and David Tovey (Editor-in-Chief of The Cochrane Library) workflows were developed to facilitate the identification of suitable Cochrane Reviews. Authors of selected reviews are invited to create the additional educational content with guidance from Mike Clarke. Wiley-Blackwell host CJC and increase the visibility of each edition by targeted promotions. Usage is recorded on the visitors to the site, and an online survey was used to collect data from users between 22nd February and 30th April 2010. Results: CJC was launched in October 2009. As of March 2010, five editions have been published, attracting a total of 12,063 unique visits from 139 countries. 950 individuals have signed-up to receive alerts each time a new edition of CJC is published. Preliminary results from the user survey indicate that most users work in a hospital or university, in Asia, Europe or North America and are from a broad age range. Most users heard of CJC via an email alert and use the material presented to further their own understanding of the Cochrane Review. Conclusions: Usage and email sign-ups have exceeded our expectations and there has been overwhelmingly positive feedback to the project. CJC was selected as resource of the month by the Royal Society of Medicine in November 2009.