Research into indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and its effects on health, comfort, and performance of occupants is becoming an increasing priority as interest in high performance buildings and organizational productivity grows. Facility managers are interested in IEQ's close relationship to energy use in facilities. Employers, by providing excellent indoor environments, hope to enhance employee comfort and productivity, reduce absenteeism and health care costs, and reduce risk of litigation. The increasing interest in this field has put additional pressure on the research community as architects, engineers, facility managers, building investors, health officials, jurists, and the public seek practical guidelines on creating a safe, healthy, and comfortable indoor environment. Research on the relationships of IEQ to the health, comfort, and productivity of occupants has advanced considerably within the last decade. One of the primary goals of the Indoor Health and Productivity (IHP) Project is to communicate the results of this research, currently reported primarily in research publications, to building professionals. Consequently, the IHP project has worked with a peer review panel to select five key IHP papers and prepare summaries of these papers for publication in ASHRAE Journal. This article precedes those five summary articles, which will appear in the next five issues of the journal. This article summarizes the methodology employed to select the five papers, briefly summarizes the message of each paper, and discusses the practical implications for architects and engineers. More information about the objectives of the IHP project, results of research conducted under this project, and project sponsors and partners can be found at www.IHPCentral.org. The web site also has an online bibliography of approximately 900 papers on the topic of indoor health and productivity, drawn primarily from approximately 100 leading international journals and international conferences.