The past 12 months have witnessed several critical advancements and new particularly promising lines of evidence on the pathogenesis and clinical management of autoimmune diseases. The aim of the present article is to briefly review such progress in specific conditions as well as in autoimmunity in general by highlighting papers published in the Journal of Autoimmunity and in Autoimmunity Reviews. These data cumulatively support the hypothesis that autoimmunity is multifactorial but that specific diseases cluster together; they also continue to reflect the critical relationships between genetics and environmental triggers.