Its time frame essentially covers the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance (13th-16th centuries), although in the future it could also include the entire pre-industrial period. Medcat belongs to the research group Sciència.cat, currently funded by a project of the Spanish State Research Agency (MCINN), a resource directed by Carmel Ferragud (Universitat de València) and Lluís Cifuentes (University of Barcelona).

The documentary corpus that MedCat puts at the public’s disposal results from the personal search of various generations of researchers who, since the 19^th century, have worked both in these specialised areas and others of the social and cultural history of ancient texts. In this sense, MedCat is a resource aimed at the recovery, conservation and revaluation of the results of such efforts, thanks to the great potential of use that the Digital humanities provide us with nowadays.

It will include the documentation collections of Antoni Cardoner, Luis García Ballester and Michael McVaugh, researchers who left a mark on the study of these subjects during the 20^th century by establishing it in documentary research (thus, following the paths previously opened by Josep Rodrigo Pertegàs, Lluís Comenge or Josep Maria Roca). It will also contain the funds of the directors of MedCat themselves, even though it is intended to be a resource open to the collaboration of many other researchers who want to join the project, and some have already agreed to contribute their materials.

Hence, MedCat, still in an early stage, will be a resource under permanent construction that will supply access to thousands of documents which undoubtedly are a significant part of the written heritage, of extraordinary scope and importance, incomparable in the European environment. Over time, it will become a very prominent research and promotional tool, both nationally and internationally. MedCat is particularly aimed at experts in the social and cultural history of medicine and health, but also at all those who are interested in these subjects.