An analytical solution is presented for the steady state, purely tangential flow of a viscoelastic fluid obeying the Phan-Thien-Tanner (PTT) constitutive equation in a concentric annulus with relative rotation of the inner and outer cylinders. The influence on the velocity distribution within the annulus and on fRe of the Weissenberg number, aspect ratio and an elongational parameter are investigated. The results show that the differences between the radial location of the minimum velocity and of the critical angular velocity compared with their Newtonian counterparts increase as the fluid elasticity increases. The results also show that fRe decreases with increasing Weissenberg number, radius ratio and the elongational parameter in the case of inner-cylinder rotation. In contrast, fRe increases with increasing radius ratio when the outer cylinder is rotating while the inner cylinder is at rest. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.