Message from the chief editor

Abstract

It is my great honor to announce to the members of the Japan Society of Pharmacognosy and to the readers of this journal that I have been nominated as Chief Editor of the Journal of Natural Medicines to succeed Dr. Tadahiro Takeda from April 2008. I, along with the new editorial board and the staff members of the editorial office of the journal in the Center for Academic Publications Japan and in Springer Japan, will make every effort to improve the quality of the journal. For this purpose, we would like to ask you to contribute your excellent papers dealing with naturally occurring medicines and related foods and cosmetics, including identification and structure elucidation of natural products, biosynthesis, biotechnology, and the clinical application of herbs, natural products, and Kampo formulas to both humans and animals. The Journal of Natural Medicines has been indexed by Chemical Abstracts. In addition, the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI/Thomson Scientific) has recently started including our journal in the Science Citation Index Expanded and the Journal of Citation Reports/Science Edition. Therefore, it is expected that the Impact Factor of the Journal of Natural Medicines calculated by ISI will be published from June 2009. Of the papers published in each volume of the Journal of Natural Medicines, approximately three will be chosen by members of the Selection Committee for honors as Excellent Papers. From volume 60 (2006), two papers concerning an opioid agonistic alkaloid [1] and the pharmacology of a Kampo formula [2] were given awards. Selection of Excellent Papers from volume 61 is currently in progress, and the results will be announced soon. We are looking forward to receiving your very best research articles. In closing, the editors and I would again like to thank our authors, reviewers, and readers for their interest, suggestions, and support. Please be assured that we always welcome your comments and suggestions for improving the quality of the Journal of Natural Medicines.