Preface

Rapid advances in the field of drug design have resulted over the last two decade in a growing number of high quality publications. Many of which cannot be published in a timely fashion because of limited number of fast publication journals with the result that publications of important and urgent results are often delayed by a year or more. There was, therefore, an acute need of a journal which would publish important review articles rapidly. “Letters in Drug Design & Discovery” is thus being launched to meet this need. Letters in Drug Design & Discovery publishes original letters on all areas of rational drug design and drug discovery including medicinal chemistry, in-silico drug design, combinatorial chemistry, high-throughput screening, drug targets, and structure-activity relationships. The emphasis will be on publishing quality papers very rapidly. Letters will be processed rapidly and take full advantage of internet technology for both the submission and review of manuscripts. The journal is essential reading to all pharmaceutical scientists involved in research in drug design and discovery. There will be four issues of this journal published in 2004. The publication frequency of the journal will increase gradually in the years to come. The internationally eminent editorial board including such eminent authorities as S.S. Abdel-Meguid, J.D. Adams, S. Ahmed, J. Baranowska-Kortylewicz, E.J. Barreiro, D.B. Berkowitz, P.R. Bernstein, R.F. Borne, T. Burke, F.P. Bymaster, F.I. Carroll, B.K. Cassels, C.H. Chen, P.A. Cole, J. Conn, M. Crider, W.-M. Dai, D.R. Davis, J.W. Ellingboe, D.K. Ferris, H.C. Fibiger, A.J. Fischman, D. Flynn, K.R. Fox, F.K. Friedman, E.P. Garvey, M.A. Geyer, D.S. Goodsell, S. Guccione, A. Harvey, F.F. Hefti, K. Herscheid, J.F. Honek, H.N. Jayaram, A.Y. Jeng, M. Kahn, M. Kassiou, T.H. Koch, H.-Y. Koh, H. Kubinyi, Y. Kurogi, E.J. LaVoie, P.Y. Lam, J. Lee, H. LeVine, A.J. Lewis, B.T. Liang, G.K. Lloyd, T. Loftsson, K. Maiese, R. Mairs, A. Makriyannis, J.E. Manson, B.E. Maryanoff, R.P. Mason, S. Mobashery, J.J. Nestor, J.L. Neumeyer, P.A. Newhouse, A.H. Newman, F.G. Njoroge, D.A. Nugiel, I. Ojima, Y. Okada, D.F. Ortwine, J. Pearlman, L.M. Pelus, E. Pop, J.E. Rice, K.C. Rice, P.D. Roepe, A.W. Root, D.P. Rotella, T.K. Sawyer, R.B. Silverman, N.E. Sladek, D.S. Soriano, E.B. De Souza, R.E. Tanzi, H.F. VanBrocklin, B. Wang, D.J. Waxman, C.D. Wegner, R.L. White, J.S. Williamson, Y. Yamamoto, L.Yang, Z.-J. Yao and R. Zhang will undoubtedly guide me in the editorial responsibilities and ensure the very highest standards. The opinions expressed by six Nobel Laureates can be reviewed at www.bentham.org / nobel which reflect the excellent reputation that Bentham Science Publishers enjoy. I keenly look forward to the wide acceptance of this new journal by the community of scientists working in the field of drug design and medicinal chemistry.