Forensic Diagnosis: From New Method Development to Data Interpretation

Dear Colleagues,

Forensic toxicology is an ever-evolving multidisciplinary science. Toxicology investigations are often at the center of medical–legal issues. They begin with the development and validation of analytical methods with the aim to obtain data on possible psychotropic substance intake. The ever-increasing number of drugs and other psychoactive substances available on the market makes the harmonization of precise and accurate analytical methods increasingly important.

This is only the first step that leads the toxicologist, together with the medical examiner and the forensic pathologist, to the forensic diagnosis. The interpretation of the chemical–toxicological data, together with the autopsy, histopathological and circumstantial data, is fundamental in order to determine the relationship between the exposure to one or more substances and the death or the acute or chronic psychophysical impairment.

This Special Issue aims to gather a collection of cutting-edge research that may help to improve the quality of forensic diagnosis. We welcome submissions on, but not limited to, the following topics: the development of new analytical methods, the interpretation of drug-related death cases and epidemiology related to early drug use or abuse and to car crashes under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Dr. Pietro Zuccarello
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diagnostics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• drug-related death
• car crashes
• psychophysical drug impairment
• method validation
• forensic toxicology
• legal medicine
• forensic diagnosis
• poisoning
• drug regulation