We are pleased to announce that two new scholars have recently been appointed as Section Editors-in-Chief for the journal Pharmaceuticals (ISSN 1424-8247).

The following is a short Q&A with the Editor-in-Chief of the “Pharmacology” Section, Prof. Dr. Gary J. Stephens, who provided some opinions regarding the section and the journal. 

1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to take the role as its Editor-in-Chief?

Pharmaceuticals is a broad-based open access journal that attracts a wide and interested readership. The “Pharmacology” Section is now attracting high-quality submissions which significantly advance the field, making the role of Editor-in-Chief very appealing. 

It is important to build complementary approaches to drug discovery and therapeutic use; papers that reflect drug development in a functional biological context are crucial to the field. This aspect can be uniquely developed in the journal.

3. What does the future of this field of research look like?

Pharmacology research should improve translation into clinically effective drugs. The field is increasingly supplementing the range of small molecules discovered initially with new classes of drugs as well as notable biological drugs, such as vaccines, antibodies, and cell-based therapies, including stem cells and immune system-derived cells. A number of new therapeutic interventions, including peptide and those based on nucleotides, will be important for the future of the pharmacology research field. 

Open access promotes easy sharing and discussion of ideas, making it a vital avenue in the social media age. Thus, it is also important to maintain effective and transparent peer review of open access publications. 

The following is a short Q&A with the Editor-in-Chief of the “Natural Products” Section Dr. Daniela De Vita.

1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to take the role as its Editor-in-Chief?

I appreciate our journal because I believe that it is multidisciplinary, dealing with important topics such as medicinal chemistry and related scientific areas. Moreover, I particularly value the quickness of the editorial steps and the awareness of knowing that there are always very helpful staff members who are willing to support and solve problems. Lastly, I strongly believe that our journal minds quality instead of quantity. 

My vision for the journal is for it to grow even more and eventually become a golden standard within pharmaceutical sciences. 

I believe that this field of research has always been of particular importance and that this trend will continue in the future. Indeed, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us the pivotal role of this research area for our own wellbeing. 

Open access allows free access to readers all over the world and facilitates the dissemination of skills and information to the scientific community. Unfortunately, some scientific groups could not have access to this way of publication, thus somehow limiting the publication of interesting data. Therefore, I wish that APC could be lowered in the future in order to guarantee a wider access to a larger number of researchers. 

We wish Prof. Dr. Gary J. Stephens and Dr. Daniela De Vita every success both in their research and in the development of the journal. 

Further details about the Editorial Board can be found at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/pharmaceuticals/editors.