We are delighted to welcome you to volume 5 of Future Medicinal Chemistry! As we start a new volume it seems fitting to take this opportunity to look back at what has been achieved since the journal was launched in April 2009.Future Medicinal Chemistry has rapidly established itself as a forward-looking platform for the publication of high-quality reviews and original research covering all corners of medicinal chemistry. Underpinning this has been the journal's rigorous system of 'double-blind' peer review, which ensures that each article is assessed entirely on its scientific merits by at least three independent leading experts. While strong engagement with the pharmaceutical chemistry community and the regular input of the international editorial board mean the journal's content keeps pace with the latest advances and trends in the field.In 2012 the journal was granted an Impact Factor of 2.522 (2011); an increase of over 1.00 on the previous year's. Commenting on this development our US-based senior editor, Professor Iwao Ojima (Stony Brook University) said, "This rise demonstrates the caliber of content being published in what is still a young journal" [1]. In addition, starting from January 2012, the journal's frequency increased from 12 to 18 annual issues.
Key highlightsDrawing on feedback from the editorial board, readers and peer reviewers, as well as citation and download statistics, we have compiled a selection of our most popular, high-impact or unique papers published throughout volumes 1-4 (Table 1). Of course, this shortlist only presents a snapshot and so we encourage all readers to explore the full back content themselves. We would be delighted to hear which papers have most caught your attention! Special focus issues Regular readers will be aware that each volume features a number of issues dedicated to specific topics, be it highly active fields of research, such as
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