It was with a deep sense of gratitude and responsibility that I accepted, with pleasure, to serve as Editor-in-Chief (EIC) of ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters. As the second EIC of the journal since its launch in 2010, I am cognizant of the strong foundation laid by my predecessor and the inaugural EIC of the journal, Prof. Dennis C. Liotta. I would like to thank Dennis for his leadership, dedication, and commitment to the journal over many years. I will be standing on the shoulders of Dennis even as I lead the journal into the future. It is a tremendous honor and privilege to succeed Dennis. As it takes a team to win or a village to raise a child, I would also like to extend my thanks and appreciation to the current and past members of the editorial, advisory, and early career boards for the service given to the journal. Finally, but not least, I would like to thank all authors of the various manuscript categories published in ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters for their positive contributions that have made the journal the leading journal in its league (Impact Factor 2021: 4.632; Citations 2021: 9499; CiteScore 2021: 6.6), a platform for rapid dissemination of high-quality research across the breadth of medicinal chemistry. I am grateful to the EIC of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Craig Lindsley, for giving me the opportunity to serve in my recent role as Associate Editor with the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. From this role at Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, I have gained valuable experience, which I will bring to my role as EIC of ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters.
I see the editorial board, authors, and reviewers as a network of partners whose relationship is based on mutual interest, mutual responsibility, mutual accountability, and mutual respect. I believe that we are all acting in the interest of advancing scientific research. The editorial board under my leadership will essentially be in partnership with reviewers and authors to see good-quality manuscripts published quickly. To ensure quality and the highest possible standards, collectively we have a responsibility to ensure that what medicinal chemistry entails is understood by the community we serve. At a basic level, medicinal chemistry needs to be understood as a discipline that uses all information and knowledge from multiple disciplines toward enabling the design of a molecule that overcomes any hurdles to become a safe and efficacious medicine. Holistically speaking, medicinal chemistry integrates multiple disciplines: Synthetic Chemistry, Computational Chemistry, Physicochemical Properties, Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, Biological Properties, Patents and Publications, and Safety. Although medicinal chemistry has so far been dominated by small molecules, it also includes peptide-based therapeutics, nanobodies and antibody–drug conjugates, and AI-driven medicinal chemistry.
I am committed to building a globally diverse and inclusive community in terms of geography, race, gender, age, employment sector (academia, industry, and not-for-profit virtual R&D product development partners), and therapeutic areas. Within the context of geography, to achieve the goal of a geographically representative community of authors for the journal will require greater focus on supporting medicinal chemistry education and research to uplift the standards of researchers in historically underrepresented regions, with an initial focus on Africa, South America, China, and India. In terms of therapeutic areas, the coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has reminded the world of the devastating impact of an infectious disease on human health as well as social and economic well-being. On the other hand, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of bacterial and parasitic origin is a growing global health crisis. Thus, medicinal chemistry efforts are urgently needed to underpin drug discovery efforts toward novel antibiotics, antituberculars, antimalarials, and drugs for neglected tropical diseases. I would like to see increased submissions and publications in the medicinal chemistry of antiinfectives in these areas.
At this juncture, it is noteworthy that ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters is not just a home for synthetic medicinal chemistry! It is a home for drug discovery scientists wishing to have their high-quality research rapidly disseminated in a high-quality journal. I look forward to partnering with authors to get their manuscripts published quickly. I also look forward to serving a globally diverse and inclusive community of drug discovery scientists and promoting medicinal chemistry under the American Chemical Society (ACS) brand, which I am proud to be associated with.
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS.