Perspectives in Medicinal Chemistry

Aims and Scope

Perspectives in Medicinal Chemistry (PMC) is an exciting peer-reviewed open access on-line journal. It was developed to help medicinal chemists keep apace with the expanding volume of information published in their field. Rather than providing exhaustive reviews of published work, PMC calls upon leading researchers to succinctly summarize observations from numerous original publications as hybrid review-commentaries. These articles are published continually on the website and are often commissioned by the Editor in Chief. While the submission of completed manuscripts is acceptable, we encourage proposals for future articles sent to the Managing Editor. These proposals should provide a rationale and brief outline (<250 words) for the article.

Articles published in PMC are succinct and carefully-illustrated works intending to provide a thoughtful overview of a significant research area in medicinal chemistry. Importantly, these articles provide a representative but not exhaustive overview of recent advances in a particular research field. Articles in PMC provide insight on the implications of the new developments and provide an opportunity for authors to discuss their ideas of 'the road ahead' in their research areas. These articles are carefully peer-reviewed to ensure a balanced representation of the literature.

Perspectives in Medicinal Chemistry will publish articles that combine aspects of commentaries and reviews, allowing medicinal chemists to discuss drug design without the necessity of revealing proprietary information. Authors are encouraged to submit review-type manuscripts which go beyond conventional reviews by incorporating a sense of perspective to enhance articles' value to readers and to allow authors to demonstrate and share their perspectives in drug discovery.

Standard Author Services

The journal distinguishes itself from others in the field by combining individualized author service with editorial integrity and procedural efficiency.  At every stage authors will be introduced to the staff member responsible for their paper and will receive procedural explanations and regular status updates.  The progress of authors’ papers is continually monitored by staff, and a staff member is always available to answer authors' questions.  This is reflected in our consistently positive author testimonials. 

• Submission to first editorial decision including rigorous, expert peer review in average four weeks

• Rapid publication in two to four weeks after acceptance

• No deadlines for corrections to typeset proofs

• Paper announcement after publication through scholarly databases, social media, and opted-in newsletters

• Open access visibility and flexibility with no restrictions on author archiving

• CC-BY-NC licensing to prohibit unrestricted commercial re-use, CC-BY available on request

• Article level usage metrics (in beta)

• Permanent availability by leading institutional libraries under CLOCKSS and LOCKSS systems

• Proactive, professional journal staff

Optional Author Services

• Discounted article reprints

• English proof reading

• Pre-submission paper-matching and editor in chief consultation

• Pre-peer review language polishing and paper formatting

• Video abstracts

• Ebook on enhancing article visibility

• Social media promotion

Current Article Processing Fees

As an open access journal authors are charged an article processing fee after acceptance for publication by the editor in chief or associate editor.  Fees do not vary based on factors like word count or use of color images, and there is no fee charged upon submission.  Current fees are given below:

• Authors in North America: US$1848

• Authors in Japan: ¥220,500

• Authors in other countries: €1549

More information on article processing fees and availability of waivers and discounts are available on the article processing fees webpage.

Manuscript Types and Preparation Guidelines

The journal accepts for peer review perspectives and letters to the editor.  Information on these manuscript types and guidelines for manuscript preparation are available here.  Authors should also review the aims and scope statement that contains further recommendations on how to prepare a perspective manuscript.  A manuscript template, sample manuscript, and pre-submission check list are available here.

Editorial Policies

All articles are subject to blind independent peer review by reviewers drawn from the journal's editorial board, volunteer peer reviewer pool, and where necessary from Pubmed.  Pubmed is used where specialized expertise is unavailable from the other sources.  Two to four peer reviewers will be used.  Editorial decisions are made by independent editors in chief or associate editors. The editorial process from peer review to first editorial decision takes three to four weeks following acceptance of each paper for peer review.

In the open access business model many editorial decisions result in a fee payment to the publisher.  Because of this we maintain a strict distinction between editorial decisions, made by editors in chief or associate editors, and business decisions.  Libertas does not make nor attempt to influence editorial decisions.  Editorial decision makers receive no incentives to make decisions leading to fee payments.

The journal is committed to high standards of integrity.  Authors are required to confirm their compliance with ethical and legal requirements upon submission.  Prior to publication all authors must provide signed confirmation of compliance. Where concerns arise the journal will apply the Committee on Publication Ethics guidelines on ethical matters.

Frequency of Publication

Articles are published upon completion of production.

Citing Articles

Article citations follow this format:

Authors: Title.  Journal [year]:[volume] [first page]-[last page]

Open Access

This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution.  Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.  This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.

Inquiries 

Correspondence should be sent to .  Contact details for Libertas staff are available here.

Additional Information for Authors

• Manuscript preparation and submission requirements

• Monitoring the status of papers under review

• More information on standard and optional services for authors