Dear colleagues:

   On behalf of the editorial members of Archives of Pharmacal Research (APR) and YAKHAK HOEJI of the Pharmaceutical Society of Korea, we are pleased to inform you of the recent changes to the focus, scope and format of our journals.

   Since our editorial duties began on January 1, 2009, additional associate editors and section editors have joined the editorial board of APR. These excellent new members will begin working with our experienced editors to change the focus of APR to one of drug discovery and development. Our endeavors will improve the journal¡¯s quality among the SCI Expanded journals. In addition, we are sincerely committed to working to promote APR to the SCI category. To accomplish this, we need your academic contributions, dedication and continued support.
   As you know, APR aims to enhance scientific understanding in the field of pharmaceutical research, especially for drug discovery, development and mechanism of action. Among each issue¡¯s accepted manuscripts, the editors will select the best papers and write separate commentaries which will be published on the first pages. As an award, The Pharmaceutical Society of Korea will financially support the cost of free on-line access to these select papers. In addition, editorials will be included in some APR issues with the intent of helping to advance the applied sciences and ultimately therapeutics.

All research articles should fit within the following three categories:

1. Drug design (including medicinal chemistry and drug modeling)

2. Drug discovery and development (including natural products)

3. Drug actions (including pharmacology, toxicology, pharmaceutics and drug delivery)

Review papers in these fields will be ¡°by invitation¡± only, and the topics of reviews will be selected and evaluated by the editorial committee.

   We would like to take this opportunity to inform you that APR manuscripts must only be submitted by the on-line system in the near future. The on-line system has been in operation since August 2003 by the Springer publication company. This system will facilitate the rapid publication of accepted papers and their efficient exposure to scientific societies.

   As you may have noticed, the number of papers submitted to APR for publication is increasing. Hence, the current monthly publication schedule may not be sufficient to contain all of the high quality papers submitted to APR. To address this problem, we are now considering an English version of YAKHAK HOEJI. Through this endeavor, together with the change in the focus of APR to drug discovery, development and mechanism of action, we are confident that the scientific value of our journals will be further improved. For the successful promotion of APR and YAHAK HOEJI to SCI and SCI Expanded journals, respectively, the editorial members will take only high quality papers into consideration, adhere to a strict publication schedule and maintain a consistent number of articles in each issue. Most importantly, your contribution of high quality research accomplishments is essential for the improvement of our society¡¯s journals.

   On behalf of the editorial members, we pledge to strengthen the mission and scope of our journals through the synergistic dedication of our editors, associate editors, and society members. Finally, we greatly appreciate and welcome your contributions to the advancement of APR and YAHAK HOEJI.

Sang-Geon Kim, Ph.D.
Editor-in-Chief
Archives of Pharmacal Research

Sang-Soo Shim, Ph.D.
Editor-in-Chief
YAHAK HOEJI

The Pharmaceutical Society of Korea