Citius, Altius, Fortius

The motto of the Olympic movement - faster, higher, farther - better than any other words summarizes the intentions that we, the Board of Editors of PLANTA MEDICA, have for the further development of the journal.

Scientific publishing has undergone profound changes over the past few years. We have all witnessed the advent of the internet and its tools. Today, manuscripts can reach the editors from the remotest areas of the globe within seconds and can be forwarded in an eyeblink to reviewers anywhere in the world. Published articles can be retrieved from virtual libraries; complex scientific data and graphics can be viewed in ways that were unthinkable only few years ago.

These exciting opportunities are a challenge for traditional publishing. There is a need for a faster publication process, for maximizing scientific content in a minimum of space, for increased flexibility in the ways how scientific data can be presented.

Planta Medica has taken up the challenge, most importantly, by implementing a state-of-the-art electronic submission and review system. Additional new features are being introduced in parallel. We only mention here the option of publishing materials as Supporting Information and the electronic pre-print publication.

Supporting Information will be materials that are accessible as downloads and will complement the data published in the print version. Electronic pre-print publication will render Planta Medica articles accessible and citable before they appear in print. The time that it takes from the first submission to the moment where the publication becomes accessible is very important to scientists, and critical for those working in highly competitive fields. We expect that it will take in the future about five months for an article to be published as electronic pre-print, and six to seven months for the printed version.

We strive to continue the tradition of publishing manuscripts of high scientific quality and novelty. Original research publications, as Full Papers and Letters, have been and will remain the mainstay of the journal, but new formats for contributions, such as Editorials, Minireviews and Perspectives will be introduced. These formats will provide concise and authoritative overviews and opinions on topical issues of general interest. We hope that these new formats will be well received.

The Editorial Advisory Board has been enlarged as a response to the ever increasing number of submitted manuscripts. The spectrum of expertise has been further diversified, whereby notably the pharmacological field had to be strengthened to cope with the numerous manuscripts with pharmacological content. Advisory Board members from all continents reflect the truly global reach of the journal. We thank the old and new Advisory Board members for their important contribution to the journal.

Planta Medica is a reputed journal with a distinct profile. We do our best to maintain and further its status as a appreciated reference journal in matters of medicinal plant and natural products research, and we look forward to receiving numerous manuscripts of high quality and scientific originality.

Matthias Hamburger
Adolf Nahrstedt

Wolfgang Barz
Rudolf Bauer
Ikhlas Khan
Irmgard Merfort