Editorial Note

EDITORIAL

THERE IS ROOM AND A GREAT NEED FOR QUALITY NATURAL MEDICINES JOURNAL

The journal of Pharmacology & Toxicology of Natural Medicines in this maiden edition, debuts in the stable of natural medicines journals. This journal has succinctly encapsulated its focus – ‘all aspects of the pharmacology and toxicology of extracts, fractions of extracts, isolated compounds or their synthetic derivatives and formulated products that are of natural origin’.

Although several journals cover some of the scopes of this journal, there is more than ample field to accommodate a lot more similar journals of quality; indeed, there are not enough to cope with the publishing demands in this area of burgeoning global interest.

The calibre of the journal’s editorial team and the mission it has enunciated for itself are indicative of a determination to carve an enviable and enduring niche in the chosen area. The journal has been birthed at a most critical and auspicious time.

Firstly, it has debuted at a time of pestilence, SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), that has attained frightful global pandemic dimensions that have stirred the dialectics, in the healthcare community, of the most appropriate approach to the management of diseases both infectious and metabolic and both acute and chronic. In the ensuing panic and confusion engendered by the emergence of the disease, there have been many offerings of treatment proposals from the highly technologically engineered vaccines to the inevitable natural remedies. Regarding the best treatment for this disease, the days are yet early and the jury is still out although public and even scientific orchestration appear to tilt in favour of one vaccine or another. But effective and cheap nature cures are giving the vaccines a credible challenge.

Secondly, it appears that for many diseases, both now known and yet to come, Homo sapiens will rely willy-nilly on medicines derived from natural sources and resources. There has been an unending search, for example, for the most effective remedy for malaria. The search for a malaria vaccine has remained elusive and medicines of natural origin have remained the mainstay for the treatment of this age-old tropical nightmare.

There are also current controversies about what remedies are ethically acceptable both in their origin and in their potential interference with human and biological ecosystems and genomics. In this respect, natural remedies by their ready acceptability and maintenance of the natural order generate less controversy and therapeutic discord.

This journal promises to offer a stimulating challenge to the researcher to ensure quality research and peer-reviewed publications that emanate from in-depth rigorous investigations.

The Journal understands that the dictum of "publish or perish" actually has implications for both the researcher as well as the publisher. For both, quality and relevance are crucial. A journal that does not sift thoroughly the seeds from the chaff of material meant to be published will not weather the gales of critical scrutiny. This journal promises to develop a foundation for long-term growth to accommodate the ever-increasing need for avenues for the publication of quality natural medicines research both at the pre-clinical, translational and clinical research levels. The journal is taking off equipped with adequate manpower and paraphernalia for contemporary scientific research publishing.

disseminate to readers the results of new research in natural medicines thereby stimulating researchers not only to learn more but to contribute more meaningfully to natural medicines research. In agreement with the Council of Science Editors (CSE) training manual (2009), the journal, like Science itself won’t be able to determine truth; it can only hope to determine its approximation. The journal will use the best of the resources available to it to ensure adherence to the established principles of the scientific method. It will adjudge if the evidence presented to it is credible and if the conclusions are logical as deviation from these principles will not only harm us but harm and mislead others.  

It is obviously not the intention of this journal to reinvent the wheel but in the process of using the circular contraption, hopes to advance knowledge in its humble way thereby creating an enviable niche for itself in the field of medicinal science publishing. 

Professor Eric KI Omogbai, DVM, M.Sc., PhD, C. Biol., MIBiol, FCVSN
Past President, West African Society for Pharmacology (WASP)
Past Editor-in-Chief, West African Journal of Pharmacology & Drug Research
Member, International Union of Pharmacologists

Reference
Council of Science Editors (2009). A Short Course for Journal Editors, Pittsburgh PA  

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