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HerbalEGram: Volume 6, Number 1, January 2009
Giovanni Appendino Joins Fitoterapia Team
as New Editor-In-Chief
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Last month Fitoterapia, one of the longest-running journals on the study of medicinal plants, welcomed Professor Giovanni Appendino as its new editor-in-chief.1
“I am now harvesting the fruit from the seeds [former editors] have sown and I am therefore grateful to them for all they have done to move Fitoterapia from a niche journal to an internationally recognized publication in the realm of medicinal plants and bioactive compounds,” Appendino said. “I will do my best to steer Fitoterapia in the direction they have traced.”2
Founded 84 years ago, Fitoterapia has grown to be recognized as one of the world’s premier sources of information in the medicinal plant field.1 The journal, whose Italian name means phytotherapy in English, publishes innovative research articles on the chemistry, pharmacology, and use of medicinal plants and their derivatives.
Indena and Elsevier co-publish Fitoterapia, and both are global leaders in their respective fields. Indena, the journal’s original founder, is the world’s largest manufacturer of standardized botanical extracts and derivative compounds for use in the pharmaceutical, natural food, nutraceutical and dietary supplement, and cosmetics industries. Elsevier, a publisher of scientific, technical, and medical information products and services, publishes more than 2,000 scientific and medical journals and approximately 1,900 science-oriented books each year.
Appendino joins the Fitoterapia team with many qualifications. A professor of organic chemistry at the University of Eastern Piedmont in Novara, Italy, he has 25 years of experience with the chemistry and biological activity of natural products (G. Appendino, e-mail, January 6, 2009). He is also the chief scientific advisor for Indena and has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed articles and 10 book chapters.
Appendino’s editorial vision for Fitoterapia includes establishing a clear and distinct position for the publication among other journals that deal with similar phytochemical and phytomedicinal research topics. According to Appendino’s first Fitoterapia editorial, he intends for the journal to become an inspiring reference for all people interested in or involved with medicinal plants.
“There are clear molecular, evolutionary and structural bases for the relevance of natural products in drug discovery, and Fitoterapia will struggle hard to bring them to the attention of the biomedical community,” Appendino writes.2
Appendino’s time at Fitoterapia has been busy thus far. However, he stated that the journal’s electronic submission system, recently implemented by Elsevier, has streamlined the journal’s editorial process. With this he can get work done whether at home or during his daily train ride (G. Appendino, e-mail, January 3, 2009).
“Editing a journal is a daunting task, but is also an opportunity to [perform] a service to the scientific community,” he said.
—Lindsay Stafford
References
1. Prof. Appendino at the helm of Fitoterapia journal [press release]. Milan, Italy: Indena; December 3, 2008.
2. Appendino G. Editorial. Fitoterapia. 2009;80(1):1-2. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0367326X. Accessed January 6, 2009.
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