2023: The Best Year Ever for Future Pharmacology (and Even Better Years to Come)

The end of any year provides an opportunity to reflect on the past, and in particular, the past twelve months. Without any doubt, we may conclude that our journal Future Pharmacology is growing in a positive and consistent way, from 41 papers in 2022 to 58 papers published in 2023; this is an increase of almost 40% in peer-reviewed contributions in a single year. Future Pharmacology is being published as a quarterly journal and, to be even more attractive to readers, Future Pharmacology Volume 3 (2023) will be feature an elegant and colourful illustrated cover: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-9879/3 [1].

The development of our journal is, undoubtedly, the result of the passionate commitment of the editorial staff and all the editorial board members. In addition, in 2023, two eminent scientists, namely Dr. Milan T. Makale, from the University of California San Diego, USA, and Prof. Dr. Gabriel Navarrete-Vázquez from the Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos, México, joined the board.

I am also pleased to let you know that, over the last 12 months, the three papers that attracted the most views were those by Marques and Vale (2023), with some 4719 views at the time of writing [2]; by Thong et al. (2023), with some 3900 views [3]; and by Natale et al. (2023), with 3579 views [4]. Well done to our colleague scientists!

With the aim of increasing its worldwide reputation, our Future Pharmacology journal acted as a sponsor for a range of scientific events in different countries. We had the opportunity to promote Future Pharmacology during a range of events, including the 9th China–Japan Bilateral Pharmacology Conference, Shanghai, China; the CRS 2023 Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, USA; and the 16th China Pharmaceutical Preparations Conference, Changsha, China.

A very interesting, topical, and relevant Future Pharmacology webinar (e.g., “Pharmacology and Toxicology of Amphetamine Type Stimulants”) was organized by Dr. João Paulo Capela (available at: https://www.mdpi.com/about/announcements/5783) [5].

Maintaining the high quality of our publications and increasing the visibility of our journal will be our main aim for 2024. The publication of Special Issues is certainly in line with this aim. Indeed, a Special Issue proposal is still open for applications (https://www.mdpi.com/journalproposal/sendproposalspecialissue/futurepharmacol).

Currently, three Special Issues are open for submissions (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/futurepharmacol/special_issues), namely:

• “Antiviral Drug Discovery and Development: Current Innovations and Future Trends”, edited by Zhan; submission deadline: 31 January 2024 [6].
• “Novel Therapeutic Approach to Inflammation and Pain”, edited by Mattioli and Mariano; submission deadline: 31 March 2024 [7].
• “Unveiling New Insights and Treatment Options for Ocular Surface Diseases”, edited by Tirassa and Mallone; submission deadline: 30 April 2023 [8].

Our journal was released in 2021. The editorial board members and the editorial office are working very hard at present to attain the first CiteScore™ for Future Pharmacology; this is indeed an element which constitutes a “prelude” to impact factor.

In conclusion, I would like to thank all our authors, reviewers, readers, and members of the editorial board and editorial offices for their unprecedented support.

I very much hope that 2024 will bring unprecedented levels of health, professional satisfaction, and overall joy to all of you.