International Journal of Phytotherapy and Phytopharmacology
Published in affiliation with the European Scientific Cooperative On Phytotherapy (ESCOP)



Phytomedicine is primarily a therapy-oriented Journal. Phytomedicine publishes innovative studies on efficacy, safety, quality and mechanisms of action of specified plant extracts, phytopharmaceuticals and their isolated constituents. This includes clinical, pharmacological, pharmacokinetic, and toxicological studies of specified herbal medicinal products, herbal preparations and purified compounds which have a defined and consistent quality assuring reproducible pharmacological activity.

Phytomedicine was founded in 1994 to focus and stimulate research in this particular field and to set internationally accepted scientific standards for pharmacological studies, proof of clinical efficacy and safety of phytomedicines.

The main aims of Phytomedicine are associated with the integration of phytopreparations into conventional/official medicine.

The journal covers the following sections:
Clinical pharmacology and toxicology (randomized, placebo controlled, double blind, and observational open label studies)
Behavioural, mental, affective, and stress-associated disorders
Age-associated disorders
Neuropharmacology
Endocrine pharmacology
Metabolic syndrome and obesity
Cancer
Immunopharmacology, inflammation
Infectious diseases
Pulmonary, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and urogenital diseases
Systems biology
Safety assessment, pre-clinical toxicology, interaction with drugs and adverse events of herbal preparations
Pharmacokinetic of natural compounds
Standardization of herbal preparations
Legislation of botanicals
Invited reviews


The directions of Phytomedicine are known to provide profound scientific background in Herbal Medicinal Products, their reproducible Quality and evidence based therapeutic efficacy. Since then quality criteria and standardization methods were defined and the European Medical Agency has elaborated numerous guidelines for the conduction of clinical studies and preparation of Herbal Medicinal Products. In total 107 ESCOP monographs have been produced and submitted to EMA. Many new analytical methods and instruments were implemented both for analysis and standardization of herbal Substances, herbal preparations and their bioassays and tremendous work has been carried out to remain aligned with these intentions during the last 18 years.

Nowadays important topics remain to be approached, such as harmonization of the regulatory frameworks in Europe, America, Asia and Australia or the legislation of various "botanicals", where strict differentiation of requirements for health claims of herbal medicinal product, dietary supplements and nutraceuticals are required.

Phytomedicine is the companion title to the open access journal Phytomedicine Plus.

Original papers
Short communications
Review articles
Prof. Hildebert Wagner Award

Editor-in-Chief
Thomas Efferth
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Institute of Pharmacy and Biochemistry Therapeutic Life Sciences, Staudinger Weg 5, 55128, Mainz, Germany
Co-Editors
Susana Zacchino, PhD.
National University of Rosario, 2000, Rosario, Argentina
Associate Editors
Maurizio Battino
Polytechnic University of Marche Department of Specialised Clinical Sciences and Odontostomatology, Via Ranieri, 60100, Ancona, Italy
Milen Georgiev
Stephan Angeloff Institute of Microbiology Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 139 Ruski Boulevard, 4000, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
David Yue-Wei Lee
McLean Hospital, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA 02478, United States
Liang Liu
Chinese Academy of Engineering, 100088, Beijing, China
Xiaoyan Shen
Fudan University Department of Pharmacology, 201203, Shanghai, China
Suowen Xu
University of Rochester, Rochester, 14623, United States
Young Investigator Associate Editor
Haitao Lu
Shanghai Jiao Tong University Center for Systems Biomedicine, 800 Dongchuan Road, 20024, Shanghai, China
Honorary and Founding Editor
Hildebert Wagner
Ludwig Maximilian University Munich Chair of Pharmaceutical Biology Biotechnology, Butenandtstr. 5-13, 81377, München, Germany
Founding Editor
Norman Farnsworth †
Chicago, United States
Ex Officio Editor
Mark Blumenthal
American Botanical Council, Austin, USA (Executive Director ABC)
Liselotte Krenn
University of Vienna, Austria (President ESCOP)
Managing Editor
Ingrid Maier
Munich, Germany
Ean-Jeong Seo
Mainz, Germany
Editorial Board
Rajesh Agarwal
University of Colorado Denver Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Aurora, United States
Suresh V. Ambudkar
National Cancer Institute Laboratory of Cell Biology, United States
Jay D. Amsterdam
University City Science Center, Philadelphia, United States
Yoshinori Asakawa
Tokushima Bunri University Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokushima, Japan
Jan Baak
Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway; Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands; University of Siena, Siena, Italy
Davide Barreca
University of Messina Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Messina, Italy
Rudolf Bauer
Karl Franzens University Graz Pharmacognosy, Graz, Austria
Anupam Bishayee
Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine School of Pharmacy, Erie, United States
Benjamin Bonavida
University of California Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, United States
Kerry Bone
Australian College of Phytotherapy Pty Ltd, Warwick, Australia
Marc Diederich
Seoul National University College of Pharmacy, Seoul, Korea, Republic of
Edzard Ernst
University of Exeter College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Exeter, United Kingdom
Fabio Firenzuoli
University of Florence, Firenze, Italy
Yujie Fu
Beijing Forestry University College of Forestry, Beijing, China
Sudeep Gautam
National Institute on Aging Diabetes Section, Baltimore, United States
Jörg Grünwald
Analyze & Realize GmbH, Berlin, Germany
Bill Gurley
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Little Rock, United States
Kirk Gustafson
NCI at Frederick, Frederick, United States
Hanns Häberlein
Rheinisch Friedrich Wilhelms University Bonn Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Bonn, Germany
Michael Heinrich
University College London School of Pharmacy, London, United Kingdom
Wen Luan Hsiao
Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau Institute for Applied Research in Medicine and Health, Taipa, Macao
Olaf Kelber
Bayer AG, Leverkusen, Germany
Sami Khalid
University of Khartoum Faculty of Pharmacy, Khartoum, Sudan
Haroon Khan
Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan Department of Pharmacy, Mardan, Pakistan
Ikhlas Khan
National Center for Natural Products Research, University, United States
Mohamed Khayyal
Cairo University Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo, Egypt
Werner Knöss
Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices, Bonn, Germany
Victor Kuete
University of Dschang Department of Biochemistry, Dschang, Cameroon
Ajaikumar Kunnumakkara
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, North Guwahati, India
Guillermo Labadie
Rosario National University Department of Organic Chemistry, Rosario, Argentina
Marie-Aleth Lacaille-Dubois
University of Burgundy Laboratory of Pharmacognosy, Dijon, France
Hsin-Chih Lai
Chang Gung University College of Medicine, USA
Clara Lau
Chinese University of Hong Kong Institute of Chinese Medicine, Sha Tin, Hong Kong
Z. Carl Lin
McLean Hospital, Belmont, United States
Randy Luciano
Yale University Department of Internal Medicine, New Haven, United States
Rather Ahmad Manzoor
Council of Scientific & Industrial Research Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Srinagar, India
Jay Sharan Mishra
University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Madison, United States
Héctor Ricardo Morbidoni
National University of Rosario Faculty of Medical Sciences, Rosario, Argentina
María José Morilla
Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Departament of Science and Technology, Nanomedicine Research Program, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Pulok Kumar Mukherjee
School of Natural Product Studies, Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India
Seyed Mohammad Nabavi
Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of
Koji Nakanishi
Columbia University Department of Chemistry, New York, United States
Ferdinando Nicoletti
University of Catania Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Catania, Italy
Rainer Nowack
HNDCenter Lindau and Bodensee, Lindau, Germany
Elin Olafsdottir
University of Iceland Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Reykjavik, Iceland
Alexander Orekhov
FSBSI Institute of General Pathology and Physiopathology, Moskva, Russian Federation
Alexander Panossian
EuroPharma USA, Stockholm, Sweden
Jinyong Peng
Dalian Medical University College of Pharmacy, Dalian, China
Antonieta Rojas de Arias
Center for the Development of Scientific Research, Asuncion, Paraguay
Lorenz Schild
Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry, Magdeburg, Germany
Paul Schnitzler
Heidelberg University Hospital Centre for Infectiology, Heidelberg, Germany
Dipali Sharma
Johns Hopkins Medicine Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, United States
Alexander Shikov
Group of Scientific Research Institutes, Sankt Peterburg, Russian Federation
Leandros Skaltsounis
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Barbara Steinhoff
German Medicines Manufacturers' Association, Herbal and Homoeopathic Medicines, Bonn, Germany
Hermann Stuppner
University of Innsbruck Department of Pharmacognosy, Innsbruck, Austria
Gudrun Ulrich-Merzenich
University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany
Jian Wang
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States
Oliver Werz
Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany
Vincent Kam Wai Wong
Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau Institute for Applied Research in Medicine and Health, Taipa, Macao
Wanying Wu
Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
Jianbo Xiao
University of Macau, Taipa, Macao
Pei-gen Xiao
Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Haidian District, China
Cheng-Chia Yu
Chung Shan Medical University College of Oral Medicine, Taichung, Taiwan
Su Zeng
Zhejiang University College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hangzhou, China
Hua Zhou
Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, China