Editorial from Editor-in-Chief

Throughout its first ten years of publication, Combinatorial Chemistry & High Throughput Screening has occupied a unique position among the peer reviewed literature by specializing in the publication of review articles and original research papers in combinatorial chemistry, high throughput screening, and the interface of these related fields. Papers published in CCHTS are highly visible and are abstracted and indexed by the major services including Current Contents/Life Sciences, Biological Abstracts, BIOBASE, BIOSIS, BIOSIS Previews, CAB Abstracts, Chemical Abstracts, Chemistry Citation Index, EMBASE, Google, Google Scholar, JCR/Science Edition, MEDLINE, Reaction Citation Index, Science Citation Index Expanded, and SCI Expanded. During the last year, CCHTS reached another milestone with its highest impact ever of 2.55 (according to the ISI Web of Knowledge, Journal Citation Reports, produced by the Thomson Corporation; Philadelphia, PA). In addition, CCHTS is ranked 4th out of 58 journals by Journal Citation Reports in the field of Applied Chemistry. After ten years of outstanding service to CCHTS, our Regional Editor for Asia, Prof. Takenori Kusumi of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Tokushima, Japan, has decided to retire from this role at CCHTS. I would like to recognize Prof. Kusumi for his help when CCHTS was launched as a new journal ten years ago and then for his tireless commitment to make it a continuing success. When CCHTS began publication in 1998, combinatorial chemistry was so new that few manuscripts were being submitted from researchers in Asia. Thanks at least in part to the efforts of Prof. Kusumi, numerous manuscripts are now being submitted each year from authors in Asia. Taking his place as the new Regional Editor for Asia is one of the original members of the CCHTS Editorial Board, Prof. Ikuo Fujii of Osaka Prefecture University. Since Prof. Fujii brings ten years of experience on our Editorial Board to this position, the transition between Regional Editors for Asia should go unnoticed by authors awaiting referees' reviews and editorial decisions from this office. In addition to a new Regional Editor for Asia, there are several new members joining our Editorial Board as well as others who are retiring after many years of service. In particular, I would like to thank the retiring members of the Editorial Board of CCHTS for ten years of peer review of manuscripts submitted for publication and support of the journal. These distinguished Editorial Board members include Dr. Koshi Arai (Taisho Pharmaceutical; Saitama), Dr. Nobuyuki Okajima (Japan Tobacco; Osaka), Prof. Shigeki Sasaki (Kyushu University; Fukuoka), and Dr. Jun-ya Tamura (Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical; Ibaraki). For a complete list of the current Editorial Board members and Regional Editors of CCHTS, please visit our web site at the following Internet address: http://www.bentham.org/cchts. Information for authors, an index of papers published in CCHTS and free access to sample issues may also be found at our website. As we begin our 11th year of publication, Combinatorial Chemistry & High Throughput Screening remains a unique and essential scientific journal defining the intersection of both combinatorial chemistry and screening. We will continue to publish 10 issues per year, which is the most frequent publication rate in this field. This effort is made possible by the distinguished members of the Editorial Board, the Regional Editors, the production staff and management of Bentham Science publishers, the guest editors of special issues, the authors, and of course you, the readers. Thank you for ten years (and counting) of support for CCHTS.