Journal of Medicinal Chemistry

The Journal of Medicinal Chemistry is a semimonthly peer-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Society, published continuously since 1963 and devoted to the chemical and biological relationships that underpin drug discovery and development, with a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 7.3 and a first-quartile position, 9th of 72, in medicinal chemistry《药物化学杂志》（Journal of Medicinal Chemistry）是（American Chemical Society）自 1963 年起连续出版的半月刊同行评审期刊，专注支撑药物发现与开发的化学与生物学关系，2025 年影响因子为 7.3，在 72 种药物化学类期刊中列第 9 位，居第一四分位。

Scope

• The primary objective is to publish studies that advance understanding of the relationship between molecular structure and biological activity or mode of action首要目标是发表有助于理解分子结构与生物活性或作用方式之间关系的研究。
• It covers the design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel biologically active compounds, diagnostic agents and labeled ligands used as pharmacological tools覆盖新型生物活性化合物、诊断试剂以及作为药理学工具的标记配体的设计、合成与生物学评价。
• Molecular modifications of reported series are welcome when they markedly improve understanding of structure-activity relationships, while routine extensions of existing series are normally not considered对已报道化合物系列的分子改造若能显著加深构效关系认识则受到欢迎，而既有系列的常规延伸通常不予考虑。
• Structural biological studies of relevant ligands and targets, using X-ray crystallography, NMR and related methods, are included in order to probe molecular recognition in the action of biologically active compounds运用 X 射线晶体学、核磁共振等方法研究相关配体与靶标的结构生物学工作亦在范围内，用以探明生物活性化合物作用中的分子识别过程。
• Molecular biological studies of macromolecular targets, such as site-directed mutagenesis, are published when they lead to a better understanding of molecular recognition针对大分子靶标的分子生物学研究（例如定点突变）在能增进对分子识别之理解时予以发表。
• Computational work that analyses the structure-activity relationships of compound series of general interest, and substantially novel computational chemistry methods of demonstrated utility, are also within scope分析具普遍意义化合物系列构效关系的计算工作，以及经证实确有实用价值且具实质创新性的计算化学方法，同属收稿范围。
• It further addresses the effect of molecular structure on distribution, pharmacokinetics and metabolic transformation, including the design and evaluation of novel prodrugs, together with novel methodology of broad application to medicinal chemistry该刊还关注分子结构对分布、药代动力学与代谢转化的影响（含新型前体药物的设计与评价），以及可广泛应用于药物化学的新方法学。
• Artificial intelligence and machine learning in drug discovery are explicitly welcomed, as is drug discovery and development in veterinary medicine, while papers based on crude extracts are not published药物发现中的人工智能与机器学习被明确欢迎，兽医学领域的药物发现与开发亦然，而基于粗提物的论文不予发表。

History

• The journal began in 1959 as the Journal of Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, launched by the co-editors Arnold H. Beckett and Alfred Burger该刊于 1959 年以（Journal of Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry）之名创刊，由共同主编 Arnold H. Beckett 与 Alfred Burger 主持。^[1]
• The American Chemical Society acquired the title in 1962 and relaunched it under its present name, with Volume 6, Number 1 appearing in January 1963（American Chemical Society）于 1962 年收购该刊并以现名重新出版，第 6 卷第 1 期于 1963 年 1 月面世。
• Philip S. Portoghese succeeded Burger as Editor-in-Chief and led the journal from 1972 to 2011, a long tenure in which it became the flagship venue for primary medicinal chemistry researchPhilip S. Portoghese 接替 Burger 出任主编，自 1972 年执掌该刊至 2011 年，长期任内刊物成为药物化学原创研究的旗舰园地。
• Gunda Georg and Shaomeng Wang then served as joint Editors-in-Chief from 2011 to 2020, a period in which the journal's impact factor and international visibility grew further此后 Gunda Georg 与 Shaomeng Wang 于 2011 至 2020 年共同担任主编，任内刊物影响因子与国际能见度进一步提升。^[2]
• Craig W. Lindsley took over as Editor-in-Chief in 2020 and continues in the roleCraig W. Lindsley 自 2020 年起接任主编并任职至今。
• Publication expanded from a bimonthly schedule to 24 issues a year, and its Journal Impact Factor stood at 7.446 in 2021, 8.039 in 2022, 6.8 in 2024 and 7.3 in 2025刊期由双月刊扩至每年 24 期，影响因子 2021 年为 7.446、2022 年为 8.039、2024 年为 6.8、2025 年为 7.3。

Editors

• The Editor-in-Chief is Craig W. Lindsley of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, whose research concerns G protein-coupled receptor pharmacology, allosteric modulators and chemical biology现任主编为（Vanderbilt University Medical Center）的 Craig W. Lindsley，研究方向涉及 G 蛋白偶联受体药理学、别构调节剂与化学生物学。
• Manuscripts are submitted as Articles, Perspectives or Drug Annotations, with Perspectives normally invited through the Perspectives Editor and Drug Annotations handled by a dedicated editor稿件以原创论文、观点文章或药物注解三类投稿，观点文章通常经观点编辑约稿，药物注解由专任编辑处理。
• Authors are encouraged to propose potential reviewers at submission, and the editors commission peer review from independent experts in the field作者投稿时被鼓励推荐潜在审稿人，编辑则委托领域内独立专家开展同行评审。
• The journal operates a hybrid model, remaining subscription-based while allowing authors to pay an article publishing charge so that their paper becomes immediately open access该刊采用混合模式，以订阅为基础，同时允许作者支付文章出版费使论文立即开放获取。
• It maintains an international editorial board and a team of associate editors covering medicinal chemistry, computational drug discovery and structural biology该刊设有国际性编委会与副编辑团队，覆盖药物化学、计算药物发现与结构生物学等方向。
• It is indexed in Science Citation Index Expanded and Scopus, and ranks in the first quartile of the Chemistry, Medicinal category该刊被（Science Citation Index Expanded）与（Scopus）收录，并在药物化学类别中位居第一四分位。