Indena provides new head for natural products journal

Co-published by Elsevier and Indena, the journal focuses on medicinal plants and natural bioactive compounds of plant origin.

Indena’s Giovanni Appendino has become editor in chief of the journal and plans to position it as a publication that both investigates raw extracts and explores their clinical potential.

Commenting on his appointment, Appendino said: “My goal is to place Fitoterapia in a central position between the investigation of crude extracts and the clinical development of compounds obtained from them.”​

Appendino has also pledged to continue to work towards establishing a strong interaction between readers and contributors.

A significant proportion of the contributing scientists are based in developing regions, where the knowledge of medicinal plants and their effects is often very advanced.

In order for the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and health foods to continue to benefit from this knowledge it must be disseminated to the international community before it is lost, and Fitoterapia aims to do just this.

For Indena, this not only helps bring the knowledge to the international scientific community, it also helps increase publication and fund research in these countries.

The journal was created by Indena in 1924 and according to the company its importance within the sector has been growing steadily in the last few years with the publication now receiving approximately 700 papers a year.