Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research
Official Journal of Pharmacotherpy Group
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Augustine O Okhamafe Editor-in-Chief

Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology, University of Benin, P.M.B. 1154, Benin City, Nigeria. E-mail:  okhamafe@uniben.edu

Trop J Pharm Res, June 2002; 1(1): 1-2

Never in human history has man witnessed phenomenal advances in science and technology such as we are seeing today. These rapid advances have had, and continue to have, profound impact on all human spheres and activities ranging from agriculture, health, education and industry to leisure, communication, and even terrorism and warfare. In the area of research, computers and digital technology have facilitated the development of ultra-sensitive, high precision equipment for characterising and measuring trace amounts of substances in body fluids. Health sciences and related disciplines have benefited tremendously from this development. The result is a very substantial increase in research quality and output. Happily, publishers have risen to the challenge as evidenced by the proliferation of mostly good quality journals and books several of which are highly specialised. Furthermore, there are now far more are international conferences, symposia and workshops in health - related disciplines than a decade ago.

However, researchers in the less developed countries (LDCs) have, over the decades, been minor, or perhaps more accurately, fringe players in research and development activities. Incidentally, most of the LDCs fall within the tropical belt of the earth which continue to be ravaged by the devastating combination of conflicts, poverty, and in several cases, poor governance. The tropics is also inhabited by close to half of the world population and a greater part of which is still plagued by diseases such as malaria, cholera, sickle cell anaemia, tuberculosis and leprosy. In recent years, HIV/AIDS has become a major scourge in Africa, especially the eastern and southern sub-regions of the continent. More, the formidable challenge posed by the combination of high temperature and humidity that is characteristic of the tropical climate means that pharmaceutical processes and products must take into consideration this climatic peculiarity. If you add to this the well known fact that the tropical rain forest is replete with several thousand plant species, hundreds of which have therapeutic potentials that are yet to be harnessed, then you will see the need for a pharmaceutical journal that will pay greater attention to tropical therapeutic issues than other journals.

The Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research is an online international journal that is committed to the promotion of research and dissemination of knowledge in pharmaceutical sciences and related disciplines including biotechnology, gene therapy, molecular and cell biology, therapeutics, medical and life sciences. It seeks particularly, but by no means exclusively, to encourage health-related research of tropical relevance as well as multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral collaboration among scientists and practitioners, and thus provide an international platform for the evaluation and communication of methods, data and findings in the fields indicated.

It is my pleasure to present to you this maiden issue of the Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research.