Phytotherapy Research is a bimonthly plus two additional issues international journal for the publication of original medical plant research including biochemistry and molecular pharmacology toxicology pathology and the clinical applications of herbs and natural products to both human and animal medicine. Papers are also published concerning chemical and botanical identification of herbs or their products where such information contributes to the overall safety of plant based medicines currently in use. Papers and communications concerned solely with the identification and structure elucidation of natural products will only be considered where the work contributes directly to the understanding of the use of the plant as a medicine. Phytotherapy Research publishes full-length original research papers short communications reviews and letters on medicinal plant research. Clincal papers on the applications of herbs and natural products to both human and animal medicine may vary from case histories to full clinical trials. Papers concerned with the effects of common food ingredients and standardised plant extracts including commercial products are welcome as are mechanistic studies on isolated natural products. Phytotherapy Research does not publish purely agricultural phytochemical structure elucidation and identification papers unless pertinent to the pharmacological effects or overall safety of plant based medicines currently in use. Papers dealing with the pharmacology and screening of crude extracts often deal with local medicinal plants and are of only limited interest to an international readership. Therefore please consider carefully whether your paper would be more appropriate to a national journal before sending it to Phytotherapy Research . Crude extract papers will still be considered for publication as short communications but only if they are a single published page in length (equivalent to 600 words to include due allowance for any illustrations). Longer manuscripts will be returned without being reviewed .