Acknowledgement to referees

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the final issue of Drugs and Therapy Perspectives for 2020.

This year has presented many challenges and we would like to take this opportunity to thank all who have contributed to ensuring the journal has thrived despite the extraordinary circumstances that the science community, and the world in general, has faced.

We would like to start by thanking the authors of the articles published in Drugs and Therapy Perspectives over the course of 2020. The enthusiasm of all authors for their chosen fields and their willingness to contribute content to the journal are crucial for its continued success.

The quality of published articles is also testament to the diligence of the peer reviewers, whose willingness to share their expertise ensures that the journal’s content is held to the highest standard. We would like to acknowledge the following individuals who acted as reviewers for Drugs and Therapy Perspectives in the last 12 months:

Jad Abdallah, Lebanon

Dania Abu-Naser, Jordan

Habeeb Ibrahim Abdul Razack, Saudi Arabia

Niyaz Ahmad, Saudi Arabia

Yousef Ahmed Alomi, Saudi Arabia

A. Deniz Akkaya, Turkey

Ali Aldibbiat, Kuwait

Abdullah Al Hamid, UK

Natasha Ali, Pakistan

Zainab Ali, Qatar

Abdulhadi M. Alqahtani, Saudi Arabia

Sabina A. Antoniu, Romania

Francisco Araujo, Spain

Ali Ekrem Aydin, Turkey

Marium Azim, Pakistan

Osama Badary, Egypt

Anabela Barcelos, Portugal

Anthony H. Barnett, UK

German Baron, Colombia

Kalyani Barve, India

Julio Bassas-Vila, Spain

Anthony Baughn, USA

John E. Bennett, USA

Christian Brandt, Germany

James R. Brasic, USA

Diana Brasselet, France

Paula Briggs, UK

Elena P. Calandre, Spain

Fernando Carreno, Brazil

Renato Caviglia, UK

Natalie Cebotarenco, Republic of Moldova

Osmar A. Centurion, Paraguay

Michael Ceulemans, Belgium

Athanasios Chalkias, Greece

Sonia Chavez-Alvarez, Mexico

Surarong Chinwong, Thailand

Giuseppe Cianchini, Italy

Juan Correa, USA

Rui Cruz, Portugal

Charles L. Daley, USA

Richard O. Day, Australia

Tine L. M. De Backer, Belgium

Stefano de Biase, Italy

Erik De Clercq, Belgium

Navin Kumar Devaraj, Malaysia

Costantino Di Carlo, Italy

Hassan Dib, China

Frank Doesburg, the Netherlands

Lars Edvinsson, Sweden

Shereen Elazzazy, Qatar

Ali Elbeddini, Canada

Urban Emmenegger, Canada

Marcos Escobedo-Guerra, Mexico

Tadele Eticha, Ethiopia

Rita Farah, Lebanon

Pedro J. Garcia Ruiz, Spain

Swapna Gayam, USA

Niloofar N. Ghadamyari, Islamic Republic of Iran

Micheline A. Goldwire, USA

Maria Guerrieno, Portugal

Luisa Guidi, Italy

David Hachey, Namibia

Martina Hahn, Germany

Husnain Hamid, Pakistan

Guy Hans, Belgium

Syed Shahzad Hasan, UK

Gamal Harisa, Saudi Arabia

Abdul Haseeb, Saudi Arabia

Renske Hebing, the Netherlands

Satisha Hegde, India

Raquel Herrera Comoglio, Argentina

Yuji Hirano, Japan

Swapnil Hiremath, Canada

Germain Honvo, Belgium

Robert H. Howland, USA

Bruce P. J. Hugman, Thailand

Perpetua U. Ibekwe, Nigeria

Cristoforo Incorvaia, Italy

Demetris Ioannides, Greece

Abubakar M. Isa, Nigeria

Girish K. Jain, India

Shazia Q. Jamshed, Malaysia

Narumol Jarernsiripornkul, Thailand

Jimmy Jose, Oman

Shrikant V. Joshi, India

Stylianos Karatapanis, Greece

Upinder Kaur, India

Tahir Khan, Malaysia

Hossein Khorramdelazad, Islamic Republic of Iran

Edeltraut Kröger, Canada

Chiaoyun Kuo, USA

Xiaomeng Li, USA

Ye Htut Linn, Myanmar

Wen-Shyong Liou, Taiwan, Republic of China

Chen S. Liu, China

Fanxiao Liu, China

José Lopes, Portugal

Tauqeer H. Mallhi, Saudi Arabia

Imran Manji, Kenya

Noha O. Mansour, Egypt

Maria A. P. Martins, Brazil

Khalid Masoodi, India

Yoshihiro Y. Matsukawa, Japan

Mudasir A. Mir, India

Sanja Mirkov, New Zealand

Bhautik Modi, India

Mona Mostaghim, Australia

Joaquim Mullol, Spain

Arnulfo Hernan Nava-Zavala, Mexico

David N. Neubauer, USA

Khawla Nuseir, Jordan

Santiago S. Palacios, Spain

Nikolaos Papanas, Greece

Harikrishnan Parthasarathy, India

Heverton M. Peres, Brazil

Nancy Phillips, USA

Alvaro Pinto, Spain

Rosario Pivonello, Italy

Dimitri Poddighe, Kazakhstan

Kein Boon Poon, Singapore

Yash Prashar, India

Giuseppe A. Ramirez, Italy

Mamunur Rashid, Pakistan

Muhammed Rashid, India

Saeed U. Rashid Nazir, Saudi Arabia

Christophe Richez, France

Roberto R. Riva, Italy

Leonardo Roever, Brazil

Peter P. Rossing, Denmark

Florjana Rustemi, Albania

Kourosh Sadeghi, Islamic Republic of Iran

Nida Saleem, Pakistan

Muhammad Salman, Pakistan

Sandeep Saluja, India

Asir J. Samuel, India

Hiren Sanghani, India

Luis Sargento, Portugal

Martin O. Savage, UK

Mona Schaalan, Egypt

Rima B. Shah, India

Joanne L. Sharp, UK

Leticia Shea, USA

Alok Singh, India

Caroline Sirois, Canada

Brian Spoelhof, USA

Eriko Sumi, Japan

Maysa Suyagh, Jordan

Million Adane Tegenge, USA

Zvi Teitelbaum, Israel

Mehmet E. Tezcan, Turkey

Paolo Tomasi, the Netherlands

Nurten Gizem Tore, Turkey

Shanna C. Trenaman, Canada

Thierry Trenque, France

Himi Tripathi, USA

Rakshamani Tripathi, USA

Themistoklis Tzotzas, Greece

Charlie Upton, USA

Job F. M. van Boven, the Netherlands

Kirsten K. Viktil, Norway

Francisco Vílchez-Márquez, Spain

Junming Wan, China

Ming-Shyan Wang, Taiwan, Republic of China

Susan M. Webb, Spain

H. Steve White, USA

Joshua Wiegel, USA

Thasia G. Woodworth, USA

Tien-Yuan Wu, Taiwan, Republic of China

Albert Yang, Taiwan, Republic of China

Kai Zhen Yap, Singapore

Ichiro Yoshii, Japan

Abed Zahedi Bialvaei, Islamic Republic of Iran

Ashkan Zandi, Islamic Republic of Iran

Sara Zandonella Callegher, Italy

William S. Zirker, USA

We are also very grateful to the members of the journal’s Honorary Editorial Board, who, in addition to acting as peer reviewers and/or authors, have provided guidance on journal content, policy and processes.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of rapid and wide dissemination of high-quality information. Springer Nature is supporting the global response to COVID-19 by making all relevant content immediately and freely available. Indeed, Drugs and Therapy Perspectives has published a number of papers relevant to the COVID-19 pandemic that are free to access. The most popular of these, in terms of downloads from SpringerLink as at October 2020, have been:

• Coronavirus outbreaks: prevention and management recommendations Khan Z, Muhammad K, Ahmed A, et al.

• Is Pakistan prepared to tackle the coronavirus epidemic? Saqlain M, Munir MM, Ahmed A, et al.

• Preventing COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries Khadka S, Hashmi FK, Usman M.

• Is Pakistan on track to have COVID-19 transmission and mortality rates similar to those of Italy, Iran or the USA? Javed B, Sarwer A, Soto EB, et al.

• Preventive measures and management of COVID-19 in pregnancy Omer S, Ali S, Babar ZD.

• Knowledge, attitude and preventive practices related to COVID-19: a cross-sectional study in two Pakistani university populations Salman M, Mustafa ZU, Asif N, et al.

• Preparedness of pharmacists to respond to the emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil: a comprehensive overview Parreiras Martins MA, Fonseca de Medeiros A, Dias Carneiro de Almeida C, et al.

• The challenging times and opportunities for pharmacovigilance in Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic OgarC, Mathenge W, Khaemba C, et al.

• Knowledge and beliefs towards universal safety precautions during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic among the Indian public: a web-based cross-sectional survey. Gudi SK, Chhabra M, Undela K, et al.

• Within a large healthcare system, the incidence of positive COVID-19 results and mortality are lower in patients on chronic hydroxychloroquine therapy Sen S, Werner A, Shekhar A.

• Review of evidence on using ACEi and ARBs in patients with hypertension and COVID-19 Kahn SH, Zaidi SK.

• Current pharmacy practices in low- and middle-income countries; recommendations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic Hamid H, Masood RA, Tariq H, et al.

• Paradigm shift of drug information centers during the COVID-19 pandemic Khatiwada AP, Shakya S, Shrestha S.

• Strategies to conserve salbutamol pressurized metered-dose inhaler stock levels amid COVID-19 drug shortage Elbeddini A, Tayefehchamani Y, Yang L.

• Pharmacotherapeutic considerations for systemic rheumatic diseases amid the COVID-19 pandemic: more questions than answers Kow CS, Hasan SS.

• Should community pharmacies provide COVID-19 screening services? Tan CH.

• Self-medication during Covid-19 pandemic: challenges and opportunities Malik M, Tahir MJ, Jabbar R, et al.

Further, Drugs and Therapy Perspectives has published content in a timely manner, with an average time from submission to first decision of 20 days and from acceptance to online publication of 18 days.

In 2021, Drugs and Therapy Perspectives will continue to provide you with high-interest content relevant to real-world clinical settings. We thank you for your continued support.

With best wishes,

Katherine A. Lyseng-Williamson, Editor-in-Chief

Young A Heo, Associate Editor