Dear Reader,

Welcome to the final issue of Pediatric Drugs for 2020.

This year has presented many challenges and I 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. 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.

I would like to start by thanking the authors of the articles published in Pediatric Drugs 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 journal is on track to publish 50 articles this year; the most popular of these so far, in terms of downloads from SpringerLink, have been:


Temrikar ZH, Suryawanshi S, Meibohm B. Pharmacokinetics and Clinical Pharmacology of Monoclonal Antibodies in Pediatric Patients. Pediatr Drugs. 2020;22(2):199-216.


Saraff V, Nadar R, Högler, W. New Developments in the Treatment of X-Linked Hypophosphataemia: Implications for Clinical Management. Pediatr Drugs. 2020;22(2):113-121.


Olbjørn C, Rove JB, Jahnsen J. Combination of Biological Agents in Moderate to Severe Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Case Series and Review of the Literature. Pediatr Drugs. 2020;22(4):409-416.


Costi S, Caporali R, Cimaz R. Dealing with COVID-19 in a Pediatric Rheumatology Unit in Italy. Pediatr Drugs. 2020;22(3):263-264.


Alhersh E, Abushanab D, Al-Shaibi S, Al-Badriyeh D. Caffeine for the Treatment of Apnea in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Systematic Overview of Meta-Analyses. Pediatr Drugs. 2020;22(4):399-408.


El-Ghandour M, Hammad B, Ghanem M, Antonios MAM. Efficacy of Milrinone Plus Sildenafil in the Treatment of Neonates with Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension in Resource-Limited Settings: Results of a Randomized, Double-Blind Trial. Pediatr Drugs. 2020;22(6):1–9

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. I would like to acknowledge the following individuals who acted as reviewers for Pediatric Drugs in the last 12 months:

Rita Agarwal, USA

Mountasser M. Al-Mouqdad, Saudi Arabia

Jorge Amil Dias, Portugal

Charalampos Antachopoulos, Greece

Christian Apitz, Germany

Josephine Arendt, UK

Catherine M. Avitabile, USA

Ezgi D. Batu, Turkey

Kumar Belani, USA

Sandra Benavides, USA

Paul Bhalla, USA

David E. Bloom, USA

Christopher Brasher, Australia

Gilbert J. Burckart, USA

Jim Buttery, Australia

Waldemar A. Carlo, USA

George Chalkiadis, Australia

Eileen Chambers, USA

Catherine Chapin, USA

Herberto Chong Neto, Brazil

Imti Choonara, UK

Samuele Cortese, UK

James R. Couch Jr, USA

Giorgio Cozzi, Italy

Alexa Craig, USA

Giulia D'Arcangelo, Italy

Tom de Leeuw, the Netherlands

Lissy de Ridder, the Netherlands

Antonio De Tanti, Italy

Sieta T. de Vries, the Netherlands

Leslie A. Dervan, USA

Ami Desai, USA

Kenneth DeSantes, USA

Geneviève Durrieu, France

Daryl Efron, Australia

Karoline Ehlert, Germany

Amgad Eldib, USA

Noah Federman, USA

Giuliana Ferrante, Italy

Marco Galluzzo, Italy

Maria T. Garcia-Romero, Mexico

Teresa Giani, Italy

Jennifer L. Goldman, USA

Daniel Gonzalez, USA

Juratė Gudaitytė, Lithuania

Manuel Haschke, Switzerland

Nicholas H. G. Holford, New Zealand

Bree Holtz, USA

Gerd Horneff, Germany

Christoph P. Hornik, USA

Moninne Howlett, Ireland

Carl E. Hunt, USA

Chi Huynh, UK

Katarzyna Januszewska, Germany

Kathrin Jobski, Germany

Marybeth Jones, USA

Bridgette L. Jones, USA

Ioannis Kalampokis, USA

Konstantinos Kamperis, Denmark

David Kennaway, Australia

Ebru T. Kiliç, Turkey

Catherijne A. J. Knibbe, the Netherlands

Isabelle Kone-Paut, France

Anthony L. Kovac, USA

Paweł Kroll, Poland

Eberhard Kuwertz-Bröking, Germany

Theodore W. Laetsch, USA

Lieven Lagae, Belgium

Ana Marissa D. Lagman-Bartolome, Canada

Oren Ledder, Israel

Ming Lim, UK

Elisangela da Costa Lima, Brazil

Chien-Yu Lin, Taiwan, Republic of China

Peter A. Lio, USA

Fang Liu, UK

Mila Lovrić, Croatia

Stephen Lowis, UK

Ersilia Lucenteforte, Italy

Kris Mahadeo, USA

Anil R. Maharaj, USA

Iftekhar Mahmood, USA

Suvankar Majumdar, USA

Christoph Male, Austria

Chetan Mandelia, USA

Achille Marino, Italy

Gian Luigi Marseglia, Italy

Shirley D. Martin, USA

Andrea Mastinu, Italy

Varsha V. Mehta, USA

Erasmo Miele, Italy

Gregorio P. Milani, Italy

Ellen Mitchell, USA

Kouji Miyazaki, Japan

Maja Mockenhaupt, Germany

Masaaki Mori, Japan

Diane R. Mould, USA

Marco Mula, UK

Beate S. Müller, Germany

Simon Nadel, UK

Rinze Neuteboom, the Netherlands

Peter A. Nigrovic, USA

Hipólito Nzwalo, Portugal

Cara H. Olsen, USA

Anders A. Paerregaard, Denmark

Konstantinos Papamichael, USA

Kennerly K. S. Patrick, USA

Ian Paul, USA

Antoine Petitcollin, France

Ross E. Petty, Canada

B. Ryan Phelps, USA

Navin Pinto, USA

Dimitri Poddighe, Kazakhstan

Ganga Prasad, India

M. Sethuraman Raghuraman, India

Massimo Ralli, Italy

Michele L. Ramien, Canada

Murray M. A. Raskind, USA

Michael J. Rieder, Canada

Andrew Riordan, UK

Vilmarie Rodriguez, USA

Victoria Rollason, Switzerland

Thorsten Rosenbaum, Germany

Richard K. Russell, UK

Ayad Sabry, USA

Jumpei Saito, Japan

Cynthia F. Salorio, USA

Mark Samaan, UK

Fernando Santos, Spain

Jan N. M. Schieveld, the Netherlands

Soraya S. Seedat, South Africa

Valentina Shakhnovich, USA

Sam R. Sharar, USA

Ajoy Shetty, India

Iram Siddiqui, Canada

Namita Sood, USA

Edoardo Spina, Italy

Dan Stewart, USA

Matthew L. Stoll, USA

Anne B. Taegtmeyer, Switzerland

Burkhard Toenshoff, Germany

Chani Traube, USA

Adriana H. Tremoulet, USA

Catherine Tuleu, UK

Brian Turpin, USA

Tjitske van der Zanden, the Netherlands

Janelle D. Vaughns, USA

Alberto Verrotti, Italy

Alexander A. Vinks, USA

Terri Voepel-Lewis, USA

Jiaan D. Wang, Taiwan, Republic of China

Deepti M. Warad, USA

Margaret D. Weiss, USA

Per Wekell, Sweden

Paul V. Williams, USA

Pamela Winterberg, USA

Elaine C. Wirrell, USA

Stefan Wirth, Germany

Marco Yamazaki‐Nakashimada, Mexico

Kee Kiat Yeo, USA

Erica Zamberletti, Italy

Noam Zevit, Israel

I am also very grateful to the members of the journal’s Honorary Editorial Board, who have acted as peer reviewers and authors, and have provided guidance on journal content, policy and processes:

Karel Allegaert, Leuven, Belgium

Marina Aloi, Rome, Italy

John Berkenbosch, Louisville, KY, USA

Frank M. C. Besag, London, UK

Stan L. Block, Bardstown, KY, USA

Andrew Bush, London, UK

Rolando Cimaz, Florence, Italy

Saskia de Wildt, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

L. Lee Dupuis, Toronto, ON, Canada

Brian Eley, Cape Town, South Africa

Susanna Esposito, Milan, Italy

Carmen Ferrajolo, Napoli, Italy

Robert L. Findling, Baltimore, MD, USA

Dominic Fitzgerald, Westmead, Australia

Jennifer E. Girotto, Hartford, CT, USA

David A. Gremse, Mobile, AL, USA

Andreas H. Groll, Münster, Germany

Scott A. Halperin, Nova Scotia, Canada

Julian Hamilton-Shield, Bristol, UK

Gregory L. Holmes, Burlington, VT, USA

Daniel B. Horton, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

Gregory L. Kearns, Little Rock, AR, USA

Desiree Kunac, Dunedin, New Zealand

Nai Ming Lai, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Stephen Lowis, Bristol, UK

Stuart M. MacLeod, Vancouver, Canada

Antje Neubert, Erlangen, Germany

Terry Nolan, Parkville, Australia

Michael E. Pichichero, Rochester, NY, USA

Emmanuel Roilides, Thessaloniki, Greece

Catherine M. Sherwin, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

Robert Sidbury, Seattle, WA, USA,

William M. Splinter, Ottawa, Canada

John van den Anker, Washington, DC, USA

Diana A. van Riet-Nales, Utrecht, the Netherlands

Karen D. Wagner, Galveston, TX, USA

Hervé Walti, Paris, France

Ian C. Wong, London, UK

C. Michel Zwaan, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

The high quality of the content published in Pediatric Drugs has been reflected in the most recent impact factor of 2.519. This places the journal high up in the second quartile of the pediatric category. Further, Pediatric Drugs has published content in a timely manner, with an average time from submission to first decision of 30 days and from acceptance to online publication of 23 days.

In 2021, Pediatric Drugs will continue to provide you with high interest, clinically relevant content in the field of pediatric pharmacotherapy. I thank you for your continued support.

With best wishes,

Rod McNab