Welcome to The 16Th Volume of Nanomedicine

Keywords::

• authorship
• coronavirus
• nanomedicine
• social media
• top content

To all our readers, we are delighted to welcome you to the 16th volume of Nanomedicine. 2020 has been an unprecedented year with the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. Researchers of all fields have been working to find strategies to protect people from COVID-19, and the nanomedicine community is no different, with many nano-based strategies having been proposed for the treatment and prevention of the disease [1].

Read on to find out more about some of the content highlights from 2020. This year, I am highlighting past content using data on readership, citations and social media attention.

Content highlights of 2020

Table 1 shows our most read 2020 content. Understandably, COVID-19 has been a hot topic this year, with the top three most read review-style articles discussing how nanomedicines have been used against coronaviruses in the past and their potential against the current SARS-CoV strain [2–4].

Table 1. Top articles in Nanomedicine’s 2020 issues by readership^† .

Rank	Full-text downloads	Article type	Title	Authors	Volume (issue)	Almetric score	Citations	Ref.
1	6912	Special Report	Application of nanomaterials in treatment, anti-infection and detection of coronaviruses	Nikaeen et al.	15(15)	4	9	[2]
2	2691	Perspective	Why have nanotechnologies been underutilized in the global uprising against the coronavirus pandemic?	Uskoković	15(17)	9	2	[3]
3	2260	Review	Nanomedicine as a promising approach for diagnosis, treatment and prophylaxis against COVID-19	Abd Ellah et al.	15(21)	52	2	[4]
4	2034	Research Article	Mesoporous silica with precisely controlled pores reduces food efficiency and suppresses weight gain in mice	Rinde et al.	15(2)	96	2	[5]
5	1781	Commentary	Challenges of moving theranostic nanomedicine into the clinic	Singh et al.	15(2)	2	6	[6]
6	1333	Editorial	Research shortcomings of fluorescent nanothermometers in biological and medical fields	Yuexuan et al.	15(8)	1	1	[7]

† As of 18 November 2020.

In our most read research article, Rinde et al. used a mouse model of obesity to assess the impact of a diet supplemented with mesoporous silica particles on weight gain [5]. Compared with controls, mice taking the particles had reduced adipose tissue formation and lower leptin levels. The authors propose that the mechanism of action may be through limitation of gastrointestinal energy uptake, but state that further investigation is required.

In addition to research and reviews, we publish short opinion style articles. The most read of these is a commentary, discussing the potential theranostic nanoparticles have to be used in a clinical setting, and the challenges associated with realizing this [6]. In our most read editorial, authors review the uses of fluorescent nanothermometers and their disadvantages [7].

Citations are a key metric for assessing the impact of published papers. A recent addition to all journals published by Future Science Group is the inclusion of Dimensions citation data alongside each article [8]. This provides information on the number of citations an article has received, and links through to the Dimensions website with details on the citing publications, how the publication’s citation number compares with others in the same field, and more.

Looking at these data provides further information on impactful papers, and Table 2 lists the top content published in 2019 and 2020 issues when ranked by citation number. Articles on clinical nanomedicine and anticancer nanoformulations have been well cited.

Table 2. Top articles in Nanomedicine’s 2019 and 2020 issues by citations^† .

Rank	Citations	Article type	Title	Authors	Volume (issue)	Altmetric score	Ref.
1	64	Review	Nanopharmaceuticals and nanomedicines currently on the market: challenges and opportunities	Farjadian et al.	14(1)	0	[9]
2	23	Research Article	Freeze-dried and GMP-compliant pharmaceuticals containing exosomes for acellular mesenchymal stromal cell immunomodulant therapy	Bari et al.	14(6)	1	[10]
3	16	Review	Recent progress in nanoscale metal-organic frameworks for drug release and cancer therapy	Heet al.	14(10)	0	[11]
4	15	Review	Nanoparticle systems for cancer vaccine	Wen et al.	14(5)	4	[12]
5	14	Review	Nanopaclitaxel therapy: an evidence based review on the battle for next-generation formulation challenges	Harshita et al.	14(10)	0	[13]
6	12	Research Article	Mannosylated thiolated paromomycin-loaded PLGA nanoparticles for the oral therapy of visceral leishmaniasis	Afzal et al.	14(4)	0	[14]
–	12	Research Article	Nutlin-loaded magnetic solid lipid nanoparticles for targeted glioblastoma treatment	Grillone et al.	14(6)	3	[15]

† As of 18 November 2020.

All Future Science Group journals are integrated with Altmetric [16], with each article receiving a score reflecting the quantity and reach of the attention it has received (i.e., on social media, in policy/patent documents and in news, blogs and other sources). While citation data takes time to accrue following publication, Altmetric scores give an earlier indication of content that is attracting attention. Table 3 shows the top 2020 content ranked by Altmetric score. Of interest, a running theme for much of our content with a high Altmetric score is neuro-based nanomedicine.

Table 3. Top articles in Nanomedicine’s 2020 issues by Altmetric score^† .

Rank	Altmetric score	Article type	Title	Authors	Volume (issue)	Ref.
1	96	Research Article	Mesoporous silica with precisely controlled pores reduces food efficiency and suppresses weight gain in mice	Rinde et al.	15(2)	[5]
2	52	Review	Nanomedicine as a promising approach for diagnosis, treatment and prophylaxis against COVID-19	Abd Ellah et al.	15(21)	[4]
3	38	Special Report	Drug delivery across the blood–brain barrier: recent advances in the use of nanocarriers	Mulvihill et al.	15(2)	[17]
4	19	Systematic Review	Nanoparticles as contrast agents for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease: a systematic review	UIanova et al.	15(7)	[18]
5	15	Review	An overview of nanomedicines for neuron targeting	Garcia-Chica et al.	15(16)	[19]
6	12	Special Report	Safety considerations for nanoparticle gene delivery in pediatric brain tumors	Luly et al.	15(18)	[20]

† As of 18 November 2020.

The Nanomed Zone

2020 saw the launch of Future Science Group’s latest digital platform, the Nanomed Zone [21], which Nanomedicine works alongside. The Nanomed Zone is a free platform offering access to breakthrough research and insightful, engaging resources including breaking news, peer-reviewed articles, webinars and articles from key opinion leaders, all focusing on nanotechnology. Visit the site to find out more! You can also find a monthly feature on the site highlighting top content from that month’s issues of Nanomedicine.

Social media

Nanomedicine continues to be active on Twitter @fsgnnm [22]. Our regular posts include journal highlights, such as newly published content and the latest nanomedical news. This year, we have thoroughly enjoyed engaging with authors and readers. We welcome anyone on Twitter to join our existing followers to connect with us going into 2021.

Geographic spread of our authors

As well as looking back over the topics and types of article published in the journal, it is interesting to consider the source of the content (Figure 1). As usual, Asia and Europe make up the greater proportion of our authorship; however, it is interesting to see contributors from some new countries this year, including Argentina, Chile and Saudi Arabia.

Figure 1. Author demographics for Nanomedicine in 2020.

Looking forward

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our readers, authors and Editorial Board members who contributed to the journal in 2020. As we move into 2021, I look forward to working with them across Nanomedicine and The Nanomed Zone.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

A Bough is an employee of Future Medicine Ltd, publisher of Nanomedicine. The author has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

A Bough is an employee of Future Medicine Ltd, publisher of Nanomedicine. The author has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.