LOOKING AHEAD TO 2026

Dear reader, We have entered the final year of the first quarter of the 21st century, which will be eternally marked by the catastrophic challenges linked to numerous global military conflicts and the COVID-19 pandemic. The medical effects of a full-scale war in Ukraine highlight the need for global awareness of the magnitude of the current issues [1; 2]. Discussing the medical and social aspects of these issues and their solutions became a priority topic in the Proceedings of the Shevchenko Scientific Society. Medical Sciences (Medical Sciences) from 2021 to 2024. I will share the outcomes of our work during this period and why it is crucial to consider today what our journal will look like in 2026.The editorial team of the Medical Sciences journal combines experience shaped by time-tested traditions, contemporary knowledge, innovations, and the passion of scientists and doctors. The newest groundbreaking technological solutions and the open-access format enable the immediate publication of Medical Sciences’ content on online scientific information platforms. Using the Scopus and CrossRef indexing tools, each publication swiftly transitions from one web page to another, aiding in its fast dissemination across the global scientific map [3]. Scientometric tools like CiteScore metrics, SCImago Journal Rank (SJR), and Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) clearly show that the worldwide readership of Medical Sciences has doubled since 2019. Furthermore, forward-thinking scientific and medical communities worldwide are coming together to assist Ukrainians in making cutting-edge scientific and technological advancements. They are pleased to collaborate with the editorial team of the Medical Sciences. Our authors today span 25 countries worldwide. We express our gratitude to all our authors, especially those from Ukraine, who, under the most challenging circumstances, save lives, conduct research, provide treatment, develop and apply their knowledge and accomplishments in daily practice, and select Medical Sciences to share their achievements. This indicates that we can develop our journal through collaborative efforts.In 2024, the editorial team of the Medical Sciences received 97 manuscripts for publication and published 48 articles in the public domain. Despite the pandemic’s medical impacts and the challenging wartime conditions, the editorial board of Medical Sciences continues improving the process of preparing articles for publication. A team of reviewers, who are experts in scientific and medical practice, collaborates closely with the authors to prepare publications, enhancing them and their optimal format in line with contemporary principles of academic writing [3]. We are delighted to congratulate our reviewers, who dedicated themselves to enhancing the style and quality of publications from 2021 to 2024, and acknowledge the best ones with the “Top Reviewer” award.The growing interest in published articles globally is demonstrated by the enhanced citation of our journal’s articles in the Scopus international scientometric database. This characteristic indicates the quality of publications in the Medical Sciences, which is confirmed by the Q3 category assignment in the global ranking of academic journals.The articles produced by multidisciplinary and international author teams are an element of this success. Between 2023 and 2024, the number of publications in the Medical Sciences journal, supported by international grants and professional communication, rose by 30%. Fig. 1B presents the top publications in the Medical Sciences journal based on scientometric indexing in Scopus from 2019 to 2024 in the categories “Literature Review,” “Original Research,” “Brief Communications,” and “Meeting Report.”Beginning with the 2nd issue of 2024, the complete text of each publication in the Medical Sciences was published in both Ukrainian and English. This significantly increased interest in viewing and downloading articles. Another aspect is the broadening of scientific interests, which now encompasses significant issues in related fields, such as biotechnology, bioengineering, the application of artificial intelligence in public health, pharmacy, and cutting-edge medical technologies in healthcare. The editorial team of the Medical Sciences journal ranked publications using a relative index according to the number of views and downloads at the time they were published online [3]. Table 1 presents the most popular (top) publications in 2021–2024. We congratulate the author teams and invite you to spread the information about the recognition of your creative work by readers among colleagues and professional online platforms and depositories like LinkedIn and SciProfiles.Considering the expansion of scientific medical interests conducted by multidisciplinary teams and utilizing artificial intelligence capabilities, the Editorial Board of the Medical Sciences in 2025 included our authors and reviewers who led the following topics: “Medicine”— Walter Maksymovych (Canada) [4], “Medical Management and Clinical Pharmacy”— Andriy Zimenkovsky (Ukraine) [5], “Artificial Intelligence and Medicine”— Nataliia Shakhovska (Ukraine) [6], “Dentistry”— Olesia Martovlos (Ukraine) [7], along with renowned experts in innovative fields of modern medical science from Norway, Duan Chen and Chun-Mei Zhao [8].Promoting the journal’s articles on information platforms and within medical communities is another way to enhance its visibility in today’s scientific, academic, and medical landscape. Uliana Pidvalna (Ukraine) will act as the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Medical Sciences journal, focusing on innovations in professional and social media [9].Additionally, Dr. Zoryana Masna, the newly elected Chair of the Medical Commission of the Shevchenko Scientific Society and Professor and Head of the Department of Topographic Anatomy at Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University, was invited to join the Editorial Board of the Medical Sciences journal.Preparing academic medical articles for global access according to the publication schedule during a full-scale war has become incredibly difficult. This is why the editorial team’s joint efforts and the medical community’s support are crucial. Disseminating knowledge of medical science and clinical practice propels human advancement. Despite the challenges, we remain optimistic about the future and are confident in growing the journal’s global readership and expanding our pool of authors. We believe that introducing new “Innovations”, “Medical Hypothesis” sections and increasing joint conferences under the Medical Commission of the Shevchenko Scientific Society, which would support strategically essential advancements in healthcare, will aid in the future growth of the Medical Sciences journal. We sincerely thank all members of the Editorial Board, production team, and reviewers for their volunteer work. See: Publications: https://mspsss.org.ua/index.php/journal Peer-review process: https://mspsss.org.ua/index.php/journal/peer-review For further professional collaboration, follow us on professional platforms: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-proceedings-of-the-shevchenko-scientific-society-medical-sciences/ and SciProfiles: https://sciprofiles.com/ After all, every issue of the Medical Sciences reports on the strength and invincibility of Ukraine!

Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.