Network pharmacology is becoming a cutting-edge research field in current drug studies thanks to rapid progress in systems biology, network biology, and chemical biology. By integrating computational and experimental methods, network pharmacology is promising to be the next-generation mode of drug research. A remarkable feature of network pharmacology is the paradigm shift from “one drug, one target” to “multicomponent therapeutics, network target,” highlighting a holistic thinking also shared by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In TCM, the perspective of holism has long been central to herbal treatments on various diseases. Characterized by holistic theory and rich experience in multicomponent therapeutics, TCM herbal formulae offer bright prospects for the control of complex diseases in a systematic manner. Thus, introducing network pharmacology into TCM will provide novel methodologies and opportunities for discovering bioactive ingredients and endogenous/exogenous biomarkers, revealing mechanisms of action, and exploring scientific evidence of herbs and herbal formulae on the basis of complex biological systems.

We are delighted to announce a special issue of this journal on TCM network pharmacology. We invite authors to submit original research and review articles regarding the basic, clinical, and translational researches of TCM network pharmacology. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Methodologies of TCM network pharmacology:
  • Network-based target identification and action mechanism analyses for herbal ingredients
  • Bioinformatics, chemical biology, systems pharmacology, and systems biology methods in TCM network pharmacology
  • Network target theory and methods in TCM network pharmacology
• Applications of network pharmacology in understanding traditional knowledge of herbal formulae:
  • Applications of network pharmacology in understanding herbal property, combinational rules of herbal formulae, as well as the relationship between herbal formulae and ZHENG (TCM syndrome)
• Applications of TCM network pharmacology in herbal treatments:
  • Discovery of bioactive compounds and endogenous/exogenous biomarkers that are indicative of the bioefficacy of herbs and herbal formulae
  • Evidence of efficacy of herbs and herbal formulae
  • Elucidation of synergistic effects, toxicity, or side effects of herbs and herbal formulae
  • Elucidation of pharmacological or toxicological mechanism in herb-herb/herb-drug interactions

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/ecam/pharm/ according to the following timetable: