Increasing interest in medicinal plants found its expression in the establishment of a new specialized journal. This specialization is based on a growing appreciation for the empirical selection of useful plants by ancient civilizations and primitive communities from their natural resources, still unsufficiently known by western scientists. The philosophy to pay special attention to these preselected plants may interfere with a more methodical approach to evaluate systematically the medicinal value of the plant kingdom. However, the fear that empirical knowledge may be lost by changing habits of primitive communities is not imaginary and could be an excuse for focused research. These reflections already show that the Acta-reader will find in Ethno-Pharmacology a wealth of botanical information on an interesting artificial group of plants. The well-known publisher and the careful selected editorial board are sufficient guarantee for the scientific standard of the journal.