IGAB PAS-led Nature Reviews Drug Discovery article distinguished as Citation Classic

28.04.26

The Institute of Genetics and Animal Biotechnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IGAB PAS) is pleased to announce that the Nature Reviews Drug Discovery article Natural products in drug discovery: advances and opportunities, led by Prof. Atanas G. Atanasov, Professor of IGAB PAS, has been distinguished as a Citation Classic. Since its publication in 2021, the highly influential article has been cited more than 4,000 times in the scientific literature.

This recognition highlights the remarkable visibility and sustained impact of a publication that offered a broad, forward-looking perspective on the role of natural products in modern drug discovery. The review brought together insights from pharmacology, medicinal chemistry, molecular biology, biotechnology and translational medicine, while also discussing advances in areas such as analytical chemistry, genome mining and synthetic biology.

An accompanying essay by Prof. Atanasov, From Consortium to Classic: How Open Collaboration Shaped a Landmark Review on Natural Products, is now available on the Citation Classics website. In the essay, Prof. Atanasov reflects on the interdisciplinary foundations of the article and on the role of the International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce (INPST), which helped bring together leading academic and industrial experts in natural product sciences. He also shares personal reflections on the demanding revision process behind the paper and expresses gratitude to the mentors, collaborators, funding bodies and institutions that supported his work.

For IGAB PAS, this distinction is a source of pride and an important recognition of Prof. Atanasov’s scientific leadership, as well as of the value of open collaboration in generating influential biomedical research.

Read the full texts of the Citation Classics essay and the original Nature Reviews Drug Discovery article below.

Citation Classics Essay: https://citationclassics.com/stories/from-consortium-to-classic/

Original Nature Reviews Drug Discovery article: Atanasov, A.G. et al. Natural products in drug discovery: advances and opportunities. Nat Rev Drug Discov 20, 200–216 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41573-020-00114-z