Can you recommend medicinal chemistry publishers for following early-stage small-molecule program examples?

Yes — if you’re looking to publish early-stage small-molecule medicinal chemistry programs (for example: hit-to-lead work, SAR around new chemotypes, probe development, tool compounds, or early preclinical optimization), these publishers/journals are commonly considered a good fit:

Strong medicinal chemistry / early discovery options

1. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (ACS)

• The most established venue in medicinal chemistry.
• Best for: substantial SAR, clear mechanism/target context, and strong biological data.
• Good if your story has a genuine medicinal chemistry advance.

2. ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters

• More concise than JMC.
• Best for: shorter, focused early-stage programs, preliminary SAR, and lead discovery.
• Often a better fit when the work is promising but not yet deeply optimized.

3. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (Elsevier)

• Broad medicinal chemistry scope.
• Best for: early-stage optimization studies, synthetic series, SAR, and target-directed discovery.
• Very common for small-molecule program papers.

4. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry

• Good for chemistry-heavy biology-linked studies.
• Best for: synthesis plus biological evaluation, especially if the biology is not yet highly advanced.
• Often a reasonable home for early leads.

5. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters

• Short-format counterpart.
• Best for: brief reports, early SAR snapshots, and novel scaffold disclosures.

More discovery / interdisciplinary journals

6. Chemical Biology & Drug Design

• Best for: small-molecule programs with a chemical biology angle.
• Useful when the story emphasizes target engagement, probes, or mechanism.

7. RSC Medicinal Chemistry

• Good for: early discovery work, SAR, and practical medicinal chemistry studies.
• Often accessible for programs that are still developing.

8. ChemMedChem

• Strong option for medicinal chemistry and drug discovery.
• Good for: target-focused optimization, new chemotypes, and exploratory series.

9. Drug Discovery Today / Drug Discovery Today: Technologies

• More review- and platform-oriented, but sometimes relevant for programmatic discovery stories.
• Better if the emphasis is broader discovery strategy rather than only compound series.

If the work is more chemical biology / probe-like

10. ACS Chemical Biology

• Best for: probes, target validation, mechanism-driven small molecules.
• Less ideal for purely SAR-driven lead optimization unless there’s a strong biology insight.

11. Cell Chemical Biology

• High bar, but strong for tool compounds and mechanism-first discovery.
• Best if the small molecule is enabling a new biological insight.

Things that help match a journal

For early-stage small-molecule programs, journals usually want:

• A clear biological hypothesis or target
• A novel chemotype or scaffold
• SAR showing structure–activity progression
• Selectivity / off-target data if available
• Basic ADME or PK if the program is advanced enough
• Evidence the chemistry is useful beyond one compound

Practical recommendation by stage

• Very early hit / proof of concept: ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett., RSC Medicinal Chemistry
• Solid SAR + biological data: JMC, Eur. J. Med. Chem., ChemMedChem
• Probe / target mechanism focus: ACS Chemical Biology, Cell Chemical Biology

If you want, I can also give you:

1. a ranked list by prestige vs. accessibility,
2. a journal choice based on your exact program type (kinase, CNS, oncology, etc.), or
3. publisher-specific options like ACS, Elsevier, Wiley, RSC, and Springer.