Network pharmacology has become a popular tool for the study of the pharmacological basis and mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). It is widely used in the screening of active ingredients of TCM, drug relocation, the exploration of TCM compatibility mechanism, and the interpretation of multi-component, multi-target and multi-pathway mechanism of TCM. In 2007, Hopkins proposed the concept of network pharmacology, which is an integrated discipline that integrates systems biology, information network science, computer science and pharmacology. Specifically, a drug regulates multiple proteins at the same time, or multiple drugs act on a protein together to produce a better therapeutic effect on a disease. At present, a single network pharmacology study is not enough to fully explain the mechanism of action of drugs, and must be combined with experimental verification as evidence. In recent years, network pharmacology has become a popular tool for the study of the pharmacological basis and mechanism of action of traditional Chinese medicine. By September 2023, a total of 2916 articles were searched by using network pharmacology as the title or keyword, more than 1/3 of the total number of papers published, which has become one of the main hotspots of traditional Chinese medicine research

The primary goal of this special issue is to further enrich expand the application of network pharmacology research and prospect the development direction of network pharmacology research in traditional Chinese medicine, in order to provide guidance for the standardized and rational use of network pharmacology in traditional Chinese medicine research, and also to provide ideas for leading the development of original research of traditional Chinese medicine and the research and development of new drugs of traditional Chinese medicine. We invite contributions that explore topics such as pharmacological studies of drugs and traditional Chinese medicine, and mechanisms of action, with particular interest in traditional Chinese medicine.

Types of articles welcomed: Original research articles, review articles, case studies, etc.

Through this special issue, we aim to expected outcome or contribution of the special issue to the network pharmacology combined with experimental verification. We welcome researchers from various disciplines to provide interdisciplinary perspectives on the network pharmacology's theme. Your contributions will play a crucial role in advancing knowledge in this field.