The team of guest editors for this special issue, Drs. Monica Swahn, Sawitri Assanangkornchai, Eva Braaten, Joel Francis and Sebastián Peña, in collaboration with the Co-Editors-in-Chief, Drs. Anne-Marie Laslett and Neo Morojele, are pleased to announce the release of the Special Issue on Alcohol Prevention Research and Policy Development in LMICs: Facilitating Partnerships, Capacity and Impact (Part 1) of the International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research (IJADR).  This special issue, part 1, is centered on the recent momentum in alcohol policy development and capacity building, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), which has led to significant advancements through new tools, initiatives, and resources.

This special issue includes nine manuscripts addressing various issues related to alcohol policy development, evaluation and advocacy in LMICs. Key themes include the support for LMICs through initiatives like the RESET Initiative, rising alcohol consumption trends in emerging economies, the crucial role of civil society in policy development, gaps in policy implementation in countries like Thailand, intersectoral strategies in Chile, and the influence of the alcohol industry in the Philippines and Singapore. Several of the papers also highlight various advocacy efforts and lessons learned and are authored and described by the very advocates and practitioners on the ground, pushing these movements forward. As such, we hope that this collection of articles will present very useful insight into alcohol advocacy efforts and policy implementation. Please take a look at these intriguing articles.

We would also like to acknowledge the generous financial support by FORUT and Movendi for this special issue which facilitated authors from LMICs to publish their work.