The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) has announced plans to launch a new, open access (OA), online-only journal to serve the field of neuroscience. The journal, expected to launch as early as fall 2014, will provide a fully open access, rapid publication option for neuroscientists, adding another high-quality publishing venue available through the field's leading non-profit scientific society.
The new OA journal, which has not yet been named, will publish articles that are scientifically excellent, technically sound, and move the field of neuroscience forward. It will have streamlined peer review and production processes distinct from The Journal of Neuroscience (JN), the Society's flagship scientific publication. Like JN, the new journal will cover a broad spectrum of areas in the field.
The new journal's objective is to provide a quality publication that can also incubate experimentation with emerging publishing and peer review concepts. It will ensure that the peer-review process is of high quality, fair, and fast. While details will be finalised and formalised by the first editorial board, it is expected the process will generally not require additional experiments and require no more than 1-2 review cycles.
The search for an editor in chief for the new journal will launch shortly. It will take place alongside a planned, separate-but-complementary search for a successor to outgoing JN editor in chief John Maunsell, who has served since 2008.
A single search committee will conduct the search for the two editors in chief. Past SfN President Moses Chao of New York University will lead it. Other members include Hollis Cline of The Scripps Research Institute, Barry Everitt of the University of Cambridge, David Fitzpatrick of the Max Planck Florida Institute, and Eve Marder of Brandeis University.
