Journal of Neuroscience

Journal of Neuroscience
Title	Journal of Neuroscience
Discipline	Neuroscience
Abbreviation	J. Neurosci.
Publisher	Society for Neuroscience
Country	United States
Frequency	Weekly
History	1981–present
Impact	6.0
Impact-year	2024

Journal of Neuroscience is a peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing original research on the nervous system, translational studies, and methodological advances. Founded in 1981, it appears weekly and is published by the Society for Neuroscience in the United States; it serves as a venue for work by researchers from institutions such as Harvard University, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Cambridge, and University of Oxford. The journal has informed policy debates involving agencies like the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and has been cited in reports from bodies including the World Health Organization and the National Academy of Sciences.

History

The journal was launched amid expansion of neuroscience research in the late 20th century, contemporaneous with milestones such as the establishment of the Human Brain Project, the initiation of the Human Connectome Project, and advances from laboratories linked to figures at Columbia University, University College London, and the Salk Institute. Early editorial leadership included scientists connected to institutions like Johns Hopkins University and Yale University and intersected with funding trends from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and policy directions shaped by the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Over decades the journal paralleled technological shifts driven by tools developed at places including Bell Labs, innovations from companies such as GE Healthcare and Siemens Healthineers, and conceptual frameworks influenced by the work of researchers associated with California Institute of Technology and University of California, Berkeley.

Scope and Content

The journal publishes articles on cellular, systems, behavioral, cognitive, and computational neuroscience, featuring studies from laboratories at institutions including Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, University of Chicago, and Columbia University. Topics reported have overlapped with discoveries by researchers affiliated with the Allen Institute for Brain Science and clinical translational work linked to hospitals like Massachusetts General Hospital and Mayo Clinic. Methodological papers have drawn on technologies developed at corporations such as Thermo Fisher Scientific and Bruker, and theoretical pieces reference computational frameworks emerging from groups at Carnegie Mellon University and ETH Zurich.

Editorial and Peer Review Process

Editorial governance is provided by an editorial board drawn from universities such as Northwestern University, University of Michigan, University of California, San Francisco, University of Toronto, and King's College London. Peer review commonly involves external reviewers from laboratories at University of Washington, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Pittsburgh, University of Edinburgh, and University of British Columbia. The journal's processes have intersected with publishing practices discussed at conferences hosted by organizations such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science and initiatives promoted by the Wellcome Trust and Gates Foundation.

Publication and Access Model

Published by the Society for Neuroscience on a weekly schedule, the journal historically adopted a subscription model while implementing options for open access consistent with mandates from funders including the European Research Council, the National Institutes of Health, and the Wellcome Trust. Institutional subscribers include university libraries at Princeton University, Yale University, University of California System, Columbia University, and national libraries like the Library of Congress. The journal's policies have been discussed in the context of efforts by groups such as the Committee on Publication Ethics and negotiations involving publishers represented at events by the Association of American Publishers.

Impact and Reception

The journal is indexed in major databases and has influenced discourse across research communities at institutions like Harvard University, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University College London, and Imperial College London. Its impact factor and citation metrics are routinely compared with titles such as Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, Brain, eLife, and PLoS Biology and are tracked by organizations including Clarivate Analytics and Scopus. The journal's editorial decisions and retraction cases have been covered by outlets including The New York Times, Nature (journal), and Science (journal) and discussed at meetings of societies such as the British Neuroscience Association and the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies.

Notable Papers and Contributions

Published work has included foundational studies by teams affiliated with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, discoveries connected to research at the Salk Institute, influential circuit-mapping studies from the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and translational reports involving clinical centers like Johns Hopkins Hospital and Cleveland Clinic. Landmark methodological contributions have referenced technologies from Optical Society of America-affiliated groups, computational models developed by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon University, and imaging advances tied to collaborations with Siemens Healthineers and GE Healthcare. Some high-citation articles have intersected with neurodegenerative disease research at Mayo Clinic and genetic studies associated with investigators at Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and Wellcome Sanger Institute.

Category:Neuroscience journals Category:Society for Neuroscience publications