Neuron (journal)

Neuron (journal)
source
Title	Neuron
Discipline	Neuroscience
Language	English
Publisher	Cell Press
Country	United States
History	1988–present
Frequency	Semimonthly
Impact	22.4
Impact-year	2024
Issn	0896-6273

Neuron (journal). Neuron is a semimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research in neuroscience, publishing original research, reviews, and commentary. Founded in the late 20th century, it is part of the Cell Press family alongside Cell, Neuron's sibling journals, and is widely cited across work associated with National Institutes of Health, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and other major institutions. The journal routinely features contributions from investigators affiliated with institutions such as Harvard University, Stanford University, University of California, San Francisco, Max Planck Society, and University College London.

History

Neuron was established in 1988 during a period of expansion in high-profile specialty journals, following trends set by publications like Nature Neuroscience and The Journal of Neuroscience. Its founding editors and early editorial board included scientists connected to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Salk Institute, Rockefeller University, and Johns Hopkins University. Over successive decades the journal adapted to shifts driven by initiatives from Human Brain Project, BRAIN Initiative, and regulatory trends influenced by bodies such as the Food and Drug Administration and the European Commission. Editorial leadership transitions involved figures with ties to Columbia University, Yale University, University of California, Berkeley, and Duke University, reflecting changing emphases in neurobiology, systems neuroscience, and computational approaches associated with researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Princeton University.

Scope and content

Neuron publishes work spanning molecular, cellular, systems, developmental, and cognitive neuroscience, often intersecting with research from National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and interdisciplinary programs at Massachusetts General Hospital. Typical topics include synaptic physiology linked to researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, neurodevelopment studies related to King's College London, circuit dynamics studied by teams at California Institute of Technology, and human neuroimaging papers associated with University College London and Imperial College London. The journal also includes reviews and perspectives authored by scholars from MIT, Brown University, University of Toronto, ETH Zurich, and University of Oxford. Methodological advances featuring techniques from labs at Broad Institute, Allen Institute for Brain Science, Neuroscience Institute groups, and computational contributions from Google DeepMind and Microsoft Research appear regularly.

Editorial structure and peer review

The editorial board comprises senior editors and associate editors recruited from institutions including Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Weill Cornell Medicine, and University of California, San Diego. Manuscripts undergo initial editorial triage followed by external peer review with referees drawn from universities and institutes such as UCLA, McGill University, Karolinska Institutet, University of Chicago, and Columbia University Irving Medical Center. The review process emphasizes reproducibility standards promoted by organizations like the Open Science Framework and aligns with data policies advocated by the National Science Foundation and funders such as Wellcome Trust and European Research Council. Editorial decisions may involve consultations with experts affiliated with Scripps Research, Riken, Institut Pasteur, and other leading centers.

Publication and access model

Published by Cell Press, Neuron follows a subscription and hybrid open-access model similar to journals like Nature and Science. Authors can choose open access via publication fees consistent with policies of funding agencies such as Wellcome Trust and Gates Foundation, while traditional subscription access serves academic libraries at institutions like Princeton University Library and University of Michigan Library. Archiving practices coordinate with repositories and initiatives including PubMed Central, CrossRef, and institutional repositories at University of Cambridge and University of Edinburgh. Supplementary materials and datasets often reference resources maintained by GenBank, Dryad, and the Neuroinformatics community.

Impact and reception

Neuron is widely regarded among high-impact journals in the field, often compared alongside Nature Neuroscience, The Journal of Neuroscience, Science Translational Medicine, and PLOS Biology. Citation metrics place it among leading venues for influential discoveries originating from labs at Columbia University, Stanford University, Harvard University, Salk Institute, and Max Planck Institute for Brain Research. The journal's influence extends into translational arenas linked to collaborations with Roche, Novartis, Pfizer, and academic medical centers such as Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic. Neuron's editorial choices and publication ethics have been discussed at meetings of organizations like the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and cited in policy analyses from National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Notable articles and special issues

Noteworthy papers published in Neuron have reported advances in optogenetics with connections to work by researchers at Stanford University and MIT, connectomics studies coordinated with the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and single-cell transcriptomics linked to projects at Broad Institute and Wellcome Sanger Institute. Special issues and themed collections have focused on topics such as synaptic plasticity (researchers from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Salk Institute), neural development (contributors from University of Cambridge and University of Oxford), and computational neuroscience featuring authors from Carnegie Mellon University and ETH Zurich. Reviews and landmark articles involving investigators associated with Howard Hughes Medical Institute, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Riken Center for Brain Science, and Max Planck Society have garnered widespread citation and influenced subsequent research programs funded by National Institutes of Health and European Research Council.

Category:Academic journals