Newly formed Brisbane Chapter promotes "Neuroscience Down Under"
Officially launched on May 21, 2003, the Brisbane, Australia, chapter is one of the first to take advantage of recent changes to the SfN bylaws granting permission for the formation of international chapters. At present, the chapter is one of three international chapters outside of North America and is the only one in Australia.
Despite its relatively remote location with respect to North America, "Neuroscience Down Under" is thriving, with a large number of neuroscientists making important advances in diverse areas. Largely based in the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, the Brisbane chapter bridges the geographical gap between Australia and North America, forging closer links between the neuroscience communities.
The chapter's first meeting was attended by 45 neuroscientists (22 faculty members, 16 postdoctoral trainees, and 17 graduate students) from around Southeast Queensland, all committed to promoting neuroscience. Chapter officials are confident that more members will be recruited and that they will actively participate in realizing the SfN mission and vision as the chapter becomes more established.
Neuroscientists at the University of Queensland work in many diverse research areas, including neurophysiology, developmental cell biology, neuroendocrinology, sensory neurobiology, and molecular neuroscience. Since the inception of the university's Vision, Touch, and Hearing Research Centre, headed by John Pettigrew, neuroscience has seen a major increase in interest. A recent highlight of this surging popularity was the appointment of Perry Bartlett as the foundation chair in molecular neuroscience and as the inaugural director of the newly established Queensland Brain Institute at the University of Queensland.
"These developments, along with the establishment of the SfN chapter, herald an exciting future for Australian neuroscience," said Shaun Collin, chapter chair and neuroscience program director at the University of Queensland.
Since the establishment of the Brisbane chapter, an SfN Chapters/Eli Lilly Graduate Student Travel Award was granted to Christine Devine, from the University of Queensland School of Biomedical Sciences. Devine presented her work on the function of Robo3b in axon navigation during vertebrate brain development at Neuroscience 2003 in New Orleans. This award, which recognizes the promising work of graduate students who have been nominated by their local chapters for excellence in neuroscience, was presented at a special reception held during Neuroscience 2003.
The Brisbane chapter also hosted a reception, "Neuroscience Down Under," in New Orleans. More than 100 Australians currently abroad and other SfN members interested in Australian neuroscience informally met to discuss neuroscience and the possibilities for research and career development unique to Australia. The reception was sponsored by the School of Biomedical Sciences, the Queensland Brain Institute at the University of Queensland, and Olympus Australia Pty Ltd. The chapter has been investigating other ways to promote neuroscience research and SfN activities. The chapter plans to establish a Web site to educate the public about neuroscience research, to keep members and interested parties abreast of the latest initiatives in our region, and to promote the various opportunities available from SfN to sponsor graduate students and postdoctoral trainees to attend the SfN annual meetings. The chapter also recognizes the importance of supporting young investigators and hopes to be able to sponsor a number of PhD students to attend the upcoming satellite meeting of the International Conference for Eye Research (ICER), "Vision Down Under – A Satellite Meeting on the Eye and Brain," to be held on Fraser Island, off the coast of Queensland, in September 2004 (www.tourhosts.com.au/icer2004).
For more information on SfN chapters, please go to www.sfn.org/chaps.
Minisymposia Will Feature Young Investigators at Neuroscience 2004
The Program Committee has created a new submission category for the 2004 annual meeting that will offer younger investigators a forum for presenting their research. The new category, mini-symposia, will be similar in format and purpose to regular symposia but will feature shorter talks by more speakers.
While well-known researchers often dominate regular symposia, minisymposia will feature a younger cross-section of neuroscientists. "The Annual Meeting Working Group believes that minisymposia will provide young investigators with a new forum to present their research in a more substantial and higher profile format than the shorter slide sessions," said Richard Huganir, SfN treasurer and chair of the Annual Meeting Working Group. "Minisymposia will also provide a forum for more specialized topics than symposia and for presentation of recent cutting edge research."
Currently, annual meeting symposia allow for four speakers over a period of two and a half hours. At minisymposia, six speakers will give shorter talks over the same time period. Increasing the number of speakers allows for increased diversity of presenters at the Society's annual meeting.
"These minisymposia will provide an opportunity for junior scientists – the people at the bench doing the exciting experiments – to speak to audiences beyond their specific area, giving them a kind of exposure and impact that isn't currently available to them at the annual meeting," said Leslie Tolbert, Program Committee chair.
The submission process for minisymposia is like that for regular symposia. The deadline for submitting minisymposia proposals for Neuroscience 2004 closed January 16, but the Program Committee hopes young investigators will start considering ideas for future years as well. "The success of the minisymposia depends on the number of strong proposals we receive," Huganir said. "We strongly encourage young investigators to consider organizing a minisymposium for SfN annual meetings."
More information and other details on the new category minisymposia are available at www.sfn.org/minisympro.
SfN Adds Nonprofits to its Sustaining Associate Membership Categories
The Society for Neuroscience recently added a nonprofit category to its Sustaining Associate Membership categories. The new category is open to organizations with an interest in helping support SfN's programs and mission. The nonprofit category expands the types of organizations that can become Sustaining Associate Members, previously available only to corporate businesses.
Nonprofit Sustaining Associate Membership status confers several benefits. Nonprofit members will be offered an online banner ad in The Journal of Neuroscience. A link to their home page will be added to the SfN Web site. Nonprofit members will have access to The Journal of Neuroscience online and complimentary annual meeting registration for one representative.
Nonprofit Sustaining Associate Members will also have their names printed in society publications and on annual meeting signs, giving participating organizations high visibility within the society's membership. For more information regarding Sustaining Associate Membership or to become a member, please visit www.sfn.org/npsams or contact Marlene Poole, director of membership at: sams@sfn.org.
Changes at The Journal of Neuroscience
The Journal of Neuroscience has introduced several changes for the new year including a new section; availability of complete, online archives; and a submission fee.
A new section called "Neurobiology of Disease" debuted with the January 7, 2004, issue. The new section was added to accommodate the increasing number of accepted papers that relate to neurological diseases. Such papers often are multidisciplinary and do not fit naturally into just one of the existing sections.
Authors will have the option of choosing this section when they initially submit their paper for review and publication. Manuscripts will be handled by the Editor-in-Chief or assigned to the most appropriate Senior Editor. The Journal will also highlight a paper from this section weekly on the online section of the Web site, "This Week in the Journal" (www.jneurosci.org/thisweek.shtml).
Archives Now Complete and Online
Complete archives for The Journal of Neuroscience, beginning with Volume 1, Number 1, published in 1981, are now available online. No separate subscription is required for institutions to access the extensive collection of almost 15,000 full-text articles with complete graphics.
The archives have already proven to be very popular. In 2003, 2.6 million full-text articles were downloaded.
Access to the substantial archives, assembled as searchable and downloadable pdfs, is available to subscribing institutions and to all Society for Neuroscience members. The more than 66,000 additional pages of information accessible online will greatly enhance users' researching capabilities.
Manuscript Submission Fee
The new section and archives availability follow on the heels of several investments in improving The Journal that were made last year, including weekly publication, a new design, new editorial content, improved online features, and online manuscript submission. In addition, the costs associated with peer review also have increased, as the number of submitted manuscripts continues to grow rapidly (currently 6,000 per year).
To help ensure the financial viability of The Journal going forward, in November 2003 the SfN Council decided to implement a manuscript submission fee. Beginning January 5, 2004, new submissions to The Journal of Neuroscience became subject to a submission fee of $50. Submitting authors now are asked to pay the fee by credit card at a secure site when they complete the online manuscript submission process. The Journal will consider requests to waive the fee for well documented cases of extreme financial hardship.
The Journal currently operates as a break-even publication even after a modest contribution from SfN member dues. All revenue generated by The Journal is reinvested in The Journal to make improvements that benefit subscribers, authors, editors, and readers.
The subscription rate for libraries is substantial, but annual price increases are modest, which has allowed the Society to maintain wide distribution of the important research published in The Journal. At the same time, The Journal strives to continually increase the benefits and convenience for library subscribers, such as including access to The Journal's complete archive in this year's library subscription fee.
Authors currently pay modest page charges, which cover only a portion of the costs of publishing an article in print and online. Similarly, the new manuscript submission fee covers only a portion of the costs of supporting the extensive peer review structure. The allocation from member dues allows the Society to offer every member a free online subscription.
The SfN Council has affirmed that it is more important to support members who require color figures to communicate their science than it is to increase profits for The Journal. Accordingly, since late 2002, SfN members have been entitled to publish essential color figures in The Journal at no additional cost, compared to the fees (often up to $1,000 per figure) charged by many other journal publishers. The cost of providing "free color" to members is substantial, amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.
The Society's decision to implement a modest manuscript submission fee was a difficult one, and one not taken lightly. Recognizing the continued growth of the field of neuroscience, as reflected in the increase in The Journal submissions and published papers, the Society decided a submission fee was necessary in order to maintain The Journal as the premier peer-reviewed scholarly journal spanning the entire field of neuroscience.
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