Preface
The Society for Neuroscience believes that progress in understanding the nervous system benefits human welfare. Such progress depends on the honest pursuit of scientific research and the truthful representation of findings. While recognizing that both error and differences among individuals in the interpretation of data are a natural part of the creative process, the Society for Neuroscience affirms that misconduct, in the form of plagiarism, or fabrication or falsification of data, jeopardizes the success of the entire scientific endeavor. By entering the profession, neuroscientists assume an obligation to maintain the highest level of integrity in all scientific activities.
The Society for Neuroscience serves neuroscience and society-at-large in many ways, including publishing The Journal of Neuroscience and the Society for Neuroscience Abstracts, both of which present the results of scientific research. The editors of The Journal of Neuroscience have the responsibility to establish and maintain guidelines for accepting manuscripts submitted to them for publication. This document, Responsible Conduct Regarding Scientific Communication (“Guidelines”), derive from the Society's definition of the scope of the journal and from the editors’ and reviewers’ perception of the standards of quality for scientific work and its presentation. The Program Committee of the Society for Neuroscience has a comparable responsibility with respect to abstracts appearing in the Society for Neuroscience Abstracts. The Society for Neuroscience also has established guidelines that pertain to other aspects of science, including the use of humans and other animals as subjects in neuroscience research, as well as a general policy on ethics.2
An essential feature of a professional society is the acceptance by its members of guidelines such as those developed by the Society for Neuroscience, codes that outline responsible behavior and specify obligations of members to each other and to the public. Such guidelines derive from a desire to maximize benefits to the profession as a whole, as well as to the general society, and to limit actions that might serve only the narrow selfinterests of individuals. For example, the advancement of science requires that knowledge be shared, although doing so may sometimes entail foregoing some immediate personal advantage.
The present document is intended for persons engaged in the communication of research in neuroscience and provides a set of guidelines to reinforce and extend those previously provided by the Society for Neuroscience. The Guidelines are offered not in the sense that there is an immediate crisis in ethical behavior within the neuroscience community, nor because we think that our community is particularly vulnerable to ethical problems. Instead, the Guidelines spring from a conviction that adherence to high ethical standards is so essential to the scientific enterprise that a definition of those standards should be brought to the attention of all concerned.
We believe that most aspects of the Guidelines are already understood and subscribed to by the great majority of the members of the Society for Neuroscience and by others engaged in neuroscience research. However, the Guidelines may be of help to those who are relatively new to research. In this respect, they may provide a useful text to encourage discussions of responsible conduct in science within graduate and postdoctoral training programs. Moreover, even well established scientists may appreciate these guidelines as an opportunity to review matters so significant to the practice of science.
The Guidelines are provided with particular reference to the Society for Neuroscience, its members, and its publications, which currently include The Journal of Neuroscience and the Society for Neuroscience Abstracts in both their print and electronic formats. Except where noted, the focus of the Guidelines is on peer-reviewed research articles. However, we believe that the issues raised in this document are relevant to all writing, reviewing, and editing performed within neuroscience and related areas of investigation.
To facilitate the reading of these Guidelines, they have been divided into sections relating to (1) authors, (2) reviewers, and (3) editors of research manuscripts. In addition, sections deal with (4) the preparation of abstracts, (5) publication outside the scientific literature, and (6) the enforcement of the Guidelines. Each section is divided into multiple subsections. These begin with an initial statement that summarizes the main point of the subsection and appears in boldface. These sentences are followed by a brief paragraph discussing the rationale for the statement. In most instances, the paragraphs are followed in turn by one or more specific regulations or suggestions regarding proper conduct.
INVITATION FOR COMMENT: The Society for Neuroscience notes that we are in a period of considerable change with respect to publication, due in part to the increasing role of electronic means of transmitting information. For this reason, and because no document such as this can ever be complete, the Society invites comments from both members and nonmembers at any time. These can be addressed to: Guidelines on Publishing, Society for Neuroscience, 11 Dupont Circle, N.W., Suite 500, Washington, DC 20036, or guidelines@sfn.org.
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2. These policies are published together with the Instructions for Authors as part of each volume of The Journal of Neuroscience and in the Call for Abstracts for the annual meeting of the Society.