The Journal of Neuroscience, November 1, 2001, 21(21):8303-8303
Editorial
A New Feature for the Journal of
Neuroscience: New Directions in Neuroscience
Gordon M.
Shepherd
Editor-in-Chief
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ARTICLE |
From its inception in 1980, the Journal of Neuroscience
has focused on publishing original research articles representing the
highest quality work being done in the field. Priority is placed on
articles that report the application of novel methods that give new
insights of broad interest into neural mechanisms, at all levels of
organization, all phyla, all stages of development and aging, and in
normal and diseased nervous systems. It is a broad mandate, but one
that is appropriate to serving the many communities within the Society
for Neuroscience and beyond.
But how does a broad readership such as ours stay abreast of this range
of research? This is not a new problem for our day. On reviewing the
publications on electromagnetism that had come out after Oersted
discovered the magnetic effect of electric current in 1820, Michael
Faraday reported that "it took great labor and fatigue to go through
systematically everything that had appeared in journals and
elsewhere" in just the eight subsequent months.
Despite the advantages of the internet, present day neuroscientists can
feel some of that same "labor and fatigue" in keeping up with the
ever more torrid pace of current research. To assist in this effort,
the Journal of Neuroscience is initiating a new series of
minireviews, called "New Directions in Neuroscience." These reviews
will be concise, in order that they can be timely. Each set will be
focused on a new technology or new field of research that promises to
take neuroscience in significant new directions. They will be written
to be readable by all neuroscientists, to disseminate the essence of
new methods and new fields to the range of workers within neuroscience.
And they will be critical, helping the reader to sort the real stuff
from the hype.
There is no better time to initiate this series than now, with the
publication in February of this year of the initial draft of the Human
Genome. What is the significance of this big step forward for
neuroscience? We have asked Floyd Bloom, former editor of
Science and chair of the publications committee, to host
this first series with a set of reviews under the title of "Genomics and Proteomics." This issue begins with his Introduction, followed by
the informative and insightful reviews by a panel of outstanding pioneers in the artforms of this brave new world.
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