Over the past several years, The Journal of Neuroscience has published an increasing number of papers related to neurological disease. Such papers often are multidisciplinary and thus did not fit naturally into one of the existing sections. Thus starting in 2004, authors will have the option to submit to a new section in the Journal, entitled Neurobiology of Disease. Authors can make this choice at the time of initial submission. Manuscripts will be handled by the Editor-in-Chief or assigned to the most appropriate Senior Editor. We will also highlight one of these papers in This Week in The Journal (http://www.jneurosci.org/thisweek.shtml), thus further enhancing the visibility of these papers. We hope that this section will quickly become a focal point for outstanding papers addressing the mechanisms underlying disorders of the nervous system.
We also welcome several new editors in 2004. Larry Trussell is now a Senior Editor in Cellular/Molecular Neuroscience. Valina Dawson, David Fitzpatrick, Diane Lipscombe, Chris McBain, and Fred Rieke have recently joined the editorial board as Reviewing Editors. Randy Buckner, Ron Calabrese, and Marie Filbin joined as Reviewing Editors earlier in 2003. A listing of the new Associate Editors will appear soon. I want to extend a special thanks to the Reviewing Editors (Mike Nusbaum, Carol Mason, Kathy Dunlap, and Junying Yuan) and to those Associate Editors who completed their terms in 2003. The diversity, expertise, and dedicated work of the editorial board are the essence of the Journal.