One of the pleasures of serving as editor-in-chief for The Journal of Neuroscience is taking part in selecting the cover images that adorn each issue. We are fortunate to work in a field of science that produces a wide variety of beautiful images. Each week we receive many impressive and artistic pictures from the authors of accepted articles. The cover is the one place in The Journal where we put aside concerns about hypotheses and experimental rigor, and focus instead only on visual impact.
As we continue to move forward in the age of electronic publication, there is no longer reason to restrict ourselves to highlighting still images. For several years we have allowed authors to embed essential videos and 3D models in the online and PDF versions of their articles, and many authors have used this option to great effect. I am pleased to announce that in addition to cover images we can now accept cover videos. This issue includes our first cover video, which readers can view by clicking About the Cover in the menu column to the right of the Table of Contents for this issue online.
We intend to select cover videos, like cover images, only on the basis of their esthetic appeal and scientific interest, leaving aside the importance of the underlying scientific observations. Details can be found in the Instructions for Authors.
We hope that you will enjoy this new feature of The Journal of Neuroscience.
John Maunsell
Editor-in-Chief
