The Journal of Neuroscience is committed to the peer review process and for many years the Journal has had a submission fee that helps defray the cost of that review. The fee partially covers the costs of staff time, editorial effort and technological infrastructure. Before the implementation of the submission fee, peer review costs had been borne only by authors whose manuscripts were accepted, and the fee was a way to allocate them across the entirety of manuscripts that used the review process. However, the submission fee has been a continuing topic of discussion among our community and we have put a great deal of thought into how to restructure it.
At the Journal of Neuroscience, we benefit greatly from the support, financial and otherwise, from the members of the Society for Neuroscience. In recognition of the important role that SfN members play in all aspects of Journal function, there is a significant discount on publication charges for all manuscripts on which the first and last authors are Society members.
In keeping with this policy, starting March 1st, submission fees will be eliminated for manuscripts where the first and last authors are SfN members.
This change to abolish the submission fee for SfN members recognizes the contribution that community members put into the peer review process. We know that this is a small recognition of the many hours that many of you put into peer review for JNeurosci. We will continue to find ways to recognize the tremendous contributions the neuroscience community makes to the Journal of Neuroscience.
Thank you for your support and please contact us with any questions or suggestions at JN_EIC{at}sfn.org or tweet us @MarinaP63.