In this issue of JNeurosci, we are introducing a new recurring feature, Neuro and Beyond. In our century, the field of neuroscience has begun to intersect with many other sciences, and it produces knowledge that increasingly informs and relates to matters important for society and humanity. This ranges from studies on the adolescent brain that guide legislation and public education policies, to studies that inform how factors, such as poverty, impact brain health and development. Many scientists strive to be not only professionals, who generate knowledge, but to expand their role to better humanity. Such a role as a global science citizen can come in many flavors: disseminating scientific knowledge to lay audiences through public outreach, introducing students from underrepresented minorities to the mysteries of brain science, providing support to advocacy groups for people with brain disorders, etc. There are perhaps limitless possibilities to create unique opportunities in the service of science and humanity.
Neuro and Beyond will showcase such efforts happening in our community. We plan to publish about six Neuro and Beyond articles each year. The first one is on a project aimed at helping science education of late elementary to junior high school students and their families worldwide: Frontiers for Young Minds (FYM). FYM started as a grassroots movement of neuroscientists in 2013. The idea was that scientists write science articles for kids, which are then edited by kids. The kids review the articles and provide feedback to the authors. That way, FYM not only disseminates neuroscience knowledge to school-aged children, who often do not have access to high-quality science information, but also introduces them to our quality control system (i.e., peer review). FYM is an open access journal and publishes articles free of charge. FYM was launched in late 2013 with just 54 website views at the end of the year, but it has grown to a global phenomenon. Last year, FYM's global readership reached 17 million website visits, reaching kids in every country of our globe. A paper published in FYM is viewed on average 29,000 times! FYM started with a neuroscience section (and I am proud to still be its section Chief Editor) and has added seven other life sciences sections since. FYM has been translated into Hebrew and Arabic, with Chinese Mandarin, Hindi, and French soon to be added.
We hope that you will enjoy reading the inaugural Neuro and Beyond commentary on FYM, written by FYM Chief Editors, Drs. Idan Segev and Robert T. Knight. We also hope that our new series will inspire many of you to create your own project to become a global science citizen. If you have thoughts about our new feature, or you know of projects that might be worth showcasing in the series, please contact me at kastner_eic{at}sfn.org.
In science,
Sabine
