Updated December 2022
Types of Articles
eNeuro’s mission is to publish excellent science that can be discussed, debated, studied, and built upon to advance the understanding of the brain and nervous system.
eNeuro is committed to providing authors with a fair assessment of their work, with any additional experiments requested thoroughly justified, while maintaining high standards of peer review. An international, gender-balanced editorial board, a double-blind peer review system, and an unambiguous consensus review contribute to a fair, rapid, and transparent experience for authors.
Research articles are published under the following topic sections: Development; Neuronal Excitability; Sensory and Motor Systems; Integrative Systems; Cognition and Behavior; Novel Tools and Methods; Disorders of the Nervous System; and History, Teaching, and Public Awareness. Research article submission types include:
- ⁘ New Research: Research articles that contribute to neuroscience literature by expanding knowledge in areas of fundamental importance, or research from authors who could not reproduce someone else’s work of significant importance despite using the same methodology and experimental conditions.
- ⁘ Methods/New Tools: Well-documented discussions of new methods and tools that may be useful to the scientific community.
- ⁘ Negative Results: Research papers from authors who tried to test important hypotheses but did not get the outcome they expected. Failed preclinical tests are particularly welcome. These manuscripts must include testing the hypothesis by multiple experimental approaches, rigorously reproducing the refuted experimental models, and meticulous use of both positive and negative controls.
- ⁘ Confirmation: Research papers from authors confirming they replicated and extended someone else’s work of significant importance.
Theory/New Concepts are research article–length papers that are not necessarily based on experimental data and question existing dogma in the field.
Registered Reports are an empirical article in which the methods and proposed analyses are preregistered and reviewed prior to research being conducted. High-quality protocols are then provisionally accepted for publication before data collection commences. This format is designed to minimize bias in deductive science, while also allowing the flexibility to conduct exploratory (unregistered) analyses and report serendipitous findings. See Registered Reports: Guidelines for Authors [PDF] for more information.
Open Source Tools and Methods are brief reports (limited to 4500 words) describing the creation and use of open-source tools in neuroscience research. Examples of tools include hardware designs used in behavioral or physiological studies and software used for data acquisition and analysis. They must contain a critique of the importance of the tool, how it compares to existing open- and closed-source solutions, and a demonstration of tool use in a neuroscience experiment.
Reviews provide timely, comprehensive, and conceptual advances and integration of a field or topic. They are peer reviewed articles and follow the same guidelines as research papers. There is no length limit.
Societal Impact papers discuss and analyze the social and ethical aspects of research. Authors should submit a presubmission inquiry to the editor-in-chief if they wish to provide an article in this section.
History of Neuroscience papers present how major discoveries were made, how a field evolved over time, the history of great neuroscientists, etc. Authors should submit a presubmission inquiry to the editor-in-chief if they wish to provide an article in this section.
Commentaries are short articles (1–2 pages) that discuss any published article or issues of special interest. They must contain a critique of the importance of the research that is undertaken or provide an alternative view or improve on an idea or a theory.
Opinions are short articles (2–4 pages) that present new ideas or discuss the state of a given research field.
Research Highlights are short reviews of recently published eNeuro articles aimed at a broad scientific audience. Highlights place the new findings within the context of current scientific knowledge in the article’s field. The Research Highlight also discusses future, real-world implications of the findings.
Policies
In submitting a manuscript to eNeuro, all authors must agree to abide by all relevant SfN policies,including its Guidelines for Responsible Conduct Regarding Scientific Communication. Manuscripts with multiple authors are reviewed with the explicit understanding that all authors have seen and approve of the submitted version and agree to abide by the Society’s policies.
eNeuro recognizes its responsibility to ensure that questions of scientific misconduct or dishonesty in research are adequately pursued. Should scientific misconduct or dishonesty be suspected or alleged, eNeuro follows the recommended procedures outlined by COPE when dealing with allegations of misconduct.
Policy on Ethics
Authors submitting papers to eNeuro must have conducted their work in strict accordance with the Society’s Policy on Ethics. SfN follows the recommended procedure outlined by COPE when dealing with allegations of misconduct. In cases of authorship dispute after acceptance, eNeuro does not get involved and instead directs authors to follow the COPE guidelines outlined here. Modifications to authorship will only be made if all authors provide written agreement.
Policies on the Use of Animals and Humans in Neuroscience Research
All animal experimentation reported in eNeuro must have been conducted in accordance with the Society’s Policies on the Use of Animals and Humans in Neuroscience Research.
Policy on Prepublication
eNeuro generally does not consider manuscripts that have been previously published. Posting to a preprint server such as bioRxiv is not considered prior publication. Abstracts, theses, posters, or manuscripts that have been posted on the Internet for the purpose of receiving commentary from the community are not considered prior publication. Online posting is typically done at a preprint repository that has been designed for the purpose but posting on an institutional website or other Internet location is acceptable.
Authors who have posted to bioRxiv have the option to transfer their files directly for consideration by eNeuro. Articles submitted from a preprint server should comply with submission guidelines for a double-blind process as described here. Please contact eneuro@sfn.org before submitting if you are uncertain that your manuscript meets the criteria for a double-blind review.
Policy on Molecular Data
eNeuro subscribes to the policies of The Journal of Biological Chemistry on protein and nucleic acid sequences and genomic and proteomic data, which it modifies as follows:
Protein and nucleic acid sequences: Newly determined nucleotide or protein sequences must be deposited in GenBank, EMBL, or the DNA Databank of Japan. Accession numbers must be reported in the manuscript and data must be available upon acceptance and publication of the manuscript. No data are to be withdrawn following publication.
Genomic and proteomic data: Authors of papers that include functional genomics data such as microarray, ChIP seq, RNA-seq, or other high-throughput data are required to deposit the data in a MIAME-compliant database such as GEO, ArrayExpress, or CYBEX and to provide accession numbers. Data must be publicly accessible upon acceptance and publication of the manuscript. No data are to be withdrawn following publication.
Authors of papers that include proteomics data should comply with the guidelines developed by Molecular and Cellular Proteomics [PDF].
Policy on Computer Code and Software
Computational models: New computational neuroscience computer code must be included with the initial submission as Extended Data to ensure reproducibility if published and be deposited in a suitable repository such as GitHub, ModelDB, BioModels, CellML, or Visiome. Studies using custom code deemed central to the conclusions must include a statement in the Materials and Methods section, under the heading “Code Accessibility”, indicating whether and how the code can be accessed, including any accession numbers or restrictions and be cited in the references. The type of computer and the operating system used to run the code in the manuscript must be included in the Materials and Methods section. Code must be available upon acceptance and publication of the manuscript. No code is to be withdrawn following publication. Code files must be packaged in a single ZIP file.
Software: If new software or a new algorithm is used for data analysis, authors are encouraged to include the software or algorithm with the submission as Extended Data and deposit it in an appropriate public repository. A statement needs to be included in the Materials and Methods section, under the heading “Software Accessibility”, indicating whether and how the software or algorithm can be accessed, including any accession numbers or restrictions. Software files must be packaged in a single ZIP file.
Policy on Image Manipulation
Original data: Editors reserve the right to request any original data from authors at any stage in the submission, review, or publication process, including after publication. Failure to provide requested information may result in publication delays, rejection, or revocation of acceptance.
Image manipulation: Image manipulation that violates the following guidelines may result in production delays, revocation of acceptance, or retraction.
- ⁘ No specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed, or introduced.
- ⁘ Constructing figures using images taken from different parts of the same gel, or from different gels, is discouraged. But when this is necessary, it must be made explicit by the arrangement of the figure (e.g., using dividing lines) and in the text of the figure legend.
- ⁘ Recordings obtained at different time points or from different sites must not be spliced together to give the appearance of a continuous record. Authors must make it clear in the figure legend how many different recordings are illustrated.
- ⁘ Adjustments to images or recordings are acceptable if they are applied uniformly to all portions of the image or recording as long as they do not obscure, eliminate, or misrepresent information present in the original, including the background. Adjustments involving filtering or scaling (e.g., brightness, contrast, or color balance) must be applied to every pixel in the image or applied uniformly to the entire recording. Nonlinear adjustments (e.g., changes to gamma settings) or deleting portions of a recording (e.g., leak subtraction or stimulus artifacts) must be disclosed in the figure legend.
Scale bars: All illustrations documenting results must include a bar to indicate the scale.
Molecular weights and fragment sizes: The migration of protein molecular weight size markers or nucleic acid size markers must be indicated and labeled appropriately (e.g., “kD”, “nt”, “bp”) on all figure panels showing gel electrophoresis.
Policy on Copyright and Funder Compliance
It is essential that the authors retain the copyright for any prepublished material submitted to eNeuro, and that they are willing and able to relinquish to eNeuro any licenses that eNeuro requires for publication of accepted manuscripts. Copyright of all material published in eNeuro remains with the authors. The authors grant the Society for Neuroscience a license to publish their work. Immediately upon publication, the work becomes available for the public to copy, distribute, or display under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. Per the terms of the license, it is not necessary to obtain permission or pay a fee to reuse this material, provided the authors receive proper acknowledgment.
The corresponding author may sign the license agreement on behalf of all authors, except authors who are NIH employees. Each author employed by NIH must complete and sign an NIH Publishing Agreement [PDF] and attach it to an unsigned eNeuro License to Publish form [PDF].
The CC BY license complies with funders who require an unrestricted attribution license at time of acceptance, including Wellcome Trust, Charity Open Access Fund (COAF), and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
The final version of all articles will be deposited in PubMed Central and Europe PMC immediately upon publication.
Policy Concerning Availability of Materials and Data
By publishing a paper in eNeuro, the author(s) agrees to make freely available to colleagues in academic research any clones of cells, nucleic acids, antibodies, etc., that were used in the research reported and that are not available from commercial suppliers.
Authors should, when possible, honor requests for access to any form of published data for appropriate scientific use. The editors reserve the right to request any original data from authors at any stage in the review or publication process, including after publication. Failure to provide requested information may result in publication delays or revocation of acceptance.
Fees
Article Processing Fees
To offset expenses associated with eNeuro’s editorial process—including peer review, data tagging and composition, copyediting, online hosting and archiving, and publishing—the journal charges a publication fee for each article published. These fees will be billed to the corresponding author upon acceptance of the article, and articles will not be published until payment has been received.
Publication fees are discounted if the corresponding author is a SfN member. If you would like to join SfN and take advantage of membership, visit our Member Center.
Articles accepted on or after January 1, 2023, will be assessed the following fees:
- ⁘ Research articles, History of Neuroscience, Societal Impact, Registered Reports, and Review articles: $2,765 (members); $3,415 (nonmembers).
- ⁘ Open Source Tools and Methods: $1,140.
- ⁘ Commentaries and opinions: $1,140 (members); $1,790 (nonmembers).
Fees should be paid by credit card. If a credit card cannot be used, a check or wire transfer can be accepted. There is an additional $25 fee if fees are paid by wire transfer. Unfortunately, we cannot accept purchase orders for publication fees.
Reduced Charges
In an effort to aid neuroscientists working in resource-restricted countries and to broaden the dissemination of science to all areas of the world, eNeuro offers reduced publication fees to scientists located in the countries classified by the World Bank as low-income economies (Category I), lower-middle income economies (Category II), or upper-middle income economies (Category III).
All publication fees will be automatically waived for corresponding authors from Category I countries. Fees will be automatically reduced 50% for corresponding authors from countries in Category II and reduced upon request for countries from Category III.
Contact Information
SfN Central Office
Email: eNeuro@sfn.org
Phone: 202-312-7305