SfN Announces New Editor-In-Chief for The Journal of Neuroscience
Washington, DC — The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) announced today that Marina Picciotto of Yale University has been appointed editor-in-chief of The Journal of Neuroscience effective May 1. Picciotto, a former senior editor of JNeurosci as well as a past SfN treasurer and councilor, has served as the interim editor-in-chief since September 2015. Picciotto’s term will run from May 2016 to December 2020.
Picciotto is the Charles B.G. Murphy Professor of Psychiatry and professor in the Child Study Center, of neuroscience and of pharmacology, and deputy chair for basic science research in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale.
“The SfN Council is delighted to announce Marina Picciotto’s appointment as editor-in-chief of the Society’s flagship publication,” SfN President Hollis Cline said. “She has demonstrated scientific leadership and dedication in her long service on the editorial board, and we are confident she will work to build on JNeurosci’s historic strengths, which reflect the achievements of editors-in-chief over many years. We are also confident she has a vision for continued innovation, which is important in a time of great change in the scientific publishing landscape.”
SfN received more than 50 nominations after issuing a call for nominations over the winter, and eight candidates applied for the position. The appointment was recommended by a search committee consisting of Carol Barnes (chair), Christophe Bernard, Barry Everitt, Diane Lipscombe, David Van Essen, and Catherine Woolley.
Barnes said Picciotto has demonstrated an ability to lead an editorial board made up of highly accomplished working scientists and to build consensus among multiple stakeholders. “Marina is an outstanding scientist and has a long and successful history as a reviewing and senior editor of JNeurosci,” Barnes said. “She articulated to the search committee a strong vision for how the publication can evolve and change to meet new needs, and she has also created a strong professional team ethos with the high-functioning editorial board. This combination will be key to prioritizing new innovations and implementing them well, and help ensure that JNeurosci continues to be a leading venue for authors to publish cutting-edge scientific research.”
“I am honored to accept this appointment,” Picciotto said. “JNeurosci continues to publish excellent science, and I am looking forward to working with the outstanding editorial board to maintain the strengths of the journal while finding ways to incorporate innovations in scientific publishing to continue to serve the neuroscience community, in partnership with the editors of eNeuro, SfN’s Scientific Publications Committee, and Society leadership.”
Picciotto joined the Yale faculty in 1995, after completing a postdoctoral fellowship with Jean-Pierre Changeux in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. She earned a Ph.D. in molecular neurobiology working with Paul Greengard at The Rockefeller University in New York City and a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from Stanford University.
The Journal of Neuroscience and the open access journal eNeuro are published by the Society for Neuroscience, an organization of nearly 40,000 basic scientists and clinicians who study the brain and nervous system. More information on the brain can be found on BrainFacts.org.
