More development than advertised

MCN: MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR NEUROSCIENCE Edited by: * _Greg Lemke & _ * _Frank S. Walsh_ Academic. 12/yr. $395 (institutional); $99 (personal) This journal is more of a publication

reborn than a new journal, because its scope and direction were revamped in early 1995 with a change in editors and a subtle shift in name from _Molecular and Cellular Neurosciences_

(although numbering carried on from volume six). At the time of the change, the editors set several goals to distinguish _MCN_ from its competitors. An intriguing proposal was a promise to

provide “incentives” to reviewers who quickly returned their review. On the basis of my own experience in chasing reviewers, I was interested in this strategy, but was not sure that I found

the suggested reward — copies of _Methods in Enzymology_— all that enticing. A more alluring promise was that colour figures would be published free of charge. Now, nearly three years later,

it is worthwhile to review the journal's success in the light of these incentives. _MCN_ has assembled an impressive and large editorial board of about 50 neuroscientists, more than

half of whom are editorial board members for _Journal of Neuroscience_ or _Neuron_, the best-known established journals which publish a great deal of cellular and molecular neuroscience. The

papers published in _MCN_ are generally full-length communications, with an average of six to nine figures and a format similar to that used in _Neuron_. Each issue is fairly small, with

six research articles and occasional topical reviews. The research articles are generally well-written and on current issues. But there is a strong bias toward developmental neurobiology,

despite the editors' stated goal of publishing reports of interest in any area of molecular neuroscience. One wonders whether a more substantial change in title might help to direct

interested readers to the topics actually covered in _MCN_. As to the quality of the research articles, I would rate many of the papers as having less impact and general interest than

similar articles in journals such as those mentioned previously. About a third of the papers could probably have been published in one of these other journals. Articles in _MCN_ contain many

half-tone and colour plates. Although the quality of reproduction is generally excellent, I found several articles where the reproduction, particularly of electron micrographs, was fuzzy

and lacking in contrast. The editors have achieved their goal of rapid publication, as most articles were accepted within a month of receipt and published within two months of acceptance. In

one remarkable case, a paper was accepted within a day of receipt — one could hardly wish for more as an author! Overall, _MCN_ does not really cover the area of cellular and molecular

neuroscience as broadly as advertised. But it may find a home, particularly in the area of developmental neurobiology. The table of contents and abstracts are available electronically

through the Academic Press site (http://www.apnet.com). AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Vollum Institute, Oregon Health Sciences University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Road, Portland,

97201, Oregon, USA Gary L. Westbrook Authors * Gary L. Westbrook View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and

permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Westbrook, G. More development than advertised. _Nature_ 389, 140 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/38175 Download citation * Issue Date: 11

September 1997 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/38175 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable link

is not currently available for this article. Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative