I am very honored to be the new Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of
the International Neuropsychological Society, JINS,
beginning in January 2005. It is a daunting task to follow in Dr.
Grant's footsteps. He has done a stellar job of developing this
journal from its conception to its current status, and the statistics
that he presents tell only part of the story. He appropriately
recognizes all of the help he has received, but JINS'
success is largely due to his vision, organization, innovation, and
leadership. In order to concretely recognize that vision and its
continuing influence on JINS, Dr. Grant's name will be
listed on the cover of JINS as its Founding Editor. He had the
vision to develop a journal that “fits” the INS from the
standpoint of its breadth, multidisciplinary contributions, and
scientific rigor. He selected and has led an impressive group of senior
editors with expertise in a variety of areas, and these editors have
provided a level of editorial expertise that would not be possible with
a single Editor-in-Chief. Dr. Grant has also brought electronic
submission and review to JINS. Web-based submission began
August 1. Even though electronic submission and review should
facilitate logistics, the quality of JINS will still be most
dependent on high quality peer review provided by the Editorial Board
and a large group of dedicated reviewers.
As one of the first official acts as Editor-in-Chief, I want to thank
all of the previous editors and reviewers for the role they have played
in making JINS such an excellent journal, and I want to
announce the new Senior Editors who will be working with me to bring
JINS to the next level. The 2005 Associate Editors are:
Jennifer Manly, Kimford Meador, Stephen Rao, Yaakov Stern, Gerry
Taylor, and Eli Vakil The 2005 Department Editors are: Ida Sue Baron,
Book Review Editor; Bruce Crosson, Critical Reviews/Dialogues
Editor; and Mieke Verfaellie, Symposium Editor. I am looking forward to
working with all of these very talented individuals, as well as the
larger Editorial Board and reviewers.
My major message to the INS membership is that JINS is in
excellent shape, and, as the old saying goes, “if it
ain't broke, don't fix it.” At this point, I do
not plan to make major changes in the goals or structure of the
journal. I will maintain the emphasis on investigator-initiated
empirical research, which is the backbone of JINS. The breadth
of topics represented in JINS and the dual focus on
theoretical as well as clinical implications will also not change.
However, JINS will have a new cover in January and a new
feature, Neuropsychology Grand Rounds, which will emphasize the
importance of innovative case studies. The Grand Rounds feature will
include an introduction or discussion of each Grand Rounds by an expert
in that area in order to put the case in a larger perspective.
I would also like to see more papers in cognitive neuroscience,
including functional imaging studies in normals and brain damaged
patients and behavioral studies that are hypothesis driven and apply
innovative cognitive paradigms to identify the mechanisms of deficits
in different types of patients, especially those with well defined
lesions. Centainly, I do not see these areas taking over the bread and
butter neurobehavioral studies that are directly relevant to clinicians
and of paramount interest to most INS members and readers of
JINS. However, I want to emphasize how important cognitive
neuroscience research is because it has the potential for extending our
thinking about the neurobehavioral deficits we see clinically and visa
versa. Just as functional imaging studies can test hypotheses derived
from findings in brain damaged patients, behavioral studies in brain
damaged patients can be influenced by functional imaging studies, and I
believe that all of these studies belong in JINS.
I am very interested in what the INS membership thinks about
JINS. I hope that most of you completed the JINS
Survey, which was announced last month. This survey will help me assess
your opinions about JINS in order to determine if changes
should be considered. I am also interested in increasing the number of
qualified reviewers for JINS. So, please send a CV and your
specific areas of expertise to jins@unm.edu if you are interested in
serving as a reviewer.
As we begin the second decade of JINS, you can be proud of
its excellence under Igor's leadership, and I am eager to continue
in that tradition. I look forward to working for you and with you as
the Editor-in-Chief of JINS.
