Preparing new minds and communicating innovations in undergraduate neuroscience education: welcoming change in many forms.

This issue of the Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience features media reviews contributed by Cecala (Shepherd’s Creating Modern Neuroscience: The Revolutionary 1950s) and Weldon & Johnson (Swanson’s Brain Architecture: Understanding The Basic Plan) and three very different laboratory experiences to explore in structuring neuroscience coursework. Burdo describes how we may use forebrain neurons from chicks to examine neurodegeneration; Nguyen, Tommerdahl and colleagues detail a sensory inhibition exercise; and Watson expands the artistic horizon of neuroscience education, examining how we may engage students in neuroanatomy through the use of Renaissance art. It also marks a pivotal point in the history of the journal. It is the first issue in which immediately following publication, all contents are available on PubMed Central as well as on the JUNE website. Many people, agencies and companies contributed to this moment. At Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, over the past three years, the Executive Committee shared in and recommitted itself to the editorial boards’ vision of the importance of PubMed indexing, and expended precious resources of the society to make this happen. JUNE cannot adequately express its gratitude to the FUN officers of those same three years who led the Executive Committee in their deliberations about support for JUNE: President Noah Sandstrom, Past-Presidents Shelly Dickinson and Elaine Reynolds, Treasurer David Jewitt and Past-Treasurer Ron Bayline, thank you for your foresight and resolve. FUN Webmaster Robert Cailin-Jageman deserves a special note of thanks—his generous, constant willingness to help vet administrative software, markup language conversion sources and all other matters of web technology is a source of great assistance and comfort in hours of need. JUNE also thanks the key staff at the agencies and companies that have contributed to today’s event: Wayne Logue, our Technical Evaluation Lead at the NIH and our PubMed Central contractor, and Gitty Kupferstein and the technical staff at Data Conversion Laboratories, our partners in XML-formatting compliance with the National Library of Medicine tagging requirements. Throughout this process, several members of the JUNE editorial board and support staff have devoted themselves to accomplishing this goal. JUNE’s most-recent former Editors-in-Chief Gary Dunbar and William Grisham, editorial board member Raddy Ramos, and Fern Duncan, JUNE’s copyediting and production coordinator, all contributed greatly to the efforts that led to this announcement. The readership of the journal as well as the general membership of Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience can now find all issues of JUNE from its premier issue back in 2002 to this new issue at PubMed Central. Looking back at that moment in 2002 from our vantage point here in 2013, I ask that you revisit with me the words of Barbara Lom, our founding Editor-in-Chief, writing in the closing paragraph of her inaugural editorial, in what is the first page ever written in JUNE: “Excellence in undergraduate neuroscience education is critical to prepare new minds to contribute future insights into the vibrant quest to understand the brain. JUNE contributes to this important effort by providing a forum to communicate innovations in undergraduate neuroscience education (Lom, 2002).” Welcome, then, to JUNE: the forum for communicating innovations in undergraduate neuroscience education, listed at PubMed Central. It is often the case that pivotal moments in history involve more than just a singular change, but rather, occur in the context of many changes. One result of becoming listed on PubMed Central is that production expenses for JUNE issues have increased, to the point where, in order to maintain free access, beginning with submissions from March 15, 2013 onward, we will assess a nominal article publication charge that will help to defray these additional costs. This fee will be discounted for all individual FUN members who are current with dues payments at the time of the manuscript submission, and waived completely for those submissions originating in World Bank Category I, II, or III countries, and from any author with demonstrable financial hardship, such as lack of institutional support. Readers should refer to the “Instructions to Authors” section of the JUNE website for details, or may contact JUNE directly at the email address listed at the website for further discussion. When I assumed the post of Editor-in-Chief of JUNE in July, 2012, our editorial board was deeply involved in the production of the extended issue devoted both to standard submissions and the proceedings of the 2011 FUN Workshop held at Pomona College. In the midst of that activity, it may have escaped the knowledge of readers that our Editor-in-Chief William Grisham stepped down at the end of June to take a new post at the National Science Foundation, and returned to general membership on the board. Thank you, Bill, for your years of service, and continued dedication to the journal. Our new editorial team is privileged to retain Gary Dunbar as Senior Editor, providing us with key structural stability as I move more fully in to the Editor–in-Chief role, and Bruce Johnson of Cornell University assumes my previous post as Associate Editor. Our editorial board has also expanded, with three new editors joining the board in January of this year. They are Jean Hardwick of Ithaca College, Michelle Mynlieff of Marquette University, and Amy Jo Stavnezer of the College of Wooster. We move into this new era at JUNE well positioned indeed.