Times of change, times of growth.

Feels like ages in the past, the day that the founding of this journal was decided. It wasn’t that long ago, at the beginning of November of 2001, nor an unusual venue, the Society for Neuroscience Meeting in San Diego. But the memory of that meeting is far from the standard way to conduct business these days. Three would-be editors-in-chief (Erik De Schutter, David Kennedy, and myself) shook hands in a bar with Thomas L. Lanigan, the President of the prospective publisher (Humana Press). The encounter was brief and cordial: Mr. Lanigan tackled all substantive issues, but also stressed that his company was a rare example of successful family operation in the biomedical publishing world. Almost to reiterate these points, he was accompanied both by his wife and by the Humana managing editor (in the same spirit, his son, acting as marketing director, later attended the first few meetings of the Editorial Board). We were all certain that neuroinformatics was a field of great promise, and there was great excitement and enthusiasm for the planning of the journal, which would be launched within just 1 year. I had knownMr. Lanigan and the Humana team for quite some time as they publishedmy “Computational Neuroanatomy: Principles and Methods” book, and I knew that they would give us editors uncompromised autonomy and adequate resources to take full and effective responsibility for the scientific charge of the journal. These expectations were not betrayed, and we are truly proud of the long way the journal has come. Thomas Lanigan died last September. That same month, Humana Press was acquired by Springer, a larger publishing company that is extremely well known in the neuroscience and informatics communities. We are grateful to Humana and the Lanigan family for these very successful five years of productive collaboration. At the same time, this merger will open new opportunities for Neuroinformatics. The field is growing, and so is our journal, judging by the respect it commands among fellow scientists and by its top-ranking impact factor. However, further and sustainable growth also requires an increase in manuscript submissions and article flow. This will ensure ever greater visibility without compromising in the least the high scientific standards and the quality of the content. The switch to Springer will ensure wider circulation of our journal. Moreover, by the time this issue appears in press, the new online submission system, based on the widely adopted and familiar Editorial Manager, will be up and running. As always, Neuroinformatics solicits Original Articles, Minireviews, Commentaries, and News Items for consideration and publication. This very issue offers an exciting selection of examples of the broad-spanning field of neuroinformatics, ranging from brain imaging to neuronal morphology, from computational models to knowledge environments. By all means, this is the first journal dedicated to the establishment of the informatics infrastructure of neuroscience. Thomas Lanigan’s enthusiasm continues with our new publisher, and we hope that more and more authors will join in and contribute to developing this most powerful vision of the neuroscience of the future. Neuroinform (2007) 5:95 DOI 10.1007/s12021-007-0005-4