Welcome to Debates in Neuroscience. The vision that led to the establishment of this journal is to provide a forum for the neuroscience community that is devoted explicitly to controversies and conflicting ideas. We are very grateful to Dr. Norman M. Weinberger who first presented the idea for this journal to us. The give and take of debate and controversy are critical to enabling conceptual advances within any field of science, but these normally take place at scientific meetings, informal discussions, or in private correspondence. Debates in Neuroscience makes the exposition of emerging debates and controversies its centerpiece.

Because the purpose of most neuroscience journals is to publish new research reports and/or review papers, which is compounded by the unusual breadth of neuroscience, there is an unmet need on the part of researchers, instructors, trainees, and students to access relevant alternate viewpoints on topics of interest, especially outside their own areas of specialization. Each issue of Debates in Neuroscience will focus on a small number of controversial topics. Each topic will be addressed by two or more papers written by nominated authors. The papers will provide an in-depth exposition of an alternative theoretical or conceptual perspective. Authors will subsequently have an opportunity to respond to the rival viewpoints.

The planned scope will include all areas of neuroscience, including behavioural and cognitive neuroscience, neuropharmacology, neuropsychology, clinical neuroscience, neurochemistry, computational neuroscience, neurophilosophy, cellular and molecular neurobiology, neurophysiology, neuroimaging, neuroimmunology, neurogenetics, neuroanatomy, and neural development.

We are committed to responding to suggestions from members of the neuroscience community on debate topics or controversies and to nominations of authors who best represent a particular viewpoint. We encourage participation by anyone in a continuing commentary section of the online journal linked to this website.

Debates in Neuroscience is not open for submissions—manuscripts are accepted by invitation only. However, Debates in Neuroscience would like to encourage the readers to submit ideas for future debates and author nominations. Please send us your feedback on past, present, and future debates by e-mailing the editor-in-chief, Dr. Sutherland: rsutherl@shockware.com.

We look forward to serving the neuroscience community’s interest in promoting scholarship and academic discourse and we hope you will join with us in pursuing this new venture.