Abstract: The Journal of Comparative Neurology has gradually undergone a metamorphosis in the last few years, as many of our readers will appreciate. Part of this change has been physical. After merging with Blackwell, John Wiley and Sons has renovated its website, which had been Wiley Interscience, and is now the Wiley Online Library. At the lower left of this website is the JCN Antibody Database. If you click on this, you can download an Excel spreadsheet listing essentially every antibody that has been used in a JCN paper since 2006. This is continually updated, and it provides a catalog of antibody usages that have passed the rigorous review of our referees and editors. This is probably the best place to start in looking for a new antibody, or in finding information about one. Part of our physical transformation has been a redesign of the Journal, which took place at the beginning of 2010. The most controversial aspect was changing the traditional yellow cover, which essentially clashed with virtually all modern color images, for a blue cover. After a bit of a shock period, we have had nothing but compliments about how the Journal looks. The redesign also allowed us to go to a sans serif font, which is easier to read, something that aging editors (and readers) appreciate. We have not changed other things, such as our insistence that the Methods section be right before the Results. We continue to believe that an experiment is only as good as its methods, and that the reader has to know this first and in detail. We still provide adequate space for the text and the figures to tell the full story. Unlike many journals, JCN discourages the use of Supplementary Material to tell parts of the story that are covered by the text. In our view, the Supplementary Material should provide a way to include occasional pieces of data requested by referees but not central to the paper, like negative controls, as well as bulky files, such as databases of genes screened, or video files. It should not be used as an “attic” to store things that the authors no longer want to use in the paper or in other publications. We feel that the Supplementary Material is rarely reviewed with the same care as the main manuscript, and that it is often abused in many journals. We note that the Journal of Neuroscience eliminated the Supplementary Materials altogether, for largely these reasons. We will continue to host it for material such as that indicated above, but discourage its use for routine material that belongs in the main paper. One change that is both physical and philosophical is our inclusion of a tagline on the Journal pages, “Research in Systems Neuroscience.” It is our belief that Systems Neuroscience captures the essence of what JCN has been about since its founding: analysis of the structure, function, and development of synaptically connected systems of neurons. Because the bulk of our publications are neither Comparative nor Neurology (although we certainly welcome the best systems neuroscience work from both fields), it is important to get our mission across to the growing population of scientists worldwide who may not be familiar with our Journal. We hope that our readers will help spread the word. Another change at the Journal has been that we have deliberately “gone on a diet.” With the growing emphasis on citation impact as an element in determining academic promotions and grants, it is imperative that a journal have a strong Citation Impact Factor. To do otherwise risks having authors not send us some of their most important papers. We therefore deliberately in 2007 began a campaign to change our editorial philosophy, requiring not only that the work be technically sound, but that at least one of the reviewers or editors identify the paper as “important.” The meaning of “important” in this context is arguable, but I would say that to bring this home at a personal level, an important paper to me is one that I might want to cite some day, because it fills in a recognizable gap in our understanding in a biological problem in which I am interested. The result of this increase in stringency is that JCN now turns down about 30% more of the submitted papers than we did in 2006. This has not always gained us friends, but our standing in the Citation Impact rankings has done better over this period than most of our peer journals (large general or first line specialty journals in neuroscience). More importantly, if you look at any recent issue of the Journal, I think you will find that the quality and importance of the work we present have improved. The major work of accomplishing these goals has been done by an editorial team that consists of eight outstanding Associate Editors, who choose the reviewers and make the primary decisions on each paper. This keeps my job, of reviewing each decision to make sure we are applying standards and policies evenly across the Journal, to a manageable level. Working in tandem and in support of the editorial team has been our Publisher, Joe Ingram, who is retiring from Wiley at the end of 2010. We will miss his wise counsel and enthusiastic support. The third component of the team is the reviewers, the most prolific and reliable of whom constitute our Editorial Board. Editorial Board members are appointed for four year terms, so that each year, the terms of about one-quarter expire. The Editors vote for replacements from among all reviewers, looking for those who have reviewed for us frequently, have provided good advice, and have returned their reviews on time. Members of the Board are eligible for re-election, or may rejoin the Board at some later time, but we like to turn some positions over as well to let new people serve. Thus, the road to the Editorial Board is to personally let our Editors know you are available to do reviews, and then return the reviews on time and with the usual thoughtful precision that characterizes JCN reviews. This year, we had nine Board members whose terms expired. Six of these were re-elected, including Deanna Benson, Andreas Burkhalter, Joel Elmquist, Patrick Hof, Tomas Hökfelt, and Michael Shipley. Three current members will be retiring from the Board, at least temporarily, and we thank Peggy Mason, Richard Nowakowski, and Jan Voogd for their long and meritorious service. We say that this may be temporary in recognition of the fact that two of the new members voted in this year have previously served on the Board, David Hopkins and Paul Taghert. We welcome them back. We also welcome a new member to the Editorial Board, Elizabeth Grove. We also thank all of the many reviewers who make JCN what it is, and whose names are listed below this Editorial. Those who have reviewed four or more papers over the last year are indicated by an asterisk, and deserve our special thanks. Finally, after serving as Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Comparative Neurology since January, 1994 (and an Associate Editor since 1992), I have informed the Publisher of my intention to step down from that position during the 2011 year. I have asked the Publisher to begin a search process for a successor, but plan to stay on until that person is identified. At the end of 2010, I will have served longer as Editor-in-chief than anyone since C. Judson Herrick, who helped his brother C.L. Herrick found the journal in the 1890's. I have had the privilege of shepherding the Journal through a truly transformational era, including the introduction of electronic publishing; the establishing of standards for scientific publication and conflict of interest; and our recent redesign and refocusing on Systems Neuroscience. I hope that the next Editor-in-chief will have a smooth course, and look forward to remaining an enthusiastic contributor to the Journal of Comparative Neurology in other roles for many years to come. Brett Abrahams Brian Ackley *Peter Ahnelt James Akula Hakan Aldskogius Simon Alford George Alheid Robin Ali John Allman Richard Altschuler Zeynep Altun Juan Carlos Alvarado *Francisco Alvarez Stephen Alves Brad Amendt *Ramon Anadon Aileen Anderson *Colin Anderson Goffinet Andre Michael Andresen Alessandra Angelucci Miklos Antal Chiye Aoki Bruce Appel Masasuke Araki Silvia Arber Lutgarde Arckens Michael Ariel Paola Arlotta Carol Armstrong J. Douglas Armstrong John Ashton Peter Baas Tudor Badea Emilio Badoer Wolfgang Baehr Harriet Baker Vijay Balasubramanian William Baldridge Agnieszka Balkowiec Eldon Ball Gregory Ball Jacques Balthazart Tallie Z. Baram Sebastien Baratte Yves Barde Linda Barlow Neal Barmack Carol Barnes Gregory Barnes Colin Barnstable Anne Baron Van Evercooren James Bartles Timothy Bartness Allan Basbaum Andrew Bass A. Bauer Catherina Becker Kirk Beisel Teri Belecky-Adams Curtis Bell James Bellingham Paul Benjamin Michael V. Bennett Larry Benowitz *Deanna Benson Marina Bentivoglio George Bentley Antonio Bergmann Karen Berkley Ari Berkowitz Bruce Berkowitz Jean-Francois Bernard David Berson Erwan Bezard Enrica Bianchi Gerd Bicker *Martha E Bickford Oliver Biehlmaier Isabelle Billig Georgia Bishop Gene Blatt Armin Blesch *William Blessing Andrew Blight Stewart Bloomfield Barbara Bohne Denis Boire J. Paul Bolam Joel Bornstein Sarah Bottjer James Bourne Paola Bovolenta Peter Bräunig Steven Brauth S. Marc Breedlove Bjoern Brembs Jacqueline Bresnahan Roberta Brinton Jonas Broman David Brown Lucy Brown M. Christian Brown Jean-Francois Brunet Peter Brunjes Randy Bruno Thomas Brushart James Buchanan Paul Buckmaster Ruud Buijs Robert Burke *Andreas Burkhalter Sabrina Burmeister Rebecca Burwell Ashley Bush Jean Büttner-Ennever Maeve Caldwell Heather Cameron Kenneth Campbell Serge Campeau *Nell Cant Newton Canteras John Caprio Salvatore Carbonetto J. Patrick Card Catherine Carr Pascal Carrive Paul Carvey Vivien Casagrande Robert Casson Myriam Cayre Tansu Celikel Constance Cepko Nancy Chamberlin Milton Charlton Daniel Chase Nirupa Chaudhari Alain Chedotal Jinhui Chen *Paul Cheney Olivier Civelli Michael Clark Jonathan Clarke Hollis Cline Jean-François Cloutier Bernard Cohen Timothy Collier Victoria Connaughton Barry Connors *Jeremy Cook Mark Cookson Lique Coolen Helen Cooper Philip Copenhaver Deborah Cory-Slechta Marcello Costa *Karina Cramer Harold Cremer Roger Croll Justin Crowley Andras Csillag William Cullinan Maurice Curtis *Catherine Cusick Dennis Dacey Roger Dampney Niels Danbolt Numa Dancause Robert Dantzer José Carlos Dávila Robin Davis *Heidi Day Fernando de Castro Horacio de la Iglesia Luis de Lecea Etienne de Villers-Sidani Michael Deans Stephen DeArmond William DeBello Javier DeFelipe Nihal Delanerolle Thomas Deller Evan Deneris Charles Derby Martin Deschenes Marshall Devor Anna Di Cosmo Vincenzo Di Marzo Krikor Dikranian Leda Dimou Heinrich Dircksen Cynthia Dlugos Juan Dominguez Cam Donly Ayse Dosemeci Guy Doucet James Dowling John Dowling Alex Dranovsky Beatriz H. 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Fredholm William Freed Eckhard Friauf Rainer Friedrich Robert Frisina Jean-Marc Fritschy Bernd Fritzsch JJ Frost Ron Frostig *Michael Frotscher Anne Fulton Kengo Funakoshi John Furness Fred Gage Manfred Gahr Christine Gall Borja Garcia-Bueno Edgar Garcia-rill Craig Garner Preston Garraghty Patricia Gaspar Wei Ge Gerald Gebhart Charles Gerfen Dwight German Michael Gershon Changiz Geula *Ian Gibbins Robert Gibbs Alan Gibson Deda Gillespie Peter Gillespie Rhanor Gillette Jose Manuel Gimenez-Amaya Joseph Gleeson Joel Glover Tanya Godenschwege Andre Goffinet Agustin Gonzalez Francisco Gonzalez-Scarano Ann Goodchild James Goodson Andrea Gore Elizabeth Gould Robert Gould Anthony Grace Werner Graf Ann-Charlotte Granholm *Charles Greer Una Greferath Jodi Gresack Raymond Grill Cornelis (Cok) Grimmelikhuijzen Valery Grinevich Wulfila Gronenberg Elizabeth Grove Andrew Groves Wesley Grueber David Grundy *Ulrike Grünert Wendy Grus Ray Guillery Salvador Guirado Eckart Gundelfinger Onur Gunturkun Chenying Guo *Patrice Guyenet Troy Hackett Valerie Haftel Donna Hammond Robert Handa Anne Hansen Bill Hansson Paul Hardin Tibor Harkany Kristen Harris William Harris Steffen Harzsch Michael Hausser Silke Haverkamp Leif Havton B. 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