The Annals of Neurosciences, an Indian journal, is trying to acquire leadership in neuroscience journalism by sharing editorial responsibilities with counterparts outside Indian origin, its editor-in-chief Dr. Akshay Anand told the media here on Thursday.
Dr. Anand, who is associated with the Department of Neurology at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) here, noted that the journal is being published for the past 16 years, four times a year, and is poised to overcome barriers in the way of Indian journals attaining global leadership in neuroscience.
He said that the impact of Indian journals, in general, and their citations had not been adequately addressed and they did not come up to international standards mainly because Indian scientists were reluctant to communicate their research results to Indian journals and rather preferred contributing to international journals.
The Annals of Neuroscience, the official journal of the Indian Academy of Neurosciences, has announced a new team of editorial board members that include the best brains and stem cell researchers in Neurosciences from around the world, representing almost all major countries, he said.
He added that the online submissions for Annals of Neurosciences were being launched in January 2010 through a new portal. “A huge effort to scan, OCR and reload old issues into the brand website is under way and it is expected that the Journal will acquire indexing and an impact factor higher than any other journal in Asia in the next three years. Currently the Indian Journal of Medical Research has the highest impact factor of 1.77 in India,’’ he said, adding that the only other neuroscience-related journal in the country that had powered its way to indexing was Neurology India whose focus, however, was on clinical Neurology.
Dr. Anand said that the Annals of Neurosciences was aiming to lead the transformation of scientific environment in the country by highlighting the thoughts that capture the hearts and minds of neuroscientists and publishing articles that do not merely communicate research works but also focus on issues that transcend mere acquisition of technology or establishment of new centres in India. .
It is also committed to becoming a vibrant platform for advocating legislations in stem cell translation. Promote solutions
It would ultimately promote solutions to diseases of the brain and stimulate knowledge economy besides decreasing dependence on other countries.
