The Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (JoCN) is now the official journal of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society! We are excited to announce a number of new intitiatives.
With the formal transfer of JoCN to CNS now complete, we are in the process of forming a Publications Committee that will oversee editorial policy at JoCN and the JoCN Discussion Forum (JoCNForum). Prominent among the responsibilities of this committee will be overseeing the selection for the next Editor-in-Chief. Two current editors at JoCN, Randy McIntosh (Associate Editor) and Regina Lapate (Consulting Editor) have agreed to serve on this committee, and we are now calling for nominations of members of the CNS community who are not currently formally associated with JOCN or the JoCNForum, but are interested in helping to oversee their integration with our society. Self-nominations are welcomed, and each nomination should be accompanied by a cv and a one paragraph statement of interest in joining the Publications Committee.
Please send the nomination to ktretheway@cogneurosociety.org by April 1, 2025.
We are also pleased to announce that JoCNForum will begin hosting the Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (PCNS). In brief, authors of abstracts accepted for CNS 2026 will have the option of submitting their abstract—together with a figure that could be a pdf of the corresponding poster—at the same portal for submitting manuscripts to JoCN. Once posted at PCNS 2026, this abstract will have a unique doi that makes it an archived and citeable document, of comparable status to a manuscript on a preprint server, such as bioRxiv.
We are thrilled with these developments, and looking forward to future synergies between CNS and JoCN!
Facts Only
The *Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience* (JoCN) is now the official journal of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS).
A Publications Committee is being formed to oversee editorial policy for JoCN and the JoCN Discussion Forum (JoCNForum).
The committee will be responsible for selecting the next Editor-in-Chief of JoCN.
Randy McIntosh (Associate Editor) and Regina Lapate (Consulting Editor) have agreed to serve on the Publications Committee.
Nominations are open for additional committee members from the CNS community, excluding those currently associated with JoCN or JoCNForum.
Self-nominations are permitted and must include a CV and a one-paragraph statement of interest.
Nominations must be submitted to ktretheway@cogneurosociety.org by April 1, 2025.
JoCNForum will host the *Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society* (PCNS).
Authors of abstracts accepted for CNS 2026 can submit their abstract and a figure (e.g., poster PDF) via the JoCN manuscript submission portal.
Submitted abstracts will receive a unique DOI, making them archived and citeable documents.
The status of these abstracts will be comparable to manuscripts on preprint servers like bioRxiv.
Executive Summary
The Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS) has formally transferred the *Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience* (JoCN) to its oversight, marking a new phase of integration between the journal and the society. A Publications Committee is being formed to oversee editorial policy for JoCN and its associated discussion forum, JoCNForum, with a key responsibility being the selection of the next Editor-in-Chief. Two current editors, Randy McIntosh and Regina Lapate, will serve on this committee, and nominations are open for additional members from the CNS community, including self-nominations, with submissions due by April 1, 2025.
Additionally, JoCNForum will begin hosting the *Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society* (PCNS), allowing authors of accepted abstracts for CNS 2026 to submit their work—along with a figure or poster—through the same portal used for JoCN manuscripts. These abstracts will receive a unique DOI, making them archived, citeable documents akin to preprints on servers like bioRxiv. The initiative aims to enhance the visibility and permanence of conference contributions while fostering closer collaboration between CNS and JoCN.
Full Take
This announcement reflects a strategic alignment between the Cognitive Neuroscience Society and its flagship journal, aiming to streamline governance and enhance the visibility of scholarly work. The formation of a Publications Committee, inclusive of community nominations, suggests a commitment to transparency and shared oversight—a positive step in academic publishing where editorial independence and societal alignment can sometimes clash. The integration of conference proceedings into JoCNForum, with DOIs for abstracts, mirrors broader trends in open science, where preprints and conference outputs gain permanence and citability. This could democratize access to emerging research while incentivizing higher-quality submissions to annual meetings.
However, the success of these initiatives hinges on execution. Will the Publications Committee balance societal priorities with editorial rigor, or will mission drift occur under institutional pressures? The DOI assignment for abstracts is a double-edged sword: it could elevate early-stage work but also risks diluting the distinction between peer-reviewed research and preliminary findings. The call for nominations is inclusive, yet the exclusion of those "formally associated" with JoCN or JoCNForum might inadvertently sideline voices with deep institutional knowledge.
Root cause: This reflects a broader paradigm shift in academic publishing toward integration, openness, and societal ownership of scholarly infrastructure. The unstated assumption is that closer ties between societies and journals will improve quality and relevance—but history shows such consolidations can also centralize power. Who benefits? Early-career researchers gain citeable outputs; societies gain prestige. Who bears costs? Potentially, the independence of editorial decisions if societal agendas override scholarly rigor.
Bridge questions: How might this model reshape the incentive structures for conference presentations? Could the DOI system lead to "abstract farming" where quantity outweighs quality? What safeguards will ensure the Publications Committee remains insulated from conflicts of interest?
Counterstrike scan: A bad actor seeking to manipulate this narrative might frame it as a power grab by CNS to control JoCN, exaggerating risks of censorship or editorial bias. However, the actual content emphasizes transparency (open nominations, clear deadlines) and aligns with open-science values. No structural alignment with manipulation patterns is detected.
Patterns detected: none