In 1975, the nonprofit publisher Annual Reviews had two meetings in New York to coincide with the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. In the meetings, neuroscientists from the US and Canada concurred that it would be useful to establish a journal that published an annual volume of review articles relevant to neuroscience. The board of directors of Annual Reviews gave the final approval for the journal in early 1976, appointing the first editorial committee with W. Maxwell Cowan appointed editor. In April 1976 the editorial committee planned the first volume of the journal, which was published in 1978.[3] As of 2021, it was published both in print and electronically. Some of its articles are available online in advance of the volume's publication date.[4]
The Annual Review of Neuroscience is helmed by the editor or the co-editors. The editor is assisted by the editorial committee, which includes associate editors, regular members, and occasionally guest editors. Guest members participate at the invitation of the editor, and serve terms of one year. All other members of the editorial committee are appointed by the Annual Reviews board of directors and serve five-year terms. The editorial committee determines which topics should be included in each volume and solicits reviews from qualified authors.[7] Unsolicited manuscripts are not accepted. Peer review of accepted manuscripts is undertaken by the editorial committee.[8]
Dates indicate publication years in which someone was credited as a lead editor or co-editor of a journal volume. The planning process for a volume begins well before the volume appears, so appointment to the position of lead editor generally occurred prior to the first year shown here. An editor who has retired or died may be credited as a lead editor of a volume that they helped to plan, even if it is published after their retirement or death.
^Hyman, Steven E. (2003). "Appreciation of the Life of W. Maxwell Cowan, Founding Editor of the Annual Review of Neuroscience". Annual Review of Neuroscience. 26. doi:10.1146/annurev.ne.26.010103.100001.
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