NeuroImage publishes reports of imaging and mapping strategies for studying brain structure and function, from the whole brain to the tissue. The journal is committed to the rapid evaluation and publication of manuscripts.

The Neuroscience Peer Review Consortium

NeuroImage is a member of the Neuroscience Peer Review Consortium (NPRC). The NPRC has been formed to reduce the time expended and, in particular, the duplication of effort by, and associated burden on reviewers involved in the peer review of original neuroscience research papers. It is an alliance of neuroscience journals that have agreed to accept manuscript reviews from other Consortium journals. By reducing the number of times that a manuscript is reviewed, the Consortium will reduce the load on reviewers and Editors, and speed the publication of research results.

If a manuscript has been rejected by another journal in the Consortium, authors can now submit the manuscript to NeuroImage and indicate that the referees' reports from the first journal be made available to the Editors of NeuroImage.

N.B. Only manuscripts which were first submitted to another journal after the 1st January 2008 are eligible for the NPRC scheme.

It is the authors' decision as to whether or not to indicate that a set of referee's reports should be forwarded from the first journal to NeuroImage. If an author does not wish for this to happen, the manuscript can be submitted to NeuroImage without reference to the previous submission. No information will be exchanged between journals except at the request of authors. However, if the original referees' reports suggested that the paper is of high quality, but not suitable for the first journal, then it will often be to an author's advantage to indicate that referees' reports should be made available.

Authors should revise the original submission in accordance with the first journal's set of referee reports, reformat the paper to NeuroImage specification and submit the paper to NeuroImage with a covering letter describing the changes that have been made, and informing the Editors that they are happy for referees' reports to be forwarded from the first Consortium journal. Authors will be asked upon submission to NeuroImage the title of the first journal submitted to and the manuscript ID that was given by that journal. The editorial office of NeuroImage will request the referees' reports from the first journal.

The Editors of NeuroImage will use forwarded referees' reports at their discretion. The Editors may use the reports directly to make a decision, or they may request further reviews if they feel such are necessary.

Visit http://nprc.incf.org for a list of Consortium journals, as well as further information on the scheme.

US National Institutes of Health (NIH) voluntary posting (" Public Access") policy

Elsevier facilitates author response to the NIH voluntary posting request (referred to as the NIH "Public Access Policy"; see http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/index.htm) by posting the peer-reviewed author's manuscript directly to PubMed Central on request from the author, 12 months after formal publication. Upon notification from Elsevier of acceptance, we will ask you to confirm via e-mail (by e-mailing us at NIHauthorrequest@elsevier.com) that your work has received NIH funding and that you intend to respond to the NIH policy request, along with your NIH award number to facilitate processing. Upon such confirmation, Elsevier will submit to PubMed Central on your behalf a version of your manuscript that will include peer-review comments, for posting 12 months after formal publication. This will ensure that you will have responded fully to the NIH request policy. There will be no need for you to post your manuscript directly with PubMed Central, and any such posting is prohibited.

Exceptions: It is the policy of Elsevier that authors need not obtain permission in the following cases only: (1) to use their original figures or tables in their future works; (2) to make copies of their papers for use in their classroom teaching; and (3) to include their papers as part of their dissertations.

Submission of Manuscripts

It is a condition of publication that all manuscripts must be written in clear and grammatical English and be submitted to the NeuroImage Web site at http://ees.elsevier.com/ynimg. Authors are requested to transmit the text and art of the manuscript in electronic form to this address. Minimal exceptions will be allowed. Each manuscript must also be accompanied by a cover letter outlining the basic findings of the paper and their significance. With the understanding that those suggestions will not necessarily be followed, authors should suggest at least four competent reviewers in their field, being sure to include current e-mail addresses, and may also suggest individuals whom they wish to have excluded from the review process. These suggestions should be stated on a separate file titled Possible Reviewers. Complete instructions are available at the submission Web site. If you are unable to provide an electronic version or submit your paper via the Web, please contact the editorial office prior to submission at e-mail: ni@elsevier.com; telephone: (619) 699-6327; or fax: (619) 699-6211. There are no submission fees or page charges.

Manuscripts are accepted for review with the understanding that no substantial portion of the study has been published nor is under consideration for publication elsewhere and that its submission for publication has been approved by all of the authors and by the institution where the work was carried out. Manuscripts that do not meet the general criteria or standards for publication in NeuroImage will be immediately returned to the authors, without detailed review.

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to Transfer copyright (for more information on copyright, see http://authors.elsevier.com). This transfer will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. A letter will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript. A form facilitating transfer of copyright will be provided after acceptance. If material from other copyrighted works is included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases: contact Elsevier Rights Department, P.O. Box 800, Oxford, OX5 1DX, UK, phone: (+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail: permissions@elsevier.com. Requests may also be completed online via the Elsevier home page (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions).

Article Types

Comments and Controversies. This category will appear on an irregular basis in keeping with submissions. Materials proposed for this category will undergo editorial and, if required, scientific peer review and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors. Submissions on important and controversial subjects in the field are invited.

Technical Note. A Technical Note is an article that highlights important emerging techniques in the field of neuroimaging. Articles submitted for consideration, as Technical Notes should be brief and to the point and should contain the following sections: abstract; introduction; overview of the method, including a summary of the materials and equipment used; discussion; and references.

Reviews. The Section Editors and Editor-in-Chief solicit NeuroImage reviews (and would be happy to respond to pre-submission enquires or suggestions).

Language Editing:

Prior to submission, authors for whom English is not their first language may find it helpful to use a language and copyediting service such as that available through http://www.elsevier.com.locate/languagepolishing or may contact authorsupport@elsevier.com for more information. Please note that Elsevier neither endorses nor takes responsibility for any products, goods or services offered by outside vendors through our services or in any advertising. For more information please refer to our Terms & Conditions http://www.elsevier.com//termsconditions.

Ethics:

When human subjects are used, manuscripts must be accompanied by a statement that the experiments were undertaken with the understanding and written consent of each subject, with the approval of the appropriate local ethics committee, and in compliance with national legislation and the Code of Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) [ http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm]. When experimental animals are used, the materials and methods section must clearly indicate that adequate measures were taken to minimise pain or discomfort, and that the experiments were conducted in accordance with international standards on animal welfare as well as being compliant with local and national regulations. Studies are expected to be compliant with minimal standards as defined by the European Communities Council Directive of 24 November 1986 (86/609/EEC).

Preparation of Manuscripts

Manuscripts should be double-spaced throughout. Pages should be numbered consecutively and organized as follows:
The title page should contain the article title, authors' names and complete affiliations, footnotes to the title, and the address for manuscript correspondence (including telephone and fax numbers and an e-mail address).
The Abstract must be a single paragraph that summarizes the main findings of the paper in less than 250 words.
The Introduction should be as concise as possible, without subheadings.
Materials and methods should follow the Introduction.
Results and Discussion may be combined and may be organized into subheadings. Most recommendations of the Council of Biology Editors should be followed; consult the latest edition of the CBE Style Manual. Nonstandard abbreviations must be defined at their initial appearance.
Acknowledgments should be brief and should precede the references.


References should be cited in the text by name and date. Only articles that have been published or are in press should be included in the references. Unpublished results or personal communications should be cited as such in the text. Please note the following examples.

Abberdeen, B., Gunter, J., 2000. Cortical activity in the cocaine addicted rat. NeuroImage 10, 26-40.
Friston, K.J., 1994. Statistical parametric mapping. In: Thatcher, R.W., Hallett, M., Zeffiro, T., John, E.R., Huerta, M. (Eds.), Functional Neuroimaging. Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 79-93.
Paxinos, G., Ashwell, K.W.S., Tork, I., 1994. Atlas of the Developing Rat Nervous System, 2nd ed. Academic Press, San Diego.

Figures. Number figures consecutively with Arabic numerals. Please visit our Web site at http://authors.elsevier.com/artwork for detailed instructions on preparing electronic artwork.

Cover photographs. Contributors are encouraged to submit material for cover photographs.

Tables should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals in order of appearance in the text. Type each table double-spaced on a separate page with a short descriptive title typed directly above, and with essential footnotes below.

Preparation of Supplementary Material

Elsevier now accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer additional possibilities for publishing supporting applications, movies, animation sequences, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips, and more. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect ( http://www.sciencedirect.com). To ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please provide the data in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should submit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file. Please note, however, that supplementary material will not appear in the printed journal. Files can be stored on 3.5-inch diskette, ZIP disk, or CD (either MS-DOS or Macintosh). For more detailed instructions, please visit http://www..elsevier.com/authors.

Colour Figures:

If together with your accepted article, you submit usable colour figures, then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in colour on the Web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions [Please note: Because of technical complications that can arise in converting colour figures to "grey scale" (for the printed version should you not opt for colour in print), please submit in addition usable black-and-white files corresponding to all the colour illustrations].

PDF proofs will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author. To avoid delay in publication, only necessary changes should be made, and corrections should be returned promptly. Authors will be charged for alterations that exceed 10% of the total cost of composition.

Offprints:
The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a pdf offprint.

Author Enquiries

For inquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission where available) please visit http://www.elsevier.com/authors. Register for free email updates from the article tracking service at http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided by the journal office after registration of an article for publication.

Sponsored Articles:
NeuroImage offers authors or their institutions the option to sponsor non-subscriber access to their articles on Elsevier's electronic publishing platforms. For more information please click here.

Disclaimer:

Whilst every effort is made by the publishers and editorial board to see that no inaccurate or misleading data, opinion or statement appears in this journal, they wish to make it clear that the data and opinions appearing in the articles and advertisements herein are the sole responsibility of the contributor or advertiser concerned. Accordingly, the publishers, the editorial board and editors and their respective employees, officers and agents accept no responsibility or liability whatsoever for the consequences of any inaccurate or misleading data, opinion or statement