Author reviews the history of the Neurosciences Specialty Group and reviews the function of the WFN Publications Committee.
By Chandrashekhar Meshram
This column, intended to explain the work of the WFN committees and specialty groups in World Neurology, was started by Prof. Wolfgang Grisold during his tenure as Secretary General in 2020. I plan to take it forward. The WFN committees contribute greatly to the work of the WFN. The chairs are appointed by the trustees, and the committees are composed of members of the regions.
The present composition and membership of all of the WFN committees and specialty groups can be seen on the WFN website.
The committees work on specific issues and are an essential part of the WFN activities.
In the September/October issue of World Neurology, information about the nominating committee was published.
The specialty groups, previously known as Applied Research Groups, focus on specific aspects of neurology.
The idea of this column is to introduce one committee and one specialty group in each of the subsequent issues of World Neurology.
The WFN Publications Committee
The WFN Publications Committee is chaired by Dr. John England. Dr. England is the Richard M. Paddison professor and chair of the Department of Neurology at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine in New Orleans. He is also the editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Neurological Sciences. The Publications Committee provides oversight for the Journal of the Neurological Sciences, eNeurologicalSci, and World Neurology.
The Journal of the Neurological Sciences (JNS) is the flagship journal of the WFN. JNS publishes original scientific articles, review articles, guidelines, letters, and special issues in the field of clinical and basic neuroscience. Over the last several years, JNS has shown a steady and substantial rise in platform usages, cite scores, and impact factor. Special issues are popular and well cited. Recently, a special issue on tropical neurology was published, and special issues on environmental neurology and recent advances in stroke are in progress.
eNeurologicalSci (eNS) is the newer online companion journal for the JNS. Dr. Walter Struhal from Austria is the editor-in-chief. eNeurologicalSci has a globally represented editorial board and has demonstrated a steady and significant rise in cite score over the past two years. It publishes original scientific articles and novel case reports.
World Neurology is the popular longstanding newsletter for the WFN. The editor is Dr. Steven Lewis from the U.S., and the co-editor is Dr. Walter Struhal from Austria. World Neurology publishes news items, updates, and opinions in neurology from around the world. World Neurology serves an important function in communicating important updates from the WFN to neurologists. It is published every two months and is sent to 25,000 neurologists worldwide with two email blasts for each issue and online access.
Each of the three publications are accessible via the WFN website or via their respective websites.
History of Neurosciences Specialty Group
This specialty group has studied the history of the neurosciences for many decades. The mission is to study the history of the neurosciences and bring together neurologists with an interest in the subject and inform them about what is going on in the field.
In 1992, Frank Clifford Rose, who had become the WFN secretary-treasurer-general in 1989, started a journal, Journal of the History of the Neurosciences. It was associated with this WFN specialty group that, at the time, already existed for more than 10 years. This research group was founded by Dr. Macdonald Critchley, and its first official meeting was in 1980. A few years after starting the journal, the International Society of the Neurosciences (ISHN) was added as a second group associated with the Journal, to which the subtitle was added Basic and Clinical Perspectives. It became a platform not only for neurologists interested in the field, but also for other neuroscientists with an interest in the history of their subject.
The specialty group is currently chaired by Peter J. Koehler, faculty of health, medicine and life sciences, Maastricht University, The Netherlands.
The group has 26 members and Egle Sakalauskaite-Juodeikiene (University of Vilnius, Lithuania) and Edward J. Fine (University of Buffalo, New York) contribute significantly. The specialty group, in cooperation with the ISHN, started a monthly virtual seminar in 2020. These monthly meetings are open for specialty group and ISHN members, as well as all persons interested in the history of the neurosciences. They are usually held on the third Wednesday of each month, except northern summer. Information can be found at ISHN-monthly-programs.pdf (ucla.edu) or ISHN Monthly Zoom Meeting | Neurohistory.nl.
Since 2010, the specialty group has published bimonthly articles in World Neurology. Some of the recent titles include “Todd, Faraday, and the Electrical Activity of the Brain,” “Named Lectures at the World Federation of Neurology,” and “Deep Brain Stimulation for Psychiatric Indications Preceded Movement Disorders: A Historical Sketch.” •
