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The Society for the Neurobiology of Language and MIT Press launch new open access journal, Neurobiology of Language

The Society for the Neurobiology of Language and the MIT Press are pleased to announce the launch of Neurobiology of Language. This open access journal will publish interdisciplinary articles addressing the neurobiological basis of human speech and language. Steven L. Small, Dean of the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas (Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago and the University of California) and Kate E. Watkins, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Oxford, will serve as Editors-in-Chief.

“Our ability to make noninvasive brain measurements at high spatial and temporal resolution in awake, behaving human beings has had a profound impact on the study of language in the brain. As a result, the number of researchers investigating the biological basis of language has dramatically increased in recent years,” commented Small. “This growing community deserves a journal that is as modern, dynamic, and forward thinking as the field itself.”

Neurobiology of Language will provide a high-quality outlet for rapid and open dissemination of important findings, and the journal’s modern open science requirements will facilitate the reproducibility of experimental findings. The journal will also publish negative findings and replications using the mechanism of “registered reports,” whereby papers consisting only of an introduction and extensive detailed methods will be reviewed and accepted or rejected prior to the performance of the actual experiment. This practice removes the incentive for positive results and leads to more robust research findings.

The editors invite innovative work that significantly advances the understanding of the biological foundations of perceptual, cognitive, motor, and linguistic processes used to produce and understand language in both children and adults, and in both healthy individuals and those with disorders. Manuscripts that address biological mechanisms or would be of particular value to researchers who are studying the biology are particularly sought. The journal will include articles drawing on a range of methods including, but not limited to, behavioral paradigms, functional and structural neuroanatomy, genetics, extracranial and intracranial brain stimulation and recording, and studies in animal models.

“The MIT Press is delighted to partner with the Society for the Neurobiology of Language to publish in this burgeoning field,” says MIT Press Journals Director, Nick Lindsay. “Being at the leading edge is a tremendous opportunity and we look forward to nurturing it over the coming years in the pages of Neurobiology of Language.”

The National Science Foundation and the MIT Libraries are generously supporting some of the costs associated with publishing Neurobiology of Language. Greg Eow, Associate Director for Collections at the MIT Libraries explains, “We are happy to partner with our colleagues at the MIT Press to support open access publishing initiatives. It’s a partnership that makes great sense since both the libraries and the press share a mission to support the creation and dissemination of outstanding, open scholarship.”

Neurobiology of Language will publish primarily research articles, but also encourages submissions of articles reporting on new methods and data, as well as reviews and perspectives. Neurobiology of Language is an open access publication, and all content will be freely available to readers across the globe. 

The editors are now accepting submissions and the inaugural issue of Neurobiology of Language will appear in 2020. More information about the journal and how to submit articles is available at http://mitpressjournals.org/nol

Media contact: Jessica Pellien, pellien@mit.edu