I am pleased to announce that the Japan Neuroscience Society will inaugurate the Neuroscience Research Excellent Paper Award in 2001, the first year of this millennium. Details of this award are given below. I hope that this will further promote submission of high-quality papers to this journal from all over the world.

1. Purpose
The Japan Neuroscience Society has been publishing Neuroscience Research as its official journal since 1984. To further promote publication of outstanding findings in neuroscience research, the Society will grant the Neuroscience Research Excellent Paper Award to authors of articles which have been published in this journal and have contributed significantly to the advancement of neuroscience.

2. Object of Selection
Outstanding articles are selected from all of the articles that have been published in Neuroscience Research in the previous year. The award is given to the first author of the article (In the case, where two or more authors are stated in the article as equal contributors, all of them will be awarded).

3. Selection Procedures
1) The Selection Committee, consisting of the Editor-in-Chief and Receiving Editors who reside in Japan will make the selection.
2) The Editorial Board members and Advisory Board members recommend candidate articles to the Selection Committee. The Selection Committee decides which articles will be awarded, and then reports its decision to the Council of Japan Neuroscience Society. The decision becomes effective after the approval of the Council.
3) The number of articles awarded in a given year is three at most.
4) A testimonial of the award and a supplementary prize are given to the authors of the award-winning article. The method of dividing the supplementary prize is left entirely to the authors.
5) Detailed regulations on the implementation of the selection will be stated separately.

4. Amendment
Any amendment or abolishment of these provisions will be carried out by the Council of Japan Neuroscience Society. The present provisions are applied to articles published in the January issue of 2001 and thereafter.

1. Object of Selection
Nationality, age, or affiliation of authors is not considered in the selection procedure. Also, membership in the Japan Neuroscience Society is not taken into consideration.

2. Selection Procedures
In principle, the Editor-in-Chief serves as a chairperson of the Selection Committee. Every January, the Chairperson will request the Editorial Board members and Advisory Board members to recommend candidate articles. The deadline for recommendation is the end of April. The Selection Committee decides on the candidate articles and reports its decision to the Council by the end of June.

3. Term of the Selection Committee Members
The term of the Selection Committee members is the same as that of the Editor-in-Chief or the Receiving Editors.

4. Amount of the Supplementary Prize.
Ad interim, the supplementary prize is \200,000 per award. When necessary, the amount may be changed with the approval of the Council.