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I am pleased to report that, at the end of my first year as ISN President, our Society’s affairs are in excellent shape both in term of society activities and finances. Exciting new developments have occurred in several areas.
Our Journal
A major objective of our society is the dissemination of high quality research articles in cellular and molecular neuroscience via our journal, The Journal of Neurochemistry.
Furthermore, revenues to the Society from sales of the journal represent >90% of ISN income. The survival of our society, therefore, relies upon our ability to maintain our journal on a sound scientific and financial basis. Issues such as “Open Access” to scientific journals together with new marketing strategies by journal publishers have led to uncertainty for many learned societies who, like ISN, rely on the journal as principal source of revenue. Faced with these issues, ISN has taken two decisions namely:
A meeting of the ISN Publications Committee and representatives of several major international scientific publishers took place at the ASN meeting in Portland in March 2006 and various proposals were examined. All aspects considered, it was decided to renew the contract with Blackwells with extremely favourable conditions including increased profit share, a guaranteed minimum revenue at or above current levels for the next 7 years together with improved service to authors and to the readership including free color figures and archiving of the Journal. Further details of the new ISN contract and related Journal affairs are provided in the report of Dr John Clark, chair of the Publications Committee.
2006 is the 50th Anniversary of our Journal which will be celebrated by a special issue with articles from top Neuroscientists from various parts of the world. It will also be marked by ISN-sponsored symposia at APSN, ASN and ESN annual meetings in 2006.
ISN Membership Services
The decision to have Portland Press (UK) process membership applications and renewals has proven to be successful and helped to bring stability to the membership dues collection process. This previously was subject to rotation every 4 years with the change of Secretary / Treasurer’s office causing problems relating to currency conversions and opening and closing of credit card facilities.
ISN paid memberships as of May 2006 stands at 1496. We continue to increase our membership from the African continent which now stands at 79 from 8 African countries.
The ESN/ISN joint meeting in Innsbruck in 2005
Although close to being washed away by Alpine floodwaters, the meeting in Innsbruck was a phenomenal success both in terms of number of registrants (almost 1000), the superb quality programme and the finances; the meeting actually turned a small profit. On behalf of all ISN members and meeting attendees I offer my sincere gratitude to Alois Saria (Local Organizing Committee Chair) and Phil Beart (Programme Committee Chair) for their tireless efforts in helping to make the Innsbruck meeting a success.
The following new Council Members were welcomed at the Innsbruck meeting:
Philip M Beart – Australia
Eva Sykova – Czech Republic
Alois Saria – Austria
Francisco Barrantes - Argentina
The ISN Advanced School at Obergurgl, Austria was also a great success and many thanks to Eckhart Gundelfinger and his team for their efforts. It was decided at Obergurgl to initiate an ISN school Alumni with a goal to maintaining contact with former attendees, coordinating the information on studenships, collaborative research and inter-institutional exchanges. Helen Falconer from Scotland agreed to become the first Alumni President who will help coordinate and “track” Alumni members as they continue their careers in Neurochemistry.
The ASN/ISN joint meeting to be held in Cancun in 2007
Plans for the Cancun meeting are moving ahead as planned. The initial contract with the Cancun Convention Centre was renegotiated and a new more favourable contract has now been signed. The contract with the PCO in Cancun is under final review. Drs David Shine and Phil Beart have visited the locations for the meeting and the Advanced School. The Program Committee under the chairmanship of Dr Maria Teresa Miras Portugal met in Portland to put together what I am sure will be an exciting programme. Many thanks to Dr Ricardo Tapia, Julio Moran and Herminia Pasantes-Morales for their tireless efforts and patience as well as to our partners at ASN for their help in setting up the Cancun meeting.
The APSN/ISN joint meeting in 2009
Following a council decision in Innsbruck 2005, the 2009 joint meeting between APSN and ISN will go to Busan, Korea under the chairmanship of Dr Yoo–Hun Suh.
Joint Ventures with other Professional Organizations
One way to stretch the ISN revenues involves joint ventures with other learned societies with similar aims to ISN. Our society does this on a formal basis with our sister societies (ASN, ESN and APSN) and with other organizations via the ISN Conference Committee.
Following a Council decision in Paris 2003, 2 schools in Africa were organized jointly with the International Brain Research Organisation (IBRO). The first of these schools, held in Nairobi, Kenya was a great success; a second one will be held in Rabat, Morocco in December 2006. A joint ISN / APSN / IBRO school will be held prior to the APSN meeting in Singapore in June 2006. Attendees (in all cases from developing countries) number 25 to 50 per school and cost to ISN are in the $12,000 to $25,000 range for each school. In the case of the ISN / IBRO school in Nairobi, equipment for the laboratory modules of the school was donated by SKB Pharmaceuticals (UK) to the University of Nairobi who will retained the equipment for use in future schools. In a joint venture with ASN, free copies of the 6th edition of Basic Neurochemistry will be donated to libraries in 10 African countries. Many thanks to George Segal for his help with this initiative.
Roger Butterworth
The President
The following activities have been carried out in the Office of the Secretary since August 2005:
Minutes of the Council and General Business Meetings in Innsbruck, 2005
The minutes of these meetings were sent to the Officers for approval and once approved they were distributed to the Council members. The minutes were subsequently published in the December 2005 Neurochemistry News online.
Neurochemistry News
The December 2005 printed issue of the Neurochemistry News was produced and distributed. It contained the Call for Program Proposals for Cancun 2007 and the call for proposals for venue of the Third ISN Special Neurochemistry Conference to be held in the Asian Pacific Region in 2008. It also contained the decision taken in Innsbruck concerning Electronic Voting and Neurochemistry News online only.
A more complete version of the News including minutes of the Innsbruck Council and General Business Meetings and reports on ISN funded conferences was made available at the ISN website with the collaboration of David Shine.
The Neurochemistry News June 2006 issue is being prepared to be posted in the website. When available, membership will be informed by email alert.
Cancun Program Committee Meetings
Information and application forms for the Program Proposals were posted in the Meeting Website on November 2005.
Preparations regarding the First and Second Cancun Program Committee meetings held in Portland, March 2006 were taken care of.
Collection of proposals for the Third ISN Special Neurochemistry Conference 2008
At the deadline the Secretary had received two proposals. The sites were: Beijing (China) and Hamilton Island, Great Barrier Reef (Australia).
Membership
The Application procedure and form were modified on November 2005 according to the decision taken in Innsbruck, August 2005.
Membership applications have been received in the Secretary’s office and letters of acceptance or rejection have been sent out. Information about new members and address changes of old members were sent to Portland Press Customer Services.
Management of the Website in collaboration with Portland
The membership list and the website content were updated in collaboration with David Shine during the fall of 2005 before transferring the maintenance of the website to Portland Press Customer Services.
Portland took care of the ISN website on March 2006 and since then the Secretary’s office has been in charge of updating the ISN website.
Preparations of the Council and Business Meetings to take place in Singapore, 2006
Preparations regarding the Council and General Business Meetings to be held in Singapore, such as collection of committee reports have been taken care of. Agendas and reports will be distributed to Council members. Letters of invitation to Council members and Officers were sent out and hotel reservations were handled.
Agustina García
The Secretary
A. Acknowledgments and Appreciation
I would first like to express my appreciation for the extraordinary amount of help that Sandra Frances and Roger Butterworth have provided to the Society and to me in the past few months. Although I officially became the Treasurer in August of 2005 it was Sandra and Roger that compiled and filed the financial reports for 2005 to our auditors, Deloitte and Touche. They have also been very helpful in moving the financial operations to the Houston office and have hosted me on two occasions when I visited them in Montreal to learn the Treasure’s office procedures.
I also want to thank Ms. Sarena Diano, who has helped me set up and run the Houston office. She is a very qualified and experienced financial manager who has helped me continue to run the Treasurer’s office efficiently and professionally.
B. Income
The ISN’s income remains steady and strong primarily due to the prominence of the Journal of Neurochemistry. The income from journal royalties is projected to be around $1 million USD in 2006. As stated in the reports of the President and Publications Committee the ISN has negotiated a contract with Blackwell until the year 2013 that will insure that the society will continue to pursue its mission. The society continues to benefit from the foresight and hard work of its more senior members. Additional income will derived from long-term investments of our reserves ($84,500 USD projected) and short-term investments of operating capital ($43,500 USD). Income from membership dues has increased modestly to $15,000 USD (projected) for 2006 primarily due to the increase in membership rates. As of April 30, 2006 711 ordinary and junior members had paid their dues. An additional 167 members had renewed their membership as emeritus or waived members.
C. Expenses
The ISN’s expenses have not appreciably changed from the past real and projected expenses. There are some non-reoccurring expenses. The society has provided $189,000 USD to the APSN for their 2006 meeting as promised after the ISN/APSN meeting was canceled in Hong Kong. The increase in expenses attributed to the Publication Committee reflects costs of retaining a consultant to help in contract negotiations with publishers for the JNC and the costs associated with events sponsored by the ISN in celebration of the JNC’s 50th anniversary. We anticipate that newsletter costs will decline as it is moved solely to the internet though the web costs will be increased since the website maintenance has been contracted to Portland Customer Services.
D. Investments
I will continue to follow the philosophy of previous Treasurers of conservative investing to preserve capital. To this end we will continue to hold our reserves with the investment management firm of Reed, Connor and Birdwell that seeks long-term capital investments designed to preserve capital. Currently, the society’s assets are allocated in 25% stocks and 75% corporate and US Treasury bonds. The yield on our investments with RCB is anticipated to be approximately 4.7% annually. In addition to these long-term reserve investments we are holding operating capital in short-term US Treasury Bills that are yielding between 4.6% and 5% annually.
E. Finance Committee
As introduced in the President’s report I am seeking Council’s approval to form a Finance Committee to assist the officers in financial deliberations such as formulating financial operating procedures, investment procedures, and expenditures. The Finance Committee would be made up of the officers, the Company Secretary, and past Treasurers.
F. Waived Membership
The society continues to waive the dues of members from economically challenged regions and those living in countries with severe monetary restrictions. This year we have instituted a formal procedure to document their eligibility.
G. Self Accounting with Auditing by Deloitte and Touche
In the past the firm of Deloitte and Touch has served as both the society’s accounting firm and auditors. In order to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest they have requested that they cease serving as our accountants. Hence, starting in 2005 the society will act as its own accountant. This is relatively straightforward since the books of the society are relatively simple. Sandra Frances and Sarena Diano are both experienced and accomplished an will be able to maintain accurate records of the societies expenses that will then be audited yearly by Deloitte and Touch as in the past.
Table 1. Projected Expense and Income Summary
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |
| (D&T) | (D&T) | Projected | Projected | |
| 1. INCOME | ||||
| Journal Royalties | $ 1,003,221 | $ 1,119,210 | $ 1,000,000 | $ 1,100,000 |
| Investment Management Income* | $69,332 | $63,310 | $84,500 | $85,000 |
| US Treasury Bill Income** | $43,500 | $40,000 | ||
| Membership Dues | $20,713 | $8,530 | $15,000 | $15,000 |
| Total Income | $1,093,266 | $1,191,050 | $1,143,000 | $1,240,000 |
| 2. EXPENSES | ||||
| Administrative Expenses | ||||
| President's Office | $41,086 | $39,069 | $25,000 | $25,000 |
| Secretary's Office | $23,806 | $31,999 | $30,000 | $30,000 |
| Treasurer's Office | $33,243 | $35,084 | $35,000 | $35,000 |
| Council Travel | $41,494 | $36,522 | $40,000 | $40,000 |
| Financial Advice Legal Costs Audits | $41,089 | $33,857 | $35,000 | $35,000 |
| Bank charges | $2,784 | $1,194 | $2,000 | $2,000 |
| Subtotal | $183,502 | $177,725 | $167,000 | $167,000 |
| Mission Expenses | ||||
| Publication's Committee*** | $1,655 | $16,479 | $55,000 | $25,000 |
| Conference Committee | $120,100 | $65,500 | $100,000 | $100,000 |
| CAEN | $88,326 | $33,857 | $100,000 | $100,000 |
| Newsletter/Directory/Website | $18,901 | $18,303 | $10,000 | $10,000 |
| 2003 Biennial Meeting HK (Cancelled) | $96,539 | |||
| 2004 Avignon Meeting | $171,964 | $737 | ||
| 2005 Biennial Meeting Innsbruck | $103,096 | $539,968 | ||
| 2006 Antigua Meeting | $16,004 | $135,000 | ||
| 2006 APSN Singapore | $15,000 | $189,000 | ||
| 2006 ISN/IBRO School | $25,000 | $25,000 | $25,000 | |
| 2007 Biennial Meeting Cancun | $48,573 | $44,251 | $560,000 | |
| Subtotal | $649,154 | $775,099 | $614,000 | $820,000 |
| Total Expenses | $832,656 | $952,824 | $781,000 | $987,000 |
| Gain/Loss | $260,610 | $238,226 | $362,000 | $253,000 |
*Portfolio managed by Reed, Birdwell Investment Managers
**Short-term US Treasury Bills
***Includes consultant costs for JNC negotations and costs associated with JNC 50th Anniversary
Table 2. Statement of Assets as of March 31, 2006 from Reed, Conner and Birdwell
Statement of Assets
Summary of Portfolio
| Total Cost | Market Value | Percent of Portfolio | Anticipated Annual Income | Current Yield % | |
| Cash & Equivalents | 8,352.65 | 8,352.65 | .45 | 225.52 | 2.70 |
| US Government Obligations | 641,701.86 | 679,214.79 | 36.90 | 31,222.44 | 4.60 |
| Corporate Bonds | 617,741.50 | 588,875.25 | 31.99 | 41,577.75 | 7.06 |
| Preferred Stocks | 83,248.80 | 81,500.00 | 4.43 | 5,575.00 | 6.84 |
| Common Stocks | 360,048.87 | 463,540.84 | 25.18 | 5,972.10 | 1.29 |
| Accrued Income | 19,118.63 | 19,118.63 | 1.04 | 0.00 | .00 |
| Total Portfolio | 1,730,212.31 | 1,840,602.16 | 100.00 | 84,572.81 | 4.59 |
Statement of Changes
| Market Value at 12/31/05 | $ 1,804,407.38 |
| Net Additions (Withdrawals) | 0.00 |
| Income Earned | $ 26,192.69 |
| Capital Appreviation | $ 10,002.09 |
| Market Value at 03/31/06 | $ 1,840,602.16 |
Year-to-date Income, Expense and Gain/Loss Summary
| Dividend Income | $ 3,152.85 |
| Interest Income | 23,039.84 |
| Net Short Term Gain or (Loss) | 0.00 |
| Net Long Term Gain or (Loss) | 9,183.01 |
This brief report concerns the activities of CAEN during the period November 2005-May 2006. During this period 11 grants were awarded to scientist from 10 countries in 4 continents.
The Chair is grateful for the active participation of those CAEN members whose agile and thoughtful input made the work possible.
Applications funded (11: Africa, 2; Asia, 1; Eastern Europe, 1; Eurasia, 2; South America, 5).
Applications not funded (Rejected: 7; 6 from Argentina, 1 from Nigeria. Derived to another committee: 1 (Slovakia). Expression of interest received but no application: 1 (Russia).
Applications derived: 1
9. D. Dobrota. Support for a meeting activity. The application was derived to CC chaired by Dr. Kaz Ikenaka.
Expression of interest but no final application: 1
8. H. Zhuravliova, Georgia. She made an initial inquiry but never completed her application.
Francisco J. Barrantes
Chairman of CAEN
Since the last conference committee report, which was reported at Council meeting in Innsbruck in August 2005 three deadlines for the application of ISN support for conferences have been resolved.
For the April 30, 2005 deadline there were five applications examined. Every application was considered worth supporting to some extent. The name of the applicants and the amount granted are summarised in the attached tables (See spreadsheet 1).
For the October 31, 2005 deadline there were six applications examined and all of them were considered worth supporting to some extent as well (See spreadsheet 2).
For the April 30, 2006 deadline there are ten applications submitted and they are under the evaluation now.
However, we found out that the conferences Dr. Palotas from University of Szeged applied (1st Central European Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders from April 30, 2004 session and 2nd Central European Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders from April 30, 2005 session) had never been organized. We had approved to support him US$5,000 and U$S6, 000 each time and we are still investigating how the funding money was spent. Also we are now in process to delete his first conference report from ISN website.
Three meeting reports of the conferences supported in April 30, 2004 session (Kreutz, Palotas and Segura-Aguilar) and four in October 31, 2004 session (Csermely, Daniels. Saria and Riccio) have appeared in June 2005 Neurochemistry News.
Three reports in October 31, 2004 session (Cousin, Orendacova and Alexander) and two in April 30, 2005 (Hoffmann and Kanba) have appeared in October 2005 Neurochemistry News.
I have also approved one meeting report each in April 30 and October 31, 2005 sessions (Cardenas and Pedreira).
During this period, we met one agreement to change the guideline as follows:
The applications must be received by the ISN-CC Chairperson by either of the deadlines (April 30 and October 31) and the activity should be held at least three months after the deadlines and within a year after the application was submitted.
I would also like to mention that ISNcouncil members can not apply for the conference support.
Kazuhiro Ikenaka
Chair of ISN Conference Committee
Board Membership
Board membership remained the same in the first 8 months of 2005 as in 2004. However, with the changes in ex-officio officers consequent upon the election in mid 2005 confirmed at Council in Innsbruck, and the retirement of Brian Collier as Chief Editor (West) and Michel Hamon as Deputy Chief Editor (reviews) at the end of 2005, the Publications Board was reconstituted as follows:
J.B. Clark - Chairman, London
R. Butterworth - Ex-officio, Montreal - President ISN
A. Garcia - Ex-officio, Barcelona - Secretary ISN
S. Murphy - Ex-officio, Seattle - Chief Editor (West)
H. Dave Shine - Ex-officio, Houston - Treasurer ISN
D. Small - Melbourne - Deputy Chief Editor (Reviews)
A.J. Turner - Ex-officio, Leeds - Chief Editor (East)
We thank Brian Collier for his sterling efforts on behalf of the Journal over the past 10 years in his role of Chief Editor (West) and welcome Sean Murphy as his replacement. Sean will be known to many members of the Society as a Deputy Chief Editor in both the Western and Eastern hemispheres and we wish him well in his task. Michel Hamon also retired as Deputy Chief Editor Reviews and we thank him for his generous support on the Editorial Board in various roles over many years. We welcome David Small as the new Deputy Chief Editor (Reviews) who is in the process of recruiting for his advisory body.
2005 has been overall a good year for J. Neurochem with papers submitted, circulation and income increasing. At the time of writing the 2005 impact factor is not available, however, relationships between our publishers and the East (Leeds, UK) and West (Montreal, Canada) offices have continued to be efficient and friendly. Furthermore 2006 brings the 50th year of production of J. Neurochem. (JNC). A number of events to celebrate this half century are planned including special JNC symposia at the ASN and APSN meetings as well as a special edition of the Journal which will include reviews of topical areas by key authors. The annual business meeting (2005) was held in Oxford with our publishers (Blackwells) at the end of May. At this meeting, subscriptions, page numbers and general strategy for the journal in 2006 was discussed, including the candidates to replace Brian Collier as Chief Editor.
Finance
Income from all sources for 2005 was slightly up on 2004 (~1%) despite a 9% fall in income from the Institutional subscriptions, the difference being accounted for by an almost 50% increase in online and consortia deals. We anticipate this trend will continue with an endpoint a few years hence when the print version will be essentially phased out. The outcome for ISN was an increase in income in excess of $1.1 million [USD] after costs and profit sharing is taken into account, slightly up on 2004.
Subscriptions for 2006 are given below:
Institutions paper & on-line - $3632
on-line only - $3145
Individual paper & on-line - $887
Members paper & on-line - $214
Members of ISN and sister societies (ASN, APSN, ESN) all have available a special on-line only subscription of $15. At the time of writing 2007 subscription rates are under negotiation.
Circulation
Despite decreased subscriptions to the print edition of the journal, circulation and reader availability remains high and on an upward trend. The number of Institutions offering access to JNC either through institutional subscriptions or consortia increased by some 72% over 2004 [5,595 in 2005] and downloads of full text articles increased by some 3% over 2004 figures to almost 840,000.
Editorial Offices
The 2 editorial offices continued to work well and efficiently and we must thank in particular Brian Collier and Militsa Krivokapich in organising a smooth hand over to Sean Murphy in the early part of 2006. At the time of writing (May 06) the Western office is and has been running smoothly and efficiently with its new team (Margaret Connelly). Mention was made previously of the retirement of Michel Hamon and his replacement by David Small as Deputy Chief Editor (Reviews). Furthermore, Dr Giampietro Schiavo (London) has accepted appointment as a Deputy Chief Editor and Dr Roberto Cappai as a handling editor in the Eastern office. Other changes anticipated in 2005 to the Editorial Boards were reported previously.
A total of just over 1600 manuscripts were submitted to the 2 offices, an increase of 8% on 2004 submissions of which approx. 38% were accepted. Handling times were similar to 2004 and we now have a comprehensive list of reviews in the pipeline.
Impact Factor/Journal Ranking
The impact factor remained essentially constant in 2004 at 4.824 and JNC remained in the top 30 neuroscience journals (24th in 2004 / 26th in 2003) and the top 50 biochemical/molecular biology journals (47th in 2004 / 46th in 2003). The 2005 citations are not yet available.
Supplements
Supplements to the Journal were published in 2005 containing abstracts for the ASN meeting in Madison in June and the joint ISN/ESN meeting in Innsbruck in August. Supplements have also been published in 2006 for the abstracts of the Portland meeting of ASN and the Special ISN meeting in Avignon (2005). Supplements for the APSN meeting in Singapore and the Special 50th Anniversary Edition are in hand.
New Contract
At the Innsbruck meeting in August 2005, Council decided to put the new contract for the publishing of JNC out to tender (2008 ® ). During the latter half of 2005 the Publications Board assisted by an independent consultant reviewed proposals from 7 publishing organisations. At the ASN meeting in Portland (March 2006) 4 of them were invited to give presentations [Blackwell Publishing Co; Cell Press; Oxford University Press; Portland Press Ltd]. It was decided to invite our existing publisher (Blackwells) to renew its contract and negotiations are currently underway.
John B. Clark
Chair Publications Board
The Company Secretary has continued to liaise with our accountants Deloitte Touche LLP in Birmingham UK in respect of our annual accounts and VAT matters. Changes in the presentation [SORP] of the annual accounts of Charities to the UK Charity Commissioners may require variations to exiting arrangements. These are being investigated. The AGM held in Innsbruck, in August at the joint ISN/ASN meeting approved the revisions to the Memorandum and Articles of Association which will allow voting for the Officers of ISN to be carried out by electronic means in the future.
John B. Clark
Company Secretary
Plans for the Advanced School have progressed considerably in the first half of 2006. The School is expected to be organized along similar lines to the successful activity held in the Austrian hinterland adjacent to Innsbruck in 2005 prior to the 20th ISN Congress.
Efforts we initiated in February 2006 with the central idea being to locate a suitable venue some 1½-2½ hrs from Cancun by bus. Drs Dave Shine (ISN Treasurer), Lourdes Massieu (Local Organizing Committee) and Phil Beart (ISN Council) visited the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, on March 17-19th 2006. Four venues were examined as suitable sites - one south of Cancun (Playa del Carmen) and three west of Cancun (Chichen-Itza, Merida & Progresso).
Negotiations are underway to hold the School at the Hotel Mayaland, which is immediately adjacent to the Mayan ruins at Chichen-Itza. This venue fits the criteria of being accessible by bus (approximately 2 hr journey) and providing a site that will be memorable for both students and faculty. Other options exist if a suitable package within budget cannot be achieved for the Chichen-Itza site.
Dates: Wednesday 15th (pm) until Sunday 19th (am) August 2007.
Theme: “Neurodegenerative Conditions: Causes & Cures” (preliminary title only)
Faculty: Plan is to use several experts plus people participating in symposia at ISN Congress. Professor Alvarez-Buylla will be invited as a keynote lecturer.
Students: Hopefully n=50 if finances allow, otherwise n=40 (as at 2005 School).
Planning efforts will be updated in Singapore.
Philip Beart
Convenor/ISN 2007 School
The ISN web site has been transferred to Portland Press.
In order to implement changes, following activities were carried out:
Alois Saria, Innsbruck, Austria
Chair of ISN Internet Committee
