Neuropediatrics News 2015

Dear Readers of Neuropediatrics

Another new year has just begun and we want to take the occasion to wish you all a happy, healthy, and fruitful year of 2015.

As you may be aware, Neuropediatrics is the official journal of the „Gesellschaft für Neuropädiatrie“ (GNP). In this editorial, we want to update you on recent changes in our board, following the election at the „Neurowoche“ in Munich in September 2014. Barbara Plecko (Zurich) and Bernd Neubauer (Giessen) have stepped down as president and treasurer of the society and so have Maja Steinlin (Bern) and Kevin Rostasy (Datteln, formerly Innsbruck)—the Swiss and Austrian representatives. Ulrike Schara (Essen) has been elected as the new president and Matthias Kieslich (Frankfurt) has been reelected as vice president. Thomas Lücke (Bochum) will take the responsibility as the new treasurer, Andreas Sprinz (Havixbeck) as the new secretary, and Folkert Fehr (Heidelberg) will represent the Child Neurologists working in private practice. Andrea Klein (Zurich) and Manuela Baumgartner (Linz) have been elected as the new representatives for Switzerland and Austria, respectively. GNP is a prospering society with now 903 members, mainly deriving from the German-speaking, European countries. Being a scientific society and a nonprofit organization, rising taxes and running costs necessitated a cut of expenses during the past year of 2014. Beyond trimming the society's infrastructure, we felt that this was the right time to reevaluate an online-only subscription for the members of our society. Thieme, as our longstanding partner, has offered a new contract with a package of online-only subscription for all members and the option of print issues on an individual level at an additional rate of €30. Technical details have been communicated to all GNP members early in 2015. The new contract allowed us to leave the membership fees of €130 unchanged, saving about €80per member. The board took this decision in the best interest of our members as this will allow coverage of the running costs of our society, independently of the varying surplus from our yearly conferences.

Neuropediatrics, as the official journal of our society, is dedicated to publish articles that focus on neurobiology, neurology, and neurogenetics of childhood disorders. In the year of 2014, we have been able to publish a total of 30 original articles, 5 invited review articles, 5 editorials, and 25 short communications in 6 issues, covering 410 pages. The three Editors-in-Chief, supported by a group of associated editors as well as by an editorial board, aim at short turnaround times and early online access of accepted articles. On this occasion, we also want to thank the many reviewers, who by their expert opinion, contribute to the high quality of our journal. The past year has brought the introduction of supplementary online material as well as patient videos as an instantly appreciated novelty. In line with many other journals, Neuropediatrics had to become more restrictive in accepting single case reports. As the editors are convinced that descriptions of rare clinical entities still deserve publication, this section will be preserved, but submissions of case reports need to present exceptional observations of broader importance. During the Neurowoche in Munich, the editorial team felt that many abstract presentations of the yearly GNP conference were of high quality and would be of interest to a greater circle of child neurologists. Thus we want to encourage active participants of the GNP conference to submit their work for publication in Neuropediatrics. Our society has a longstanding relation to the Neuropediatrics journal and it is due to all of us to fill this journal with valuable content and to sustain its high quality in the near and far future.

Thank You, Reviewers!
Till Acker Filippo Arrigoni Stephane Auvin Robert Avery James Barkovich Thomas Bast Christoph Berger Günther Bernert Faith Bischof Astrid Blaschek Eugen Boltshauser Ingo Borggraefe Knut Brockmann Marco Carotenuto Caterina Cerminara Chao Cho-Ming Alexander Claviez Russell C. Dale Joseph M. Dooley Olivier Dulac Friedrich Ebinger Harald Erhardt Evans Gareth Dirk Faas Martha Feucht Dirk Fischer Bernhard Frey Carlo Fusco Sabina Gallati Svetlana Gataullina Lucia Gerstl Kevin Gordon Michael A. Grotzer Claudine Gysin Johannes Haeberle Martin Häusler Martin Haeusler Andreas Hahn Hans Hartmann Florian Heinen Ingo Helbig Christoph Helmstaedter	Raoul Hennekam Johann Holthausen David Holzmann Yuji Inaba Bale James Andreas Jansen Andreas Jödicke Matthias Kieslich Janbernd Kirschner Katrin Klebermass-Schrehof Joerg Klepper Gerhard Kluger Stefan Koelker Hirohumi Komaki Uri Kramer Kathrin Krohn Jonathan Kurz Mirjam Landgraf Suvi liimatainen Doris Lin Marios Loukas Rolf Maier Volker Mall Yuji Masuda Victor Mautner Johannes Mayr Jennifer McGuire Friedrike Moeller Maria Mosquera Wolfgang Mueller-Felber Ulrich Müller Kazuhiro Muramatsu Rima Nabbout David Nadal Toshisaburo Nagai Nardo Nardocci Sona Narual Giancarlo Natalucci Jun Natsume Bernd A. Neubauer David Neubauer Erik Niks	Kenichi Oishi Akihisa Okumura Heather Olson Hitoshi Osaka Robert Ouvrier Jessica Panzer Zoltan Patay Aurelia Peraud Heike Philippi Barbara Plecko Daniela Pohl Andrea Poretti Susana Quijano-Roy Georgia Ramantani Markus Rauchenzauner James Reese Andrea Rossi Kevin Rostásy Sahar Saleem Gebhard Sammer Harvey Sarnat Ulrike Schara Deborah Sival Nicola Specchio Maja Steinlin Volker Straub Marc Tardieu Regina Trollmann Andreas van Baalen Adeline Vanderver Federico Vigevano Axel Weber Marko Wilke Michel Willemsen Jan-Maarten Wit Claus Wittekindt Gabriele Wohlrab Nicole Wolf Courtney Wusthoff Werner Zenz Jill Zwicker