Bylaws of the Japan Neuroscience Society

Part I General Provisions

1. The Society shall hold an Annual Meeting to provide an opportunity for its members to present and discuss their achievements, and shall also hold ad-hoc events such as presentation meetings, academic lectures, workshops, etc., as required
2. The Society shall publish newsletters, journals, and other publications, and shall also be engaged in other public relations activities
3. The Society shall collaborate with international neuroscience academic research organizations such as the International Brain Research Organization as a corporate member.
4. The Society shall engage in all relevant domestic studies, implement beneficial activities, and promote international exchange in order to achieve the objectives stipulated in the preceding Article.

Part II Membership

1. Society membership shall consist of Regular Members, Overseas Regular Members, Junior Members, Overseas Junior Members, Student Members, Overseas Student Members, Senior Members, Honorary Members, and Supporting Members.
2. Members shall consist of individuals currently involved in neuroscience or related fields and who agree with the tenets of the Society. All Regular, Junior, Student and Overseas Members shall be recommended by one Regular Member or Overseas Regular Member who is qualified to make such a recommendation, and is registered with the Society.
3. Regular, Junior, and Student Members residing outside of Japan may become Overseas Regular, Overseas Junior, or Overseas Student Members.
4. Student or Overseas Student Members who have lost their eligibility for Student or Overseas Student Membership or have not re-registered as Student or Overseas Student Members will be registered as a Junior or Overseas Junior Members. Eligibility for the Junior and Overseas Junior Membership shall only be valid for five years after the individual has lost his or her eligibility for Student or Overseas Student Membership.
5. Student and Overseas Student Members shall be enrolled in graduate school, university, or college and be engaged in the study of neuroscience or related fields. Said members shall be recommended by one Regular or Overseas Regular Member who is qualified to make such a recommendation, and is registered with the Society.
6. Senior Members shall consist of individuals 65 years of age and older who have applied to the Society to be Senior Members after being Regular Members for no less than 15 years without unpaid membership fees.
7. Honorary Members shall consist of individuals who accepted the Society’s offer to be Honorary Members. The Society may offer Honorary Membership to Members who are over 65 years old and have served as President of the Society, President of the Annual Meetings, or editor-in-chief of Neuroscience Research. Honorary Members shall be exempt from payment of all applicable membership fees.
8. Supporting Members shall consist of individuals or organizations interested in and supportive of the activities of the Society.
9. All members stipulated herein shall pay all applicable enrollment and membership fees as prescribed by the Society.
10. Procedures for readmission following cancellation of membership shall be prescribed in the Supplementary Provisions.

1. Membership to the Society shall be lost when a member notifies the Society of his or her intention to cancel membership, or upon the death of a member. Membership shall also be deemed lost when a member fails to pay all applicable membership fees for two consecutive years.
2. Upon a decision by the General Assembly, the Society may strip individuals of their membership if they damage the Society’s honor or act against the Society’s tenets.
3. Members shall be exempt from payment of membership fees while undertaking a leave-of-absence from the Society. The procedures for such leave-of-absence shall be prescribed separately.

Part III Officers and Committee Members

1. The editor-in-chief of the journal Neuroscience Research shall be appointed as the Society’s Journal Director.
2. The Presidents of the Society’s Annual Meeting for the previous, current, and subsequent years shall be appointed as Meeting Directors.

1. Executive Committee
   The President of the Society shall act the chair of the Executive Committee. The Committee shall consist of the President, the Vice Presidents, the Annual Meeting Directors, the Director of General Affairs, and the Treasurer. The chairs of other committees shall be added to the members of the Executive Committee if deemed necessary. The Executive Committee shall be responsible for developing plans for the Society’s activities, and shall submit these plans to the Board of Directors.
2. Nominating Committee
   The President of the Society shall act as the chair of the Nominating Committee. The Nominating Committee shall consist of a total of six members including five members elected by the Directors of the Society. The Nominating Committee shall recommend candidates for functions including Panel Directors (at least twice the number of Directors), as various awards and prizes, and those for review committee members of scientific research grants, to the Board of Directors.
3. Election Management Committee
   The Election Management Committee shall consist of three members elected by the Board of Directors on the basis of recommendations by the President of the Society. The chair and the vice chair shall be elected by Committee members. The Committee shall manage the election of the Panel Directors.
4. Program Committee
   The President of the Annual Meeting shall appoint a chair and members of the Program Committee of the Annual Meeting. The Program Committee shall be responsible for planning all programs of the Annual Meeting
5. Website Committee
   The Website Committee shall consist of the chair recommended by the President of the Society and appointed by the Board of Directors, and members recommended by the chair and approved by the Board of Directors. The Website Committee shall be responsible for editing articles on the website and determining the appropriateness of articles for publication.
6. Neuroscience News Editing Committee
   The Neuroscience News Editing Committee shall consist of the chair recommended by the President of the Society and appointed by the Board of Directors, and members recommended by the chair and approved by the Board of Directors. The Neuroscience News Editing Committee shall be responsible for editing news items related to neuroscience.
7. Future Planning Committee
   The Future Planning Committee shall consist of the chair recommended by the President of the Society and appointed by the Board of Directors, and several members recommended by the chair and approved by the Board of Directors. The Future Planning Committee shall be responsible for deliberating various policies and measures required for the development of the Society and submitting these policies and measures to the Board of Directors.
8. Neuroscience Research Committee
   The Neuroscience Research Committee shall be responsible for editing and publishing the Society’s journal, The Neuroscience Research. Election of the editor-in-chief of Neuroscience Research, who serves as the chair of the Neuroscience Research Committee, shall require recommendation by the President of the Society and approval of the Board of Directors. Election of the members shall be governed by the bylaws stipulated by the Neuroscience Research Committee.

Part IV Board of Directors and General Assembly

Part V Accounting

Part VI Changes to Regulations

Part VII Dissolution and Liquidation

Supplementary Provisions

1. The admission fee for the Society shall be 3,000 Japanese yen (JPY). Membership fees shall be 10,000 JPY per year for Regular Members, 5,000 JPY per year for Overseas Regular Members, 6,000 JPY per year for Junior Members, 3,000 JPY per year for Overseas Junior Members, 3,000 JPY per year for Student Members, 1,000 JPY per year for Overseas Student Members, 5,000 JPY for Senior Members (half of that for Regular Members), and 100,000 JPY for Supporting Members (split payments possible).The admission fee and the annual membership fees shall be waived for high school (or the equivalent) students.
2. Applications for Junior Membership will be accepted, from former and current Student Members who have lost or are expected to lose their eligibility as Student Members in or after January 2014.
3. The Society shall ask the Regular members who satisfy the conditions to be Honorary Members, when they become 65 years old, about their intentions with respect to the Society for the following year.
4. Honorary Members shall be announced in the Society’s website and the Neuroscience News, exempted from the membership fees, and invited to the Society’s Annual Meetings (including the social parties) free of charge.
5. Upon their request, Regular Members can change their member category to Senior Members beginning the year after they become 65 years old.
6. Senior Members shall be invited to the Society’s Annual Meetings free of charge (fees associated with social parties still apply).
7. Members may take a leave-of-absence for a year from the Society when they take maternity or child-care leave, by submitting a leave-of-absence notification and having this approved by the Society. During the leave-of-absence, the member shall be exempt from paying membership fees, but shall be subject to restrictions regarding his or her membership rights. The leave-of-absence period can be extended for another year, via a notification and approval by November 30 of the year of the leave-of-absence, for up to a maximum of five years. Failure to receive approval notification of an extension from the Society, may result in the member losing his or her membership. The member shall submit a notification of return when ending the leave-of-absence. In this event, neither a recommendation by a Regular Member nor payment of a readmission fee shall be required.
8. A person who has lost his or her membership can be readmitted to the Society following the payment of 3,000 JPY as a readmission fee in addition the membership fee equivalent to the membership category. However, a recommendation by a Regular Member shall not be required at the time of readmission. Regular Members who have been readmitted shall maintain their qualification to recommend new members during the current year.
9. To be eligible to recommend new members, Regular Members and Overseas Regular Members must have paid membership fees for the most recent two years, including the current year.
10. Regular, Overseas Regular, Junior, and Junior Overseas Members shall belong to one of the four panels stipulated below. i) Molecular/Cellular Neuroscience, ii) Systems Neuroscience, iii) Clinical/Pathological Neuroscience, iv) Other Fields in Neuroscience
11. Eighteen Directors shall be appointed to serve as Panel Directors. Of the Eighteen directors, two Directors shall be assigned to each of panels i), ii), or iii). The remaining twelve Directors shall be assigned to each of the panels (i to iv) in proportion to the number of Regular, Overseas Regular, Junior, and Junior Overseas Members belonging to each panel (as of April 1 of the year of election). The number of Directors for each panel shall be rounded off to the nearest whole number. If after this process, the total number of directors is less than eighteen, the unassigned directors shall be assigned to the smallest panel among panels i) to iii).
12. Considering the diversity of the Councilors and a balanced representation on the panels, the Board of Directors may approve Society members who have extensive research experience and are expected to particularly contribute to the JNS become candidates for Councilors as defined in Article VII, even if the candidate members have not met the requirement for years of membership.
13. The Society shall transfer all of its activities conducted to the Japan Neuroscience Society, General Incorporated Association, which shall be established on April 1, 2023, and then the Society shall be dissolved by the end of December 2023. The date of dissolution shall be determined by the Board of Directors.
14. Any member with any unpaid Society membership fees must pay such unpaid fees by the date on which the member joins the Japan Neuroscience Society, General Incorporated Association.

Supplementary Provisions
upon Transition to a General Incorporated Association
(Bylaws of the Japan Neuroscience Society)

Part I General Provisions

• These Supplementary Provisions provide for the operation of the bylaws of the Japan Neuroscience Society (hereinafter, referred to as "the bylaws"), the proposed Articles of Incorporation of the Japan Neuroscience Society (JNS) (hereinafter, "Articles"), which is being prepared for incorporation, and the proposed bylaws for the election of Councilors and Officers (hereinafter "bylaws for the election of Councilors and Officers"), upon transition to a general incorporated association.

Part II Councilors

• The maximum number of Councilors, as stipulated in Article 7 of the bylaws of JNS, to be elected immediately preceding the transition to the general incorporated association shall be 100, and shall be deemed to be the Councilors of the general incorporated association after transition to said association.

• The term of office of the Councilors elected pursuant to the preceding Article, shall expire after the election of next Councilors to be held within three years subsequent to the establishment of the general incorporated association.

Part III Directors and a President

• Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 8 of the bylaws of JNS, those eligible to stand for election to the Board of Directors, to be held immediately ahead of the transition to the general incorporated association, shall be the Regular Membership Group who are 65 years of age or younger at the time of taking office as Directors.

• The voters of the election of directors, to be held immediately before the transition to the general incorporated association, shall be the Regular Membership Group as stipulated in Article 7 of the bylaws of JNS.

• Candidates eligible for election to the Board of Directors, which is to be held immediately preceding the transition to the general incorporated association, shall be nominated by two members of the Regular Membership Group, besides the candidates themselves or by the Board of Directors.

• Candidates for election of the President of the Board of Directors (referring to the President as stipulated in Article 11 of the bylaws) to be held immediately preceding the transition to the general incorporated association shall be nominated by three members of the Regular Membership Group besides the candidates themselves. A member of the Regular Membership Group may nominate only one candidate at a given time.

Part IV Others

• Amendments and repeal of these Supplementary Provisions shall be made by resolution of the Board of Directors.