The Guarantors of Brain did not start off as a charity. It was formed as a publication platform for research in neurology. This was the birth of the journal BRAIN in 1878. It was adopted by the Neurological Society of London (UK) but faced financial difficulties and eventually became isolated when the Royal Society of Medicine was formed through merger of several specialist societies. Macmillan was the original publisher.
In 1907, a group of leading neurologists took over the responsibility for the publication of the BRAIN journal which include underwriting the costs. They became the “Guarantors” of the journal and hence the name “Guarantors of Brain”. The journal became the dominant repository of knowledge on the scientific basis of neurology, functioning as more than just a quarterly journal by publishing various books. It didn’t achieve financial security during these early years.
In 1955, Guarantors of Brain became a registered charity. The aim of the charity is to promote teaching, education and research into the science of neurology and related clinical-academic disciplines, or for the furthering or other scientific and charitable purposes. It is funded by profits generated from the publication of the journals BRAIN and Brain Communications, plus books (i.e., Aids to the Examination of the Peripheral Nervous system).
Read more about the history.
The Charity provides financial grants for a variety of events, meetings and study in the field of neuroscience (see Grants). We work in partnership with the Association of British Neurologists for the Brain Clinical Research Fellowship Scheme.
Our latest annual report can be downloaded here.
The journal BRAIN and Brain Communications form the financial backbone of the charity. Both journals are internationally renowned, publishing landmark papers in clinical neurology and translational neuroscience. The journals are published by Oxford University Press (OUP) and BRAIN has been a flagship journal for OUP since 1975.
