By David Stephen

"Africa is about to get its first international neuroscience journal. The African Brain Journal, published by the Society of Neuroscientists of Africa (SONA), plans to release its debut issue in early 2026." reports The Transmitter.

"Most African journals are not indexed online or in international databases, according to a study published in 2022, which reduces the chances of the work published in them being cited. But SONA plans to promote the new journal internationally, and Masocha says he is confident that the African Brain Journal will help African research shine."

African Brain Journal coming in 2026

"The African Brain Journal plans to limit article processing fees to $200 for African researchers, $150 for SONA members and $600 for international contributors, Masocha says."

Neuroscience in Africa

The new African Brain Journal is commendable, given its opportunity to bring on more African researchers to the centerstage. However, it remains unclear if a journal is the most important thing that African Neuroscience experts can do for their society.

This comment is not to knock their effort, given what it would have taken to get to this point that the contributions to knowledge, by Africa neuroscientists, are reachable.

The significance though, for the continent is that while the journal is vital, what is on ground already or accompanying the announcement, to ensure that novel solutions are accelerated?

What are the most common neuroscience-associated problems in Africa? What is SONA contributing, or what have they done to mitigate or manage many of those?

There is a documentary category, BBC Africa Eye, laying bare many of the stark realities of Africa - where sometimes, drug addictions for youths, gambling and sports betting addiction, indoctrination of different sorts, violence with regards to post-election, forced labor by fear, some problems with the system of education and much else - are numerous.

In most of these documentaries, while some location expert speaks and other officials, there had never been a sense that there is anything like the Society of Neuroscientists of Africa, at all. They have done no work, it seems, around applicable models in mental health, drug addiction, human intelligence augmentation for learning and education and so forth, that would have been useful in the mainstream, against many of the existing and budding challenges in Africa.

This is not saying that their work in neurological disorders - coming off metabolic syndromes - or their work for degenerative diseases and much else do not matter. It does. It is saying that providing more help to their society requires an adaption beyond correlative studies or queueing behind "no one knows how the brain works", as an exemption to not make progress.

Innovating Health Solutions for Africa

There are answers that are possible against mental disorders that may not require top technical information and heavy neuro facilities. There are possibilities in preventive health solutions [digitally] for Africa, using bulk SMS, email newsletters and much else that they could power, for the entire continent, regardless of external support.

Already, there are often public health programs, across primary health centers sometimes getting across rural areas. There are networks that would have made it extremely possible to reach deep places.

There is no excuse that SONA [founded in 1993] is not mature enough to be present and [to] solve many of the harsh realities of brain problems in Africa.

There are some major cities in Africa, where the density of those living with mental disorders - displaced on the street - is enormous. There are different new drugs, cooked, that several young people are hooked on, in different towns. There are children who drop out at some stage of school, in part, because they found education intractable, not necessarily because of insolvency.

It is not all these problems that require just money, or are undone because of ...