Early-career researchers (ECR) are the future of science. From the perspective of job security and access to resources, they are also the most vulnerable segment of the scientific community. In consideration of both, The Journal of Neuroscience ( JNeurosci ), under the leadership of Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Sabine Kastner, initiated the ECR Advisory Board to involve ECRs in policymaking at JNeurosci and to support the ECR community. This editorial describes the context, the goals, the challenges, and the accomplishments of the ECR Advisory Board in its inaugural years and highlights opportunities in the years to come.ECRs are essential drivers of scientific innovation (Sabharwal, 2013), but their capacity to impact their field depends on contextual factors including their mentoring environment, professional network, and access to resources—perhaps to an even greater extent than their own personal initiative (Eubanks et al., 2016). Similarly, their ability to secure a professional path in their field depends on multiple factors. Early-career publications are one of the biggest determinants of an ECR's professional success and the impact their work will have across their career (Li et al., 2019; Krauss et al., 2023). Yet despite the importance of early publications, ECRs may face numerous barriers to publishing including insufficient mentorship, prohibitive costs, and constraints on their ability to serve as reviewers (Carroll et al., 2025). A …