Frontiers invites the wider scientific communities and the general public to be part of the evaluation of research and to help determine what is scientifically excellent and socially relevant. For this fair, objective and genuinely democratic process to take place, readers need to become Frontiers members and register by providing basic biographic information and background on their education, positions and expertise. The Frontiers membership serves mainly four purposes:

1. Unbiased, fair and democratic evaluation of research articles, both in the terms of their academic excellence and social relevance (for more info see The Frontiers Evaluation System ).
2. Promotion of researchers in the Frontiers "Who-is-Who" facility, a Frontiers service which allows Frontiers members to enhance their visibility in their scientific communities and facilitates networking.
3. Automated Referee selection.
4. Automated Author publication monitor.

here are five categories of users in the Frontiers system, each with a different set of privileges and benefits.

Unregistered Users
All articles in Frontiers are open access and no registration is needed. You have full access. You will not be able to set your preferences for notifications to receive alerts of papers published automatically. Your visits of Frontiers articles and abstracts of external articles will not contribute to the impact measures calculated by the Frontiers Evaluation System.

Associate and Chief Editors
All Editors are required to register upon appointment. Registration requires a biography with your education, professional experience, research interests and list of publications. You will have all the privileges of a Review Editor, PLUS you can benefit from a spectrum of editor services that are exclusive to Frontiers Associate and Chief Editors. Editors also receive an Editor homepage, which helps them to manage the editorial process.