Journal of Ethnobiology

Journal of Ethnobiology is a peer-reviewed academic periodical publishing research on human interactions with biota, material culture, and traditional ecological knowledge. The journal appears under the aegis of the Society of Ethnobiology and has been cited alongside works associated with the Smithsonian Institution, National Science Foundation, Royal Society, and American Anthropological Association. Contributors have included field researchers connected to institutions such as Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Oxford, and University of Cambridge.

History

The journal was founded in 1981 amid intellectual currents shaped by figures and institutions like Richard Evans Schultes, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Franz Boas, Edward Said, and the American Anthropological Association, responding to research agendas also pursued at Harvard Botanical Museum, New York Botanical Garden, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Linnean Society. Early volumes featured scholarship linked to ethnobotanical expeditions associated with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Royal Society projects, National Science Foundation grants, and Fulbright programs. Over subsequent decades the journal published work by scholars affiliated with University of British Columbia, University of Arizona, University of New Mexico, Cornell University, and University of Wisconsin–Madison, and engaged with debates visible at meetings of the International Society of Ethnobiology, Society for Applied Anthropology, and Wenner-Gren Foundation symposia.

Scope and Content

The journal covers topics at the intersection of human knowledge and biodiversity, featuring case studies from regions studied by researchers working in places such as the Amazon Basin, Andes, Congo Basin, Mekong Delta, and Arctic tundra. Articles connect to literatures involving authors from institutions like the Smithsonian Institution, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, New York Botanical Garden, Harvard University Herbaria, and Royal Ontario Museum, and engage with frameworks used in work by Alessandro Durrell, Eugene Hunn, Nancy Turner, and Paul Richards. Content types include original research, methodological essays, field reports, and book reviews that dialogue with scholarship from Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, University of Chicago Press, and Routledge. Empirical studies often reference flora and fauna documented in collaboration with botanical gardens and museums such as Kew, Missouri Botanical Garden, and Field Museum, and draw on comparative data sets assembled by organizations like the IUCN, World Bank, and UNESCO.

Editorial and Publication Information

The journal is published by the Society of Ethnobiology and historically edited by boards including scholars associated with University of Arizona, University of Kansas, University of Georgia, and Texas A&M University. Its editorial board has included members with prior affiliations to institutions such as Harvard University, Yale University, Stanford University, and University of California, Davis, and has coordinated special issues guest-edited by researchers from University of British Columbia, University of Melbourne, University of São Paulo, and National Autonomous University of Mexico. Distribution and archival arrangements have linked the title with university libraries at Yale, Columbia University, University of Michigan, and the Library of Congress, while production practices reflect standards exemplified by journals like Economic Botany, Conservation Biology, Ecology, and Journal of Anthropological Research.

Abstracting and Indexing

The journal is abstracted and indexed in major databases and services also indexing comparable titles such as JSTOR, Scopus, Web of Science, EBSCOhost, and ProQuest, and is discoverable in catalogs administered by the Library of Congress, British Library, Canadian Research Knowledge Network, and National Library of Australia. Indexing facilitates cross-references with citation records involving scholars affiliated with institutions such as University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of Edinburgh, and University of Copenhagen, and with grant-funded projects from National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and European Research Council.

Impact and Reception

The journal has been cited in interdisciplinary literatures connecting ethnobiology to conservation practice and policy discussions involving IUCN Red List assessments, Convention on Biological Diversity deliberations, Nagoya Protocol debates, and indigenous rights advocacy linked to organizations like Cultural Survival and Survival International. Its influence is reflected in citations alongside work published by Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Springer, and Elsevier, and in doctoral and postdoctoral research programs at institutions such as University of California, Berkeley, University of British Columbia, and Australian National University. Reception among peer communities is visible at conferences hosted by the Society of Ethnobiology, American Anthropological Association, International Society of Ethnobiology, and Society for Conservation Biology, where articles from the journal are frequently cited in panels, symposia, and policy briefs.

Category:Ethnobiology journals Category:Academic journals established in 1981