Everything you always wanted to know about historical biogeography, but were afraid to ask: A preliminary overview based on papers published in Journal of Biogeography 2005-2006

POSADAS, PAULA; DONATO, MARIANO

Biogeografía

Año: 2007 p. 1 - 6

Abstract   What is the current state of historical biogeography today? This is not a easy question to answer as it contains several different questions. Our objective herein is to address this subject by analyzing the last two published volumes of the Journal of Biogeography (2005, 2006). The Journal of  Biogeography is currently one of the most prestigious journals in biogeography, having progressively become more and more visible by the scientific community since it first issue in 1974. Presently, it has an Impact Factor (IF) of 2.878 and has been ranked as 3/30 (Geography, Physical) and 27/114 (Ecology) according to ISI (2006). The mission statement, published on the Journal’s homepage (2007) claims that: “the mission of the journal is to contribute to the growth and societal relevance of the discipline of biogeography through its role in the dissemination of biogeographical research. To that end, the editorial policy is that the journal seeks to be representative of the discipline of biogeography, to be global in scope, and to be inclusive of major traditions and viewpoints within the discipline”. Given this, we decided that by analyzing articles published in the Journal of Biogeography would be a good starting point to unravel the question of the state of biogeography today.