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Behavioural processes — The first three years
Behavioural Processes, 4 (1979) l-3 0 Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company,
1 Amsterdam
-
Printed
in The Netherlands
Editorial BEHAVIOURAL
PROCESSES
-THE
FIRST
THREE
YEARS
G. THIN& Centre de Psychologie (Belgium) Editor-in-chief
Expkrimentale
“Behavioural
et ComparQe,
Universit6
de Louvain,
Pellenberg
Processes”
“Behavioural Processes” was created in 1976 and has now been in existence for 3 years. The main objective of the new journal was to bring together studies from diverse scientific disciplines, which are relevant to the understanding of fundamental behavioural processes, the stress being laid on the physiological mechanisms of behaviour and more generally on the experimental side of ethological studies. Moreover, as the first editorial mentioned, the journal was also eager to help publication in other fields, namely in the newly developing sector of human ethology. It is worth reflecting upon the actual results attained since 1976 and making a quick survey of the relative importance of the respective themes which actually appeared in the twelve issues published up to now. This may help us to estimate whether our initial purpose has been attained satisfactorily and whether our expected contribution to the dissemination of ethological information has been sufficiently realised to the present day. In making such a survey, one should not forget that the actual contents of the three existing volumes of the journal are factually determined as in every scientific review, firstly by the spontaneous offers of papers coming from the authors and, secondly, by the selection policy practised by the Editorial Advisory Board in close collaboration with the critical work of reviewers. A few figures will help to make the point, keeping in mind that they only refer to the total number of accepted papers, which represent about 60% of the manuscripts sent to the Editorial Office. The survey will consider four headings: (1) comparative vs. physiological ethology; (2) species or groups of animals studied; (3) classes or areas of behavioural phenomena studied, and (4) countries of origin of manuscripts. COMPARATIVE
VS PHYSIOLOGICAL
ETHOLOGY
Eighty-two articles (including short communications) have been published to date. Of these, 54 papers cover the field of comparative ethology (including some topics related to traditional comparative psychology), against only 28 papers dealing with physiological correlates of behaviour, most of them endocrinologically and neurophysiologically orientated. It is worth noting
2
that naturalistic and descriptive ethological work is nearly absent, the dominant feature being an attempt at controlled experimentation. It appears that comparative experiments are twice as common as etho-physiological studies. This may be the effect of the relatively recent orientation taken by ethologists towards physiological analyses, the main bulk of the work still being inspired by the traditional comparative framework. This journal is, of course, too young to be taken as representative of a major ethological trend, and the observed distribution of topics has probably been partly biased by the sub-title, in which the physiological dimension is explicitly mentioned, in contradistinction to the great majority of current journals dealing with behaviour. SPECIES OR GROUPS
OF ANIMALS
STUDIED
As far as species studied are concerned, the most frequently found are birds (20 papers), rats (15 papers) and fishes (8 papers), together accounting for more than 50% of all articles published. This may be related to the previous point, since one species (the rat) is the traditional experimental animal of experimental psychologists studying learning, while the two other groups of species (birds and fishes) are highly representative of traditional ethology. The remaining zoological material - in decreasing order of frequency consisted of mice and amphibians; dogs and gerbils; insects; cats and man; primates; cattle and molluscs; rabbits, sheep and bats. This list, awkward as it may seem, is in our opinion a good indicator of the specialists involved. It will be noted that, in spite of the appeal made in our opening editorial, human ethology has not significantly emerged in the submitted papers. CLASSES
OR AREAS
OF BEHAVIOURAL
PHENOMENA
STUDIED
With respect to the classes or areas of behavioural phenomena investigated, no salient tendency is to be found among the following items: reproduction, motivation, emotionality, vocalisation, genetic factors, exploration, feeding, ontogeny (particularly imprinting), activity, learning, orientation, grooming, stress, predation, dominance, aggression, vision and major methodological issues. As all these fields are studied both from an ethological and physiological perspective, no particular topic could be expected to be overdominant. From the editorial point of view, the variety of subjects treated suggests, in our opinion, that the journal is effectively well open to all fields of behaviour, irrespective of the methods employed. COUNTRIES
OF ORIGIN
OF MANUSCRIPTS
Before a new journal succeeds in securing an appreciable audience by becoming a current source of information for the specialised readers in the fields which it covers, the first sign of its functional value is to be found in
3
the forum it offers to authors of various countries. From this point of view, “Behavioural Processes” may claim to have raised a fair amount of international interest during its first 3 years of life. Until now, the vast majority of papers have come from European countries: 59 papers against 18 from North America (U.S.A. and Canada). The three highest rates of contribution came from the U.S.A. (16 papers), France (9 papers) and the Federal Republic of Germany (9 papers), and assuming that this trend accentuates steadily, a satisfactory international equilibrium should be reached in future volumes. We hope that a growing number of behaviour students will continue to submit suitable scientific material to us in the future. CONCLUSION
Starting a new scientific journal is always a difficult undertaking, particularly since so many scientific laboratories all over the world are experiencing drastic budgetary cuts. In spite of this, ethology appears sufficiently robust to provide abundant material to several new journals: it should not be forgotten that “Behavioural Processes” was ‘born’ almost simultaneously with two other new journals in the field of animal behaviour. Our task is still in its early stage of development, but knowing the enthusiasm and creativity of ethologists, as well as the excellent technical support of our publishers, we have every reason to think that “Behavioural Processes” will develop in the coming years into a well-adjusted adult.
1 Amsterdam
-
Printed
in The Netherlands
Editorial BEHAVIOURAL
PROCESSES
-THE
FIRST
THREE
YEARS
G. THIN& Centre de Psychologie (Belgium) Editor-in-chief
Expkrimentale
“Behavioural
et ComparQe,
Universit6
de Louvain,
Pellenberg
Processes”
“Behavioural Processes” was created in 1976 and has now been in existence for 3 years. The main objective of the new journal was to bring together studies from diverse scientific disciplines, which are relevant to the understanding of fundamental behavioural processes, the stress being laid on the physiological mechanisms of behaviour and more generally on the experimental side of ethological studies. Moreover, as the first editorial mentioned, the journal was also eager to help publication in other fields, namely in the newly developing sector of human ethology. It is worth reflecting upon the actual results attained since 1976 and making a quick survey of the relative importance of the respective themes which actually appeared in the twelve issues published up to now. This may help us to estimate whether our initial purpose has been attained satisfactorily and whether our expected contribution to the dissemination of ethological information has been sufficiently realised to the present day. In making such a survey, one should not forget that the actual contents of the three existing volumes of the journal are factually determined as in every scientific review, firstly by the spontaneous offers of papers coming from the authors and, secondly, by the selection policy practised by the Editorial Advisory Board in close collaboration with the critical work of reviewers. A few figures will help to make the point, keeping in mind that they only refer to the total number of accepted papers, which represent about 60% of the manuscripts sent to the Editorial Office. The survey will consider four headings: (1) comparative vs. physiological ethology; (2) species or groups of animals studied; (3) classes or areas of behavioural phenomena studied, and (4) countries of origin of manuscripts. COMPARATIVE
VS PHYSIOLOGICAL
ETHOLOGY
Eighty-two articles (including short communications) have been published to date. Of these, 54 papers cover the field of comparative ethology (including some topics related to traditional comparative psychology), against only 28 papers dealing with physiological correlates of behaviour, most of them endocrinologically and neurophysiologically orientated. It is worth noting
2
that naturalistic and descriptive ethological work is nearly absent, the dominant feature being an attempt at controlled experimentation. It appears that comparative experiments are twice as common as etho-physiological studies. This may be the effect of the relatively recent orientation taken by ethologists towards physiological analyses, the main bulk of the work still being inspired by the traditional comparative framework. This journal is, of course, too young to be taken as representative of a major ethological trend, and the observed distribution of topics has probably been partly biased by the sub-title, in which the physiological dimension is explicitly mentioned, in contradistinction to the great majority of current journals dealing with behaviour. SPECIES OR GROUPS
OF ANIMALS
STUDIED
As far as species studied are concerned, the most frequently found are birds (20 papers), rats (15 papers) and fishes (8 papers), together accounting for more than 50% of all articles published. This may be related to the previous point, since one species (the rat) is the traditional experimental animal of experimental psychologists studying learning, while the two other groups of species (birds and fishes) are highly representative of traditional ethology. The remaining zoological material - in decreasing order of frequency consisted of mice and amphibians; dogs and gerbils; insects; cats and man; primates; cattle and molluscs; rabbits, sheep and bats. This list, awkward as it may seem, is in our opinion a good indicator of the specialists involved. It will be noted that, in spite of the appeal made in our opening editorial, human ethology has not significantly emerged in the submitted papers. CLASSES
OR AREAS
OF BEHAVIOURAL
PHENOMENA
STUDIED
With respect to the classes or areas of behavioural phenomena investigated, no salient tendency is to be found among the following items: reproduction, motivation, emotionality, vocalisation, genetic factors, exploration, feeding, ontogeny (particularly imprinting), activity, learning, orientation, grooming, stress, predation, dominance, aggression, vision and major methodological issues. As all these fields are studied both from an ethological and physiological perspective, no particular topic could be expected to be overdominant. From the editorial point of view, the variety of subjects treated suggests, in our opinion, that the journal is effectively well open to all fields of behaviour, irrespective of the methods employed. COUNTRIES
OF ORIGIN
OF MANUSCRIPTS
Before a new journal succeeds in securing an appreciable audience by becoming a current source of information for the specialised readers in the fields which it covers, the first sign of its functional value is to be found in
3
the forum it offers to authors of various countries. From this point of view, “Behavioural Processes” may claim to have raised a fair amount of international interest during its first 3 years of life. Until now, the vast majority of papers have come from European countries: 59 papers against 18 from North America (U.S.A. and Canada). The three highest rates of contribution came from the U.S.A. (16 papers), France (9 papers) and the Federal Republic of Germany (9 papers), and assuming that this trend accentuates steadily, a satisfactory international equilibrium should be reached in future volumes. We hope that a growing number of behaviour students will continue to submit suitable scientific material to us in the future. CONCLUSION
Starting a new scientific journal is always a difficult undertaking, particularly since so many scientific laboratories all over the world are experiencing drastic budgetary cuts. In spite of this, ethology appears sufficiently robust to provide abundant material to several new journals: it should not be forgotten that “Behavioural Processes” was ‘born’ almost simultaneously with two other new journals in the field of animal behaviour. Our task is still in its early stage of development, but knowing the enthusiasm and creativity of ethologists, as well as the excellent technical support of our publishers, we have every reason to think that “Behavioural Processes” will develop in the coming years into a well-adjusted adult.