''Western North American Naturalist'', formerly ''The Great Basin Naturalist'', is a

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. Content Articles in scientific journals are mostly written by active scientists such as s ...

focusing on biodiversity and conservation of western North America. The journal's geographic coverage includes "from northernmost Canada and Alaska to southern Mexico, and from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean." Established in 1939, it is published by the

Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum The Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum is a natural history museum housed at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, United States. Description The museum is named for Monte Lafayette Bean, a self-made Seattle-based magnate who entirely ...

( Brigham Young University). The journal is published quarterly, with

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

s published irregularly in ''Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist''.

History

Vasco M. Tanner Vasco Myron Tanner (October 29, 1892 – April 25, 1989) was an American entomologist from Utah, professor of zoology, and chair of the zoology and entomology departmentat Brigham Young University (BYU). Tanner also taught at Dixie College whil ...

founded the magazine after a term as editor at ''Proceedings'' magazine. His hope for the journal was to have a publication that covered a wide range of biology-related topics in addition to having a place to publish his own research. From 1939 through 1966, the journal limited the publication of their issues to once or twice a year due to World War II.

Franklin Harris Franklin Stewart Harris (August 29, 1884 – April 18, 1960) was president of Brigham Young University (BYU) from July 1921 until June 1945, and president of Utah State University from 1945 to 1950. His administration was the longest in BYU histo ...

encouraged the journal to continue publication, and it was one of the first journals to be used "for exchange purposes" by university libraries. From 1967 on, the journal published quarterly issues. Tanner served as editor of the ''Great Basin Naturalist'' until 1970. Steven Wood, Tanner's successor as editor, established an editorial board for the journal. The board allowed for the journal to utilize an improved peer review process. In 1975, the journal moved its editorial offices to the

. In 1976, articles too long for publication in the journal started being published in ''The Great Basin Naturalist Memoirs'' series. In 1990, Jim Barnes succeeded Steven Wood as editor. The journal's editor changed again in 1994 to Richard Baumann. In 1999, the publication of ''The Great Basin Naturalist'' ended. The journal's title changed to ''Western North American Naturalist'', which started publishing in 2000. In 2006, Mark C. Belk became the journal's new editor. Belk was still the editor in 2017.

Impact

According to '' Journal Citation Reports'', ''Western North American Naturalist'' had an impact factor of 0.311 and ranked 147 of 153 in Ecology category in 2016.

References

External links

*
''The Great Basin Naturalist'' archive
at the

Biodiversity Heritage Library The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is the world’s largest open access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives. BHL operates as worldwide consortiumof natural history, botanical, research, and national libraries working toge ...

Ecology journals Publications established in 1939 English-language journals Delayed open access journals Quarterly journals Academic journals published by museums 1939 establishments in the United States Harold B. Lee Library-related Americana articles {{biology-journal-stub