A Century Of The Journal Of Comparative Psychology

The Journal of Comparative Psychology, the oldest continuously published journal on animal behavior. has reached its centennial year. I examined each article published in the Journal over the past 100 years to document the changing roles of women and of international authors over the past century. The analysis also documented changes in the range of species and topics studied over the Journal's history. The Journal published the greatest number of articles in 1969, but as new journals appeared that focused on animal learning and behavioral neuroscience, the number of articles published decreased. In the pest 35 years, since these other journals appeared, there has been a steady increase in the proportion of female authors and of authors working from outside North America. At the same time, the diversity of species and topics studied has increased. As a result, the Journal today is very different than it was 100 years ago. Comparative psychology appears to be thriving better in Europe and Asia than in North America, so maintaining a diversity of taxa studied and an international authorship and readership will be critical for the Journal's continued vitality.