Journal of Theoretical Biology

Discipline	Theoretical biology
Language	English
Edited by	Denise Kirschner, Mark Chaplain, Akira Sawaki
Publication details
History	1961–present
Publisher	Elsevier
Frequency	Biweekly
Open access	Hybrid
Impact factor	2.691 (2020)
Standard abbreviations ISO 4 (alt) · Bluebook (alt1 · alt2) NLM (alt) · MathSciNet (alt )
ISO 4	J. Theor. Biol.
Indexing CODEN (alt · alt2) · JSTOR (alt) · LCCN (alt) MIAR · NLM (alt) · Scopus
CODEN	JTBIAP
ISSN	0022-5193
LCCN	64006601
OCLC no.	645600912
Links
Journal homepage Online access

The Journal of Theoretical Biology is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering theoretical biology, as well as mathematical, computational, and statistical aspects of biology. Some research areas covered by the journal include cell biology, evolutionary biology, population genetics, morphogenesis, and immunology.

The journal was established in 1961.^[1] Its founding editor-in-chief was English biologist James F. Danielli, who remained editor until his death in 1984.^[2] The journal is published by Elsevier and, as of 2021^[update], the editors-in-chief are Denise Kirschner (University of Michigan Medical School), Mark Chaplain (University of St. Andrews), and Akira Sawaki (Aichi Cancer Center, Nagoya). Lewis Wolpert served as editor-in-chief for more than 55 years.^[3]

According to the Journal Citation Reports the journal has a 2020 impact factor of 2.691.^[4]

Notable articles

The following are the most highly cited articles (more than 2,000 citations at April 2021) that have been published in the journal:

• Hamilton, W.D. (1964). "The genetical evolution of social behaviour. I". Journal of Theoretical Biology. 7 (1): 1–16. doi:10.1016/0022-5193(64)90038-4. PMID 5875341. S2CID 5310280. A classic paper dealing with inclusive fitness.

• Zahavi, Amotz (1975). "Mate selection—A selection for a handicap". Journal of Theoretical Biology. 53 (1): 205–214. doi:10.1016/0022-5193(75)90111-3. PMID 1195756. Presentation of the handicap principle.

• Pielou, E.C. (1966). "The measurement of diversity in different types of biological collections". Journal of Theoretical Biology. 13: 131–144. doi:10.1016/0022-5193(66)90013-0. Information content of collections of biological species.

• Kauffman, S.A. (1969). "Metabolic stability and epigenesis in randomly constructed genetic nets". Journal of Theoretical Biology. 22 (3): 437–467. doi:10.1016/0022-5193(69)90015-0. PMID 5803332. Forerunner of Kauffman's autocatalytic sets.

• Hamilton, W.D. (1971). "Geometry for the selfish herd". Journal of Theoretical Biology. 31 (2): 295–311. doi:10.1016/0022-5193(71)90189-5. PMID 5104951. An antithesis to the view that gregarious behaviour is evolved through benefits to the population or species.

• Wolpert, L. (1969). "Positional information and the spatial pattern of cellular differentiation". Journal of Theoretical Biology. 25 (1): 1–47. doi:10.1016/S0022-5193(69)80016-0. PMID 4390734. The French flag model of embryogenesis.