A Brief View of The American Midland Naturalist Since 1990

Abstract

When I began my association with The American Midland Naturalist in 1959 as a member of the Executive Committee I had no thought of compiling its indices from 1959 to 1978 (Carpenter and McIntosh 1978), or writing its Life History from its inception in 1909 to 1990 (McIntosh, 1990) in its 82nd year of publication, and even less of continuing a brief comment on aspects of its recent history in a publication now marking its Centennial in 2009. I appreciate the courtesy of its latest, and soon to retire, editor, Dr. William Evans for inviting my reflections on its recent years. In the century of its publication the journal outgrew its name The American Midland Naturalist and description as devoted to natural history, particularly that of the prairie states, and became a national publication on diverse aspects of biology, and since 2005 is appropriately described on its cover as an International Journal of Ecology, Evolution and Environment. Even that wide-ranging description does not encompass its total breadth. In the last two decades its cover has changed from traditional grey, covered with print to tan decorated with a green fern leaf and a green mosquito suggestive of the breadth of taxa included in its pages. In keeping with the times its cost will increase from $50 in the Americas in 1990 to $95 in 2009. It has also added new categories of subscribers–$55 for individuals and $35 for students in 2009. Since 1990 the number of subscribers has varied form 968 to 1167, averaging slightly over 1000. In that interval page charges also increased from $35 to $50 per page. It also changed in other ways. As editor in 1990 I would never have thought of the recent request that the author send a computer disk with the initial copy and another with the accepted copy. I was fortunate in having, for many years, the technical skills of Juanita Thomas as secretary and Charles McCollester as assistant editor. Juanita had antedated me as secretary, a position she held for 41 y. She retired in 1998 and was succeeded by Kimmarie Merz-Bogold who continued until 2008. Between them they made the editor’s job tenable. The change in the breadth of coverage in the journal is evident in the increase in number of Associate Editors from 15 in 1990, with no duplication, to 19 in 2008, two each in Ornithology, and Herpetology and three in Mammalogy. Plant Population Ecology was expanded to Vegetation Ecology. Limnology and Hydrobiology became Aquatic Ecology and Conservation appeared. As might be expected, associate editors served for various intervals very helpfully, but Harald E. Esch was unique in continuing as Associate Editor for Animal Behavior, a post he had held for sometime even before 1990. Versatility was evident in Carl Von Ende who was Associate Editor for Limnology and Hydrobiology in 1995 and for Biological Statistics in 2007. The Executive Committee of the journal expanded from five to seven members, three of them having served 10 y: Ronald A. Hellenthal, David M. Lodge and Richard J. Jensen. The Executive Committee provided invaluable guidance to the editors in developing the policies of the journal. The journal celebrated the Sesquicentennial of Notre Dame University with special issues of Volume 126 in 1991 and Volume 127 in 1992. The authors appearing in the journal are myriad and it would be impossible for me to identify individuals. The number of authors per year varied from 120 in 1992 to 189 in 1996. There was no trend to increase in number, but there was an increase in the number and proportion of women authors. Subject to the limitations of my ability to categorically identify women’s names, women authors increased numerically and as a percent of male Am. Midl. Nat. 161:45–48