BOC Bulletin

The Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club

ISSN 0007-1595

The Bulletin is an internationally respected journal notable for its very high standard of scientific ornithology. It contains at least 256 pages annually, published in four quarterly issues with an Index. The Present (2004) Editor is Guy Kirwan. It caters for papers ranging from short notes to full papers by authors from many countries on systematics and taxonomy, and all the most important topics in the field of ornithology. It contains addenda and corrigenda to standard works. The Bulletin is almost certainly the journal in which most new forms are described and named.

Up to the end of 2016 hard copies were sent to all members. However, from 2017 the Bulletin became an open access online-only publication available for viewing and download at BioOne (click on the button in the right sidebar).

“…there is a real need for a journal publishing short papers on questions of taxonomy at the subspecies and species level, on significant range extensions, on aspects of the history of taxonomy, and similar subjects. The Bulletin is filling this important niche quite admirably ……” Ernst Mayr, 1992

The Bulletin is now the only journal with an extensive circulation fulfilling these aims. Authorship is international, and geographical coverage is world-wide, with emphasis on parts of the world whose avifaunas are incompletely known – in recent years particularly the New World tropics, parts of Africa and New Guinea.

Papers are published, as far as possible, in the order of their submission, and every effort is made to keep the interval between receipt and publication to not more than 12 months.

The Bulletin has always been an essential reference for ornithologists, particularly avian taxonomists, and others concerned with the subjects it covers.

Back issues of the Bulletin :  The BOC have entered into an agreement with the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) for them to host all but the last five years’ of  The Bulletin to be placed on their free website at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/46639. Volumes 1 to 132 are available to view.  If you want photocopies of any material not yet on the BHL site please contact a holding Library, such as the British Library, who offer a photocopy service.