Systematics and Biodiversity is devoted to whole-organism biology. It is an international, peer-reviewed Life Science journal published online and in print by Taylor & Francis for The Natural History Museum, London. The criterion for publication is scientific merit.

Systematics and Biodiversity aims to document the diversity of all groups of living organisms through systematic papers that have broad context, and that address topical issues relating to biological collections, museum science and the principles and practice of systematics and related fields, including phylogenetics, evolution and conservation. It particularly emphasises the importance and multi-disciplinary significance of systematics and museum science, with contributions that address the implications of other fields on the practice of Systematics and that advance our understanding of other fields through taxonomic knowledge, especially in relation to the nature, origins, and conservation of biodiversity at all taxonomic levels.

The Journal does not normally publish single species descriptions, nor works that are monographic in scope or length, and printed articles are limited to 20 pages. Taxonomic manuscripts will normally include a combination of data types that corroborate the circumscription and delineation of taxa at various levels, including phylogenetic and/or population-level analyses. Authors describing new taxa will be well versed in, and adhere to, the nomenclatural rules of the Code relevant to their study group. Papers that are highly integrative, broad in scope, and/or provide extensive contextual information relating to the study group are strongly encouraged and prioritise over submissions that are largely limited to descriptive taxonomy. The rejection rate is currently around 50%.

The Journal publishes original, novel papers in the form of empirical Research Articles and Perspectives. In addition to taxonomic discovery, description, and revision, Research Articles include studies of adaptation, anatomy, biodiversity patterns in time and space (including response to environmental and human factors, and to global change), phylogeny, biogeography, evolution, conservation, genomics, development, functional morphology, growth and form, bar-coding, speciation, and ecology (inter alia). Perspectives include state-of-knowledge, opinions and reviews on the theory and practice of systematics and related fields.

Papers are published online once proofs have been returned from authors and are assigned to one of eight issues per volume. Paper copies of the Journal are printed in B&W with colour pages available for a fee and distributed semi-annually in June (issues 1–4) and December (issues 5–8).

There is no page charge unless authors choose to publish Open Access.

Updated 29 June 2020

 Editor-In-Chief
Prof Elliot Shubert,  The Natural History Museum, London, UK 
  sysbio@nhm.ac.uk 

Associate Editors
Prof Dr Christoph, Bleidorn Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany 
Dr Andrew Brower, USDA APHIS PPQ Plant Health Programs, USA 
Dr Sven Buerki, Boise State University, USA 
Dr Nadia Bystriakova, St Petersburg, Russia 
Dr Kevin W. Conway, Texas A&M University, USA 
Dr Dimitar Dimitrov, University of Bergen, Norway 
Dr Steven Dodsworth, University of Bedfordshire, UK 
Dr Rosa Fernandez, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Spain 
Dr Adrian Glover, The Natural History Museum, UK 
Dr Polly Hayes, University of Westminster, UK 
Dr Barna Páll-Gergely, Plant Protection Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary 
Dr Malcolm Penn, The Natural History Museum, UK 
Dr Oscar Alejandro Pérez-Escobar, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, UK, and Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Sweden 
Dr Joanne S. Porter, Heriot-Watt University, UK 
Dr Ana Riesgo, The Natural History Museum, UK 
Prof Dr Thorsten, Stoeck University of Kaiserslautern, Germany 
Dr Sarah Siqueira, Oliveira Universidade Federal de Goiás, Brazil 
Dr Gary Voelker, Texas A&M University, USA 
Dr Andrea Waeschenbach, The Natural History Museum, UK 
Dr Mark Wilkinson, The Natural History Museum, UK

Editorial Board 

Aaron Bauer, Villanove University, USA 
Philippe Bouchet, Muséum Nationale d’Historie Naturalle,  France 
Paul Eggleton,  The Natural History Museum, UK 
Francis Gilbert, Nottingham University, UK 
Harold Heatwole, North Carolina State University, USA 
Ian Kitching,  The Natural History Museum, UK  
Reinhardt Mǿberg Kristensen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark 
H. Walter Lack,  Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum, Germany 
Francois Joseph Lapointe, University of Montreal, Canada 
Richard Mayden, St Louis University, USA 
Helga Ochoterena,  Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, Mexico 
Andrew Polaszek, The Natural History Museum, UK 
Pamela Rasmussen, Michigan State University Museum , USA 
Ted Schulz, Smithsonian Institution, USA 
Mark E. Siddall, American Museum of Natural History, USA 
Weibo Song, Ocean University of China, China 
Quentin Wheeler, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, USA 
David Williams, The Natural History Museum, UK 
Paul H Williams, The Natural History Museum, UK 
Volker Wissemann, Justus-Liebig Universitaet, Germany
 
Updated 29 November 2019