Journal of the History of Biology

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The Journal of the History of Biology invites submissions for a topical collection on Regional Biologies: The Life Sciences in Asia. This collection welcomes historical studies of the life sciences across Asian contexts and periods, broadly conceived. It aims to bring together diverse approaches, topics, and scales of analysis in order to highlight the variety of ways biological knowledge has been produced, practiced, circulated, and contested in Asia. Contributions may address local, national, regional, or transnational dimensions of the life sciences, and may engage a wide range of actors, institutions, environments, and epistemic traditions.

As a culturally, politically, and ecologically heterogeneous region, Asia offers a rich site for examining how biological knowledge has been produced through colonial encounters, imperial and postcolonial regimes, Cold War geopolitics, and regional networks of exchange. We particularly welcome contributions that challenge diffusionist models and explore how local environments, institutions, and actors have shaped distinctive biological traditions and practices.

For book review inquiries please contact the editors at jhistbioleditors@gmail.com.

2026 Mendelsohn Prize

We are very pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2026 Everett Mendelsohn Prize awarded to the best research article published in JHB in the past three years is Lily Balloffet (University of California, Santa Cruz). Lily’s article, “Environment, Tropical Disease, and Scientific Networks in Argentina: Folclore and Multiscalar Mobilities,”was published in JHB, vol. 58, no. 3 (October 2025): 387-411. It appeared in the Topical Collection titled “Social History of Laboratory and Field Practices” edited by Megan Raby and can be accessed by clicking on the following link: Balloffet, “Environment, Tropical Disease, and Scientific Networks in Argentina,” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10739-025-09830-x.

2025 Mendelsohn Prize

We are pleased to announce that for the first, and probably only time, the 2025 Everett Mendelsohn Prize, awarded for the best research article published in JHB in the past three years will be awarded to two recipients who used very different approaches to the history of biology.

The first recipient of the 2025 Everett Mendelsohn Prize is Thierry Hoquet (University of Paris, Nanterre) author of the article titled, “Darwin and the White Shipwrecked Sailor: Beyond Blending Inheritance and the Jenkin Myth,” published in vol. 57, no. 1 (March 2024): 17-49. It can be freely accessed through July at this link:

Hoquet, “Darwin and the Shipwrecked Sailor,” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10739-024-09770-y

The second recipient of the 2025 Everett Mendelsohn Prize is Eric J. Richards (Boyce Thompson Institute) author of the article titled, “William Lawrence Tower Beetles: Experimental Evolution and the Manipulation of Inheritance, published in vol. 57, no. 2 (June 2024): 173-206. It can be freely accessed through July at this link:

Richards, “Lawrence Tower’s Beetles,” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10739-024-09771-x

2024 Everett Mendelsohn Prize

We are very pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2024 Everett Mendelsohn Prize is Jennifer Coggon (University of Toronto). Jennifer's article titled, "Sperm-Force:  Naturphilosophie and George Newport's Quest to Discover the Secret of Fertilization," was published in Journal of the History of Biology, vol. 55, no. 4 (December 2022), 617-687, can be freely accessed through May by clicking on the following link:

Coggon, "Sperm-Force," https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10739-022-09696-3

2023 Everett Mendelsohn Prize

It is our pleasure to announce that the recipient of the 2023 Everett Mendelsohn Prize is R. Ashton Macfarlane (Harvard University). Ashton's article, “Wild Laboratories of Climate Change: Plants, Phenology, and Global Warming, 1955–1980,” published in Journal of the History of Biology, vol. 54, no. 2 (June 2021), 311–340, can be freely accessed through May by clicking on the following link:

Macfarlane, "Wild Laboratories of Climate Change," https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10739-021-09643-8

2022 Everett Mendelsohn Prize

It is our pleasure to announce that the recipient of the 2022 Everett Mendelsohn Prize is Ryan Hearty (Johns Hopkins University),  whose essay, "Redefining Boundaries: Ruth Myrtle Patrick's Ecological Program at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1947–1975," appeared in the Journal of the History of Biology, volume 53, issue 4 (December 2020), pp. 1-44. Ryan's article, which is the first contribution to JHB’s Topical Collection “Women, Gender, and Sexuality in Biology” edited by Donald Opitz, can be accessed by clicking on the following link:

• Ryan Hearty - Redefining Boundaries: Ruth Myrtle Patrick's Ecological Program at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1947–1975,"