Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Proceedings B is the Royal Society’s flagship biological research journal, accepting original articles and reviews of outstanding scientific importance and broad general interest. The main criteria for acceptance are that a study is novel, and has general significance to biologists. Articles published cover a wide range of areas within the biological sciences, many have relevance to organisms and the environments in which they live. The scope includes, but is not limited to, ecology, evolution, behaviour, health and disease epidemiology, neuroscience and cognition, behavioural genetics, development, biomechanics, palaeontology, comparative biology, molecular ecology and evolution and global change biology. Many more good manuscripts are submitted than we have space to print, and we give preference to those presenting significant advances of broad interest. Submission of preliminary reports, of articles that merely confirm previous findings, and of articles that are likely to interest only small groups of specialists, is not encouraged. Articles will only be considered where they have clear relevance to fundamental biological principles and processes. All articles are sent to an Editorial Board member for an initial assessment, and may be returned to authors without in-depth peer review if the paper is unlikely to be accepted because it is either too specialized, not sufficiently novel, or is deficient in other respects.