We recently celebrated a major milestone—the 1,000th article published in Ursus! In conjunction with that achievement, IBA Ursus editors released Ursus: a history of the journal, tracing its evolution from conference proceedings in 1968 with Bears — Their Biology and Management: Proceedings of the Xth International Conference to the peer-reviewed journalwe know today: Ursus.
A summary of the timeline is shown below. Read the full article here: Ursus: a history of the journal.
For over 55 years, Ursus has been a flagship program of IBA, dedicated to disseminating science, education, and research on all eight bear species. Although Ursus is supported from publication charges, revenue from BioOne, and membership dues, costs for publishing are increasing. Donations help support Ursus, including our fee waiver program, ensuring that valuable bear research can be published regardless of financial barriers. IBA appreciates all donations, which allows us to support bear conservation through our various programs.
We are also incredibly grateful to everyone who has supported Ursus through the years—by reading its articles, citing them in their own research, or publishing their work in the journal. We encourage IBA members to choose Ursus as the home for their research, as we offer low-cost publication fees and fee waiver options to ensure financial constraints do not limit the sharing of critical bear science.