Species: Ursus arctos (Brown bear)
Location: Nepal (29° 15′ N, 83° 59′ E)
Credit: Rishi Baral
Ursus is a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the study and management of bears, published by the International Association for Bear Research and Management (IBA). Before Ursus, the association published Bears: Their Biology and Management, and proceedings from conferences which served as a crucial resource for disseminating knowledge on bear species and their habitats.
Ursus includes peer reviewed articles on all aspects of bear research, management, and conservation worldwide. Beginning with 2019 Issues, Ursus went fully online. Access to articles for the current year will be provided to IBA members through the online IBA membership system as the articles are published. Back issues of Ursus can be downloaded below, or purchased by contacting the IBA Director of Operations and Programs.
In addition to manuscripts reporting original research, submissions may be based on thoughtful review and synthesis of previously-reported information, innovative philosophies and opinions, and public policy or legal aspects of wildlife conservation. Notes of general interest are also welcome. Invited manuscripts will be clearly identified, but will still be subject to peer review. All manuscripts must be in English. All manuscripts are peer-reviewed, and subject to rigorous editorial standards.
Current articles are made available on our site one year after publication date (with open-access articles available immediately). Use the filters below to search for specific topics or volumes, and click on the article title to read the full abstract.
If you prefer, you can also view details for all Ursus publications in spreadsheet format using the button below. This spreadsheet is updated twice-yearly.
For articles not yet on our site, visit BioOne, which IBA members can access through their account.
Ursus is the peer-reviewed journal of IBA, a non-profit, non-subsidized membership organization. As such, it levies publication charges for papers accepted for publication to assist financing of Ursus. Starting in 2019 Ursus went online only and switched to a two-tiered publication charge system. Recently, IBA leadership enlisted internal and external reviews (including by IBA’s financial advisors) using the past several years of income and expenditures with the goal of prioritizing keeping costs to authors reasonable while ensuring Ursus remains sustainable. After extensive review and discussion, IBA Council decided to revert to a per page charge of $80.00/published page with a 2-page minimum. The new publication costs will go into effect on 1 March 2026.
Note: Manuscripts submitted before prior to 1 March 2026, will be grandfathered in under the two-tiered category for publication fees: (10 pages or less will be charged $500 and those longer than 10 pages will be charged $700.
Generally, a paper consisting of 10 published pages will result from a manuscript consisting of about 25 pages with double spacing. The Short Communications category will be retained for authors who want to signal that their article is just that; any article labelled as such must be 10 pages or less in length. Invoices for publication charges are sent to authors by the IBA Executive Director when the length of accepted papers has been determined. An application can be made to IBA for a publication grant to cover all or part of the publication charges for for authors coming from countries where the cost of publishing prohibits the authors from publishing their work.
A letter to the IBA Executive Director outlining the request for an exemption from publication charges should be made as early as possible. Ursus now provides PDF files of final articles to authors, free of charge.
Beginning 1 January 2026, IBA is participating in a 3-year pilot program with BioOne, Subscribe to Open (S2O). You can read about the pilot program here.
Now is the perfect time to submit your article to Ursus, ensuring your manuscript will have global reach to a relevant audience. Please review the submission guidelines here. Click on the link below to get started.
FAST FACTS
Species: Tremarctos ornatus (Andean bear)
Location: Parque Nacional Cordillera Azul, Peru (7° 51′ S, 76° 20′ W)
Wild Population: Estimated >20,000 individuals
IUCN Status: Vulnerable (VU)
