Revista de Biología Tropical / International Journal of Tropical Biology and Conservation, is a full open access journal from the University of Costa Rica focused on tropical biology and conservation. All issues, from 1953 to the present, are available for free download here.

Our scope

Our journal publishes scientific articles that increase our understanding of biology, conservation, and biomedical life sciences in the tropics.

Selection criteria are the quantity and quality of new information and its potential interest to the general audience as well as to specialists. The studied ecosystems, or at least the organisms, must be tropical. 

Regular issues

We give preference to feature articles that include testable study questions —for example, studies with an experimental design to evaluate factors that influence biological variables, or studies that explain the mechanisms underlying biological or biomedical phenomena such as, for example, behavior or physiology. Field studies should be extensive enough to identify temporal or spatial patterns. We also welcome systematic or phylogenetic studies above the species level, meta-analyses, and bibliometric studies that critically examine what is known and what remains to be done in any field of tropical biology.

Review articles are mostly published by invitation of the Editorial Board to recognized authorities. Other specialists interested in submitting a review must first send a titled outline to biologia.tropical@ucr.ac.cr. Accepted proposals receive the same evaluation as regular manuscripts.

All reviews and meta-analyses need to identify and fill gaps in knowledge, present methodological advances, and propose future research directions.

Note about old data: We encourage authors to compare old results with more recent data or to use the data within a meta-analysis. Studies based on data collected over six years ago must include a justification of why they are still of interest, and in the case of field studies, they need to present spatial patterns or temporal trends of historical significance. The Editorial Board evaluates the validity of methods and the relevance of results before sending the manuscript to reviewers.

The journal now has one issue per year (continuous publication from January 1st to December 31st) and publishes articles the same week that an edited version becomes available. Until 2021, it published four regular issues per year: issue 1 (January – March), issue 2 (April – June), issue 3 (July – September), and issue 4 (October – December).

We do not publish notes; short communications; species lists; single new species; range extensions; new records and other preliminary or short studies; or highly specialized technical reports based on protocols (e.g. agricultural, forestry, biochemical, microbiological, aquaculture, fishery or similar studies that only apply well known techniques to particular cases of local interest).

Special issues

Special issues financed by research organizations are accepted after approval by the Editorial Board. They may contain a diversity of report types, including short papers, new records, new species descriptions, checklists, technical reports, etc. To publish a special issue, contact biologia.tropical@ucr.ac.cr for a cost estimate.

Target audience

Researchers with an interest in studying all fields of tropical biology.