In the midst of a worldwide pandemic, this year the Journal of Apicultural Research, published on behalf of the International Bee Research Association (IBRA), is completing its sixtieth volume of continuous publication – sixty years of bringing high-quality, peer-reviewed research of the world of bees to our readers! As editors since 2018, we are very honoured to have become part of this journey and hope to continue to contribute to the journal's further success.
The Journal of Apicultural Research (JAR) was first published in 1962 under the Editorship of Dr. Eva Crane, Director of the then Bee Research Association (BRA).
A critique on the very first JAR issue by M. Delia Allen, published in Nature in 1963, concludes “…. it can be said that the first issue of the Journal of Apicultural Research augurs well for the future, and that, once it has become properly established, it should be a valuable publication”. Since then JAR has been continuously growing to become one of the most important displays for scientific research in apiculture. An overview of the journal’s history and highlights can be found in the review by Carreck (Citation2011). We would like to point out here that JAR has been the winner of four Gold medals for the best scientific journal at the International Apicultural Congress, Apimondia, and as of 2019, the Journal has an Impact Factor of 1.818 and is ranked 29/101 in the Entomology category (© InCites Journal Citation Reports®, Clarivate Analytics, 2020). In reference to the promise by Dr. Allen, we can thus confirm that JAR, with 60 published volumes, has indeed become properly established, and not only become a valuable but also very successful publication.
The front cover of the celebration of this 60th JAR Volume is a joint effort of the Editorial Board with the central image displaying Apis mellifera bees performing trophallaxis, which represents the collaboration between authors, editors and reviewers in publishing high-quality research. The image is framed by historic covers of the Journal of Apicultural Research in representation of the historic legacy of the Journal.
The 60th Volume started with the first issue that included the very interesting Editorial by Prof. Robert Pickard, IBRA Chair and former Editor of JAR, where he elegantly draws parallels between human and bee societies in the fighting of disease. In light of the current situation worldwide, a thought-provoking read, not to be missed. We might also find a silver lining for bee research as, during the last year, we have witnessed an increased number of good submissions, maybe accelerated by researchers being locked down at home and finally being able to write up their results.
The first article of the first issue, entitled “A century of discovery: Mining 100 years of honey bee research” by Hassler et al., (Citation2021) shows how honey bee research has evolved from a sub-field of other disciplines to a strong discipline in its own right and how it has further been enriched by contributions from other sciences. We believe that JAR, as the first international journal specific to bee research, has given visibility to this line of science.
A special issue on COLOSS BEEBOOK is planned this year that contains the two remaining articles, “Standard methods for Apis mellifera venom research” (de Graaf et al. Citation2020) and “Standard methods for pollen research”, to complete Volume III, Part 2: Standard methods for Apis mellifera product research (Editors: Vincent Dietemann, Peter Neumann, Norman Carreck and James D Ellis). A printed hard copy of the complete COLOSS BEEBOOK Vol. III will be published by the International Bee Research Association (IBRA).
Finally, we would like to thank again IBRA, the members of our Editorial Board, COLOSS Association, the reviewers, and the authors for the excellent collaboration. We close with warmly welcoming to the JAR Editorial Board two new excellent researchers: Dr. Maria Dimou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and Dr. Dora Henriques, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Portugal. Together, we are looking forward to giving our best for the future of JAR and the scientific bee research community.
Senior Editor
[email protected]
Melanie Parejo
Assistant Editor
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References
- Allen, M. D. (1963). Apicultural research. Nature, 199(4894), 651–652. https://doi.org/10.1038/199651b0
- Carreck, N. L. (2011). Fifty years of the Journal of Apicultural Research. Journal of Apicultural Research, 50(4), 249–256. https://doi.org/10.3896/IBRA.1.50.4.01
- de Graaf, D. C., Brochetto Braga, M. R., de Abreu, R. M. M., Blank, S., Bridts, C. H., De Clerck, L. S., Devreese, B., Ebo, D. G., Ferris, T. J., Hagendorens, M. M., & Justo Jacomini, D. L. (2020). Standard methods for Apis mellifera venom research. Journal of Apicultural Research, 1–31.
- Hassler, E. E., Cazier, J. A., Hopkins, B., Wilkes, J. T., Smith, K., & Rünzel, M. (2021). A century of discovery: Mining 100 years of honey bee research. Journal of Apicultural Research, 60(1), 3–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/00218839.2020.1794303