Journal of Molecular Evolution

The Journal of Molecular Evolution (abbreviated J Mol Evol or JME) is a scientific journal that publishes research in molecular evolution. The journal, published by Springer, was founded in 1971 and has been in print ever since. It was the first journal in its field.

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The founding editor of the Journal of Molecular Evolution is Emile Zuckerkandl, who remained editor-in-chief until the late 1990s. In 1994, the journal became associated with the newly formed International Society of Molecular Evolution.^[1]

In a 1998 editorial, Zuckerkandl stated that he wanted the journal to "insure that this field be covered in its broadest sense" by publishing research that is of broad interest to the field of molecular evolution that it helped define, as well as to biology in general. To this end, Zuckerkandl stated that the journal does not cover research either on practical applications of molecular evolution, or articles "whose focus is very restricted and that do not lead to valuable insights beyond their narrow topic". However, he looked forward to coverage of new, rapidly developing areas of molecular evolution such as molecular developmental biology and work connecting molecular evolution to higher levels of biological organization.^[2]

In 1999—under the new joint editorship of Martin Kreitman (the current editor-in-chief), Takashi Gojobori, and Giorgio Bernardi— the journal made explicit its focus on "the fundamental issues in molecular evolution", to the exclusion of molecular phylogenetics (the purview of several other molecular evolution journals, most significantly Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution) and origin of life research.^[3]

In 2001, the publisher established the Zuckerkandl Prize for the best paper from the journal each year, in honor of Emile Zuckerkandl.^[4]

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