Animal Cognition

Aims & Scope

Animal Cognition is an interdisciplinary journal publishing current research from various backgrounds and disciplines (ethology, behavioral ecology, animal behaviour and learning, cognitive sciences, comparative psychology and evolutionary psychology) on all aspects of animal (and human) cognition in an evolutionary framework. The aim of the journal is to establish the course of the evolution of "intelligence", of the mechanisms, functions and adaptive value of basic and complex cognitive abilities from invertebrates to humans. The journal publishes original empirical and theoretical work, reviews, methods papers, short communications and correspondence on the mechanisms and evolution of biologically rooted cognitive-intellectual structures. Experiments and field studies with animals and humans and the comparative method will be given preference, but simulation models and theoretical analyses will be also considered. Papers on the following topics are particularly welcome: How do animals categorize and recognize individuals (potential mates, offspring), food, spatial patterns? How do animals form concepts? Which rules of logic and decision are used and how do these work? How do animals reason about their social world? How do animals learn by observation, imitation and instruction? Animal time perception and use; causality detection How do animals find their way around in the world, and how do they understand spatial relations? Innate reaction patterns and innate bases of learning Numerical competence and frequency expectancies Symbol use; communication Problem solving, animal thinking and use of tools How do these topics relate to the natural ecology of the species concerned? To what extent is animal behaviour transmitted culturally? What kinds of collective intelligence do groups of animals show?

A twelfth criterion — whether APC fees are clearly disclosed — is not scored here; it is left out of the total rather than counted as a failure. Publication charges appear in the metrics card above.

Based on the Think.Check.Submit framework by DOAJ, COPE & OASPA. All data from verified open sources.

Source: OpenAlex · Each year’s green bar = citations earned by that year’s papers, counted to date — so recent years look lower simply because their papers haven’t had time to be cited yet.

SJR Quartile by Discipline

Scimago ranks this journal separately in each subject category — its quartile can differ by discipline.

Subject Classification