World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
Behaviour
H-index 10

Behaviour

Ranking & Metrics

Discipline name Position Best Scientists Publications D-Index
Animal Science and Veterinary 256 10 14 3
Ecology and Evolution 429 87 86 8
Psychology 1147 10 13 4

Additional Metrics

Number of Best Scientists*: 121
Documents by Best Scientists*: 121
Top 100 Ranked Scientists*: 4
SCIMAGO H-index: 88
SCIMAGO SJR: 0.412
Impact Factor: 1

Overview

Top Research Topics at Behaviour?

The journal mostly deals with topics like Ecology, Zoology, Developmental psychology, Communication and Demography. The journal aims to address concerns in Ecology, specifically in the areas of Predation, Foraging, Mating, Nest and Mate choice. More specifically, the research on Predation in Behaviour is related to Predator.

The journal focuses on Zoology but the discussions also offer insight into other areas such as Offspring, Paternal care and Reproduction. Topics in Developmental psychology were tackled in line with various other fields like Social relation and Captivity. The Social relation study featured in it draws parallels with the field of Social group.

Communication research is the primary subject tackled in it with a focus on Animal communication. The Courtship study tackling the subject of Courtship display is the focus of it. Research in Aggression discussed is concerned with the study of Social psychology as a whole.

  • Ecology (40.11%)
  • Zoology (28.80%)
  • Developmental psychology (15.59%)

What are the most cited papers published in the journal?

  • Observational study of behavior: sampling methods. (10956 citations)
  • The Social Organisation of Antelope in Relation To Their Ecology (1808 citations)
  • An Ecological Model of Female-Bonded Primate Groups (1626 citations)

Research areas of the most cited articles at Behaviour:

The journal publications facilitate discussions on Ecology, Zoology, Demography, Communication and Developmental psychology. The most cited articles are focused mainly on Zoology, particularly Mating. The journal publications explore research in Social relation and overlapping concepts in Social group to expand the discourse in Demography.

What topics the last edition of the journal is best known for?

  • Ecology
  • Internal medicine
  • Zoology

The previous edition focused in particular on these issues:

The objective of the journal is to combine knowledge in the areas of Zoology, Ecology, Ethology, Evolutionary biology and Demography. While Zoology is the focus of the journal, it also provided insights into the studies of Juvenile and Habitat. Ecology (disciplines), Predator and Nesting (computing) studies are all carried out as a component of the study in Ecology presented.

It features Ethology research that overlaps with concepts in Developmental psychology. Demography study tackled is connected to the field of Predation.

The most cited articles from the last journal are:

  • Drop when the stakes are high : adaptive, flexible use of dropping behaviour by aphids (2 citations)
  • Contribution to the special issue on Reptile cognition: Chemically mediated self-recognition in sibling juvenile common gartersnakes (Thamnophis sirtalis) reared on same or different diets: evidence for a chemical mirror? (1 citations)
  • Contribution to the special issue on reptile cognition: Lizards as models to explore the ecological and neuroanatomical correlates of miniaturization (1 citations)

Papers citation over time

A key indicator for each journal is its effectiveness in reaching other researchers with the papers published at that venue.

The chart below presents the interquartile range (first quartile 25%, median 50% and third quartile 75%) of the number of citations of articles over time.

The top authors publishing in Behaviour (based on the number of publications) are:

  • Michael H. Ferkin (18 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • William E. Cooper (18 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Torben Dabelsteen (16 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Marcel Eens (16 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Douglas P. Chivers (14 papers) absent at the last edition.

The overall trend for top authors publishing in this journal is outlined below. The chart shows the number of publications at each edition of the journal for top authors.

Only papers with recognized affiliations are considered

The top affiliations publishing in Behaviour (based on the number of publications) are:

  • Max Planck Society (87 papers) published 2 papers at the last edition, 1 more than at the previous edition,
  • University of Cambridge (86 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • University of Groningen (70 papers) published 1 paper at the last edition,
  • University of Oxford (68 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • University of California, Davis (60 papers) published 1 paper at the last edition.

The overall trend for top affiliations publishing in this journal is outlined below. The chart shows the number of publications at each edition of the journal for top affiliations.

Publication chance based on affiliation

The publication chance index shows the ratio of articles published by the best research institutions in the journal edition to all articles published within that journal. The best research institutions were selected based on the largest number of articles published during all editions of the journal.

The chart below presents the percentage ratio of articles from top institutions (based on their ranking of total papers).Top affiliations were grouped by their rank into the following tiers: top 1-10, top 11-20, top 21-50, and top 51+. Only articles with a recognized affiliation are considered.

During the most recent 2021 edition, 4.94% of publications had an unrecognized affiliation. Out of the publications with recognized affiliations, 11.69% were posted by at least one author from the top 10 institutions publishing in the journal. Another 7.79% included authors affiliated with research institutions from the top 11-20 affiliations. Institutions from the 21-50 range included 16.88% of all publications and 63.64% were from other institutions.

Returning Authors Index

A very common phenomenon observed among researchers publishing scientific articles is the intentional selection of journals they have already attended in the past. In particular, it is worth analyzing the case when the authors participate in the same journal from year to year.

The Returning Authors Index presented below illustrates the ratio of authors who participated in both a given as well as the previous edition of the journal in relation to all participants in a given year.

Returning Institution Index

The graph below shows the Returning Institution Index, illustrating the ratio of institutions that participated in both a given and the previous edition of the conference in relation to all affiliations present in a given year.

The experience to innovation index

Our experience to innovation index was created to show a cross-section of the experience level of authors publishing in a journal. The index includes the authors publishing at the last edition of a journal, grouped by total number of publications throughout their academic career (P) and the total number of citations of these publications ever received (C).

The group intervals were selected empirically to best show the diversity of the authors' experiences, their labels were selected as a convenience, not as judgment. The authors were divided into the following groups:

  • Novice - P < 5 or C < 25 (the number of publications less than 5 or the number of citations less than 25),
  • Competent - P < 10 or C < 100 (the number of publications less than 10 or the number of citations less than 100),
  • Experienced - P < 25 or C < 625 (the number of publications less than 25 or the number of citations less than 625),
  • Master - P < 50 or C < 2500 (the number of publications less than 50 or the number of citations less than 2500),
  • Star - P ≥ 50 and C ≥ 2500 (both the number of publications greater than 50 and the number of citations greater than 2500).

The chart below illustrates experience levels of first authors in cases of publications with multiple authors.

Top Publications

  • Coyotes living near cities are bolder: implications for dog evolution and human-wildlife conflict

    James Brooks;Roland Kays;Brian Hare

    (2020)
    32 Citations
  • Correlations between personality traits and roosting behaviours suggest a behavioural syndrome in little brown bats

    Quinn M.R. Webber;Craig K.R. Willis

    (2020)
    14 Citations
  • Look at me while having sex! Eye-to-eye contact affects homosexual behaviour in bonobo females

    G. Annicchiarico;M. Bertini;G. Cordoni;E. Palagi

    (2020)
    12 Citations
  • Can animals develop depression? An overview and assessment of ‘depression-like’ states

    Aileen MacLellan;Carole Fureix;Andrea Polanco;Georgia Mason

    (2021)
    12 Citations
  • Drop when the stakes are high : adaptive, flexible use of dropping behaviour by aphids

    Rosalind K. Humphreys;Graeme D. Ruxton;Alison J. Karley

    (2021)
    12 Citations
  • Both aggressive and affiliative behaviour facilitate resource access in high-ranking female long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis)

    Anne M. Overduin-de Vries;Han De Vries;Marjolijn M. Vermande;Albert H.a. Reijntjes

    (2020)
    10 Citations
  • Zoo-housed female chimpanzee adopts local female-specific tradition upon immigrating into a new group

    Zoë Goldsborough;Zoë Goldsborough;Zoë Goldsborough;Christine E. Webb;Christine E. Webb;Frans B.M. de Waal;Frans B.M. de Waal;Edwin J.C. van Leeuwen

    (2021)
    10 Citations
  • Contribution to the special issue on Reptile cognition: Chemically mediated self-recognition in sibling juvenile common gartersnakes (Thamnophis sirtalis) reared on same or different diets: evidence for a chemical mirror?

    Gordon M. Burghardt;Adam M. Partin;Harry E. Pepper;Jordan M. Steele

    (2021)
    10 Citations
  • Predators learning to avoid toxic invasive prey: a study on individual variation among free-ranging lizards

    Georgia Ward-Fear;Georgia Ward-Fear;Gregory P. Brown;Gregory P. Brown;Richard Shine;Richard Shine

    (2020)
    10 Citations

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Best Scientists Contributing to This Journal

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