Most people get their scientific updates from teachers, textbooks, newspapers, and TV. Necessarily, though, such science is dumbed down for an audience lacking a strong, scientific background. So how do scientists pass around information? Not surprisingly, there are a number of ways—for information outside their field of expertise, news often comes from the same sources as other folks'. However, within their fields, the scientific journal is one of several avenues for spreading new information and ideas.
Such journals publish results of new research, and usually within less
than a year after a manuscript is submitted. Thus, any scientist can keep up with
recent knowledge. For our northern Chihuahuan Desert Region, such journals as the
"Southwestern Naturalist", the "Texas Journal of Science", and the
"New Mexico Journal of Science" handle research of regional impact. Other
journals are wider in scope, including such outlets as the "Journal of
Mammalogy", "Science", "Nature", and the "Journal of
Vertebrate Paleontology". All told, there are several thousand natural history
journals. We've come a long ways from the time when a journal merely meant
diary.
Contributor: Arthur H. Harris, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.