Journal of Experimental Biology is the leading primary research journal in comparative physiology and publishes papers on the form and function of living organisms at all levels of biological organisation, from the molecular and subcellular to the integrated whole animal.
Our authors and readers reflect a broad interdisciplinary group of scientists who study molecular, cellular and organismal physiology in an evolutionary and environmental context.
Special issues
A Century of Comparative Biomechanics: Emerging and Historical Perspectives on an Interdisciplinary Field

In celebration of JEB’s 100th anniversary, this Special Issue focuses on broad biological questions addressed through the lens of comparative biomechanics. Crosscutting through time, the series of Reviews, Commentaries and Research Articles addresses questions from the vantage points of the history of the field, today's research and the future of comparative biomechanics. Read the Editorial by Guest Editors Sheila Patek, Monica Daley and Sanjay Sane.
FREE online access to all articles.
Open Access publishing options
We recognise the benefits of Open Access publishing and, as one of the very first Transformative Journals, we offer several publishing options to all of our authors, whatever their funder or financial status.
Read more about the OA options we offer our authors.
The Forest of Biologists 
As part of a new biodiversity initiative from The Company of Biologists, JEB now plants a native tree in a UK forest for each published Research and Review article. We are also funding the restoration and preservation of ancient woodland and dedicating these trees to our peer reviewers. All of these trees are represented together in a virtual forest. Read the Editorial to find out more about the launch of this initiative.
Conversation

JEB@100: an interview with Monitoring Editor Katie Gilmour
Katie Gilmour tells us how she first encountered the JEB Editorial team as a graduate student at the University of Cambridge, UK, and how she would like to have a Star Trek tricorder to monitor fish non-invasively in the field
Find out more about the series on our Interviews page and see below for more interviews:
In the field
JEB authors sometimes go to the ends of the earth to answer the questions that intrigue them - read about some of their experiences in our In the field series.
Early-career researchers
Read our interviews with early-career researchers and find out more about how JEB supports junior scientists
Featured articles

Editors' choice
Fan worms make a hasty retreat when hiding in their tubes and now Wei Jiang, Jianing Wu & colleagues have discovered that the worms, which vanish in just 76 ms, protect their fronds from being torn apart by collapsing the fluffy barbules against their tentacles while compressing ridges on their bodies to reduce the friction as they retreat within their tubes.
Reviews and Commentaries
CENTENARY ARTICLE: Lost: on what level should we aim to understand animal navigation? by Joe Wynn & Miriam Liedvogel
CENTENARY ARTICLE: Air sacs are a key adaptive trait of the insect respiratory system by Jon F. Harrison, Evan K. G. McKenzie, Stav Talal, John J. Socha, Mark W. Westneat, Philip G. D. Matthews
CENTENARY ARTICLE: How scaling approaches can reveal fundamental principles in physiology and biomechanics by Christofer J. Clemente & Taylor J. M. Dick