Presentation
Presenting our journal
The Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris (BMSAP) were first published in 1859, the year when the Société d'Anthropologie de Paris (SAP, the Paris Anthropological Society), was founded, making it the world's oldest journal in the field of biological anthropology. The BMSAP offers multidisciplinary coverage of the different fields of anthropology, an area where human biology and human culture intersect. The papers explore the origins and evolution of Hominids, their populating processes deduced from archaeological, genetic and demographic data, the dynamics of change in societies and their environment and the biological, social and cultural responses thus induced, as well as funerary archaeo-anthropology and the history of our discipline. We publish original articles, reviews and research notes in English or French. The BMSAP also publishes book reviews, lists of PhD theses produced in the relevant disciplines each year in France and summary proceedings of the annual Société d'Anthropologie de Paris seminars.
The Société d’Anthropologie de Paris (SAP) was founded in 1859 and is the world's oldest Society of Anthropology. Although its name has not been changed, it has in effect become the French Society of Biological Anthropology. Operating as a charitable institution governed by the French Law on Associations of 1901, it was recognised as working in the public interest by a decree issued on 21 June 1864. Its purpose is to further studies of the Natural History of Man, in other words the origin and biological diversity of the human species.
How we operate
The SAP Board of Directors elects the Chief Editors of the BMSAP (usually two) among its members. The Chief Editors are responsible for all aspects of the journal's management. They are supported in their work by an Editorial Committee whose members are the President and Secretary-General of the Society, the Chief Editors themselves and several members of the Board of Directors, who are elected to the Editorial Committee on a one-year renewable basis.
The Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris also works with an international peer-review panel comprising 25 anthropologists from different countries and areas of specialisation in Biological Anthropology. Of the 25 members, 15 work in foreign institutions and represent 9 countries other than France.
The BMSAP journal uses the international criteria generally applied for peer reviews of scientific work. Manuscripts submitted to the BMSAP should be sent to the Chief Editors (redacchef[at]sapweb.fr). After an initial review by the Chief Editors, the manuscripts are sent to the Editorial Committee to discuss their submission to expert peer review. This review is conducted by a minimum of two specialists in the discipline to which the article relates. Usually, but not necessarily, at least one of these specialists is member of the BMSAP peer review panel. In order to be published, each manuscript must (i) receive approval from the members of the editorial committee; (ii) receive approval from the reviewers to whom they are submitted and (iii) comply with the presentation requirements detailed in the Guide for Authors.
Financial support
The BMSAP are supported by the Institut des Sciences Humaines et Sociales du CNRS and by the Fonds National pour la Science Ouverte.