Announcing the Vietnamese Journal of Primatology

As part of the Indo-Burma hotspot, Vietnam harbors an exceptional concentration of biodiversity, and much of its territory is encompassed by a unique bioregion with a remarkable number of endemic plant and animal species. This wealth of life extends to its primate fauna as well – at least 24 species and subspecies are found in the country, five of them endemic. All five of these endemic taxa are Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, and four of these five have consistently featured in the World’s Top 25 Most Endangered Primates, reserved for those species in the direst of circumstances. Owing to the inexorable pressures of human population growth and widespread forest destruction – combined with heavy bushmeat hunting and a weak enforcement of wildlife law – Vietnam’s unique primate fauna is almost universally threatened with extinction.

To help address these issues from a scientific perspective, a new journal is now being published that focuses on the systematics, biology and conservation of these severely endangered primates. The Vietnamese Journal of Primatology is intended to provide an overview of primatological research now underway in Vietnam, with an emphasis on the biogeography, phylogeny and conservation status of native taxa. The journal’s editor-in-chief is Tilo Nadler of the Endangered Primate Rescue Center (EPRC), assisted by co-editors Ha Thang Long of the EPRC, Vu Ngoc Thanh of Hanoi National University, and Christian Roos of the German Primate Centre – all of whom have extensive experience with primate research in the Indochinese region. Throughout its conception and formative stages, the journal has been strongly supported by the HAKI Company in Hanoi and by the German Primate Centre.

Published in English with Vietnamese abstracts, the Vietnamese Journal of Primatology is meant to share information on current primate research with the international community. The journal welcomes manuscripts from all fields pertinent to research on, and conservation of, the nonhuman primate taxa which occur in Vietnam and the neighboring countries of Cambodia, China and Laos. The journal will publish both original research (as full articles or short communications) and review articles; manuscripts may be submitted to Tilo Nadler or Christian Roos. For more information, please contact Tilo Nadler at t.nadler (at) mail.hut.edu.vn.

For more information on how to submit a manuscript, please see the VJP submission guidelines.