Interesting New Journal: Religion, Brain & Behavior

It looks like it will start next year. You can read about it at Religion, Brain & Behavior. It will be very interdisciplinary. Here are the aims and scope:

"The aim of Religion, Brain & Behavior (RBB) is to provide a vehicle for the advancement of current biological approaches to understanding religion at every level from brain to behavior. RBB unites multiple disciplinary perspectives that share these interests. The journal seeks empirical and theoretical studies that reflect rigorous scientific standards and a sophisticated appreciation of the academic study of religion. RBB welcomes contributions from a wide array of biological and related disciplines, including cognitive science, cognitive neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, social psychology, evolutionary anthropology, social neuroscience, neurology, genetics, demography, bioeconomics, neuroeconomics, physiology, developmental psychology, psychology of religion, moral psychology, archaeology, mimetics, behavioral ecology, epidemiology, public health, cultural evolution, and religious studies. In summary, RBB considers high quality papers in any aspect of the brain-behavior nexus related to religion.

RBB publishes high quality research articles and target articles with about ten solicited commentaries and an author response. Issues are published three times during 2011, and four times annually from 2012 onwards."

It will be published by Institute for the Biocultural Study of Religion. There vision is:

"The leadership of the Institute for the Biocultural Study of Religion (IBCSR) has an immodest vision for transforming current and future religion-science interactions, a transformation powered by the clarity of its ideas and the quality of its research. Our ultimate aim is to contribute to a revolution in the cultural understanding of religion through rigorous research-based knowledge of its nature and functions in individuals and groups."

I heard about this from anthropoligist Richard Sosis. You can read about some of his incredible research in the fascinating NY Times article called Darwin’s God.