Hercynia – Contributions to the Study and Conservation of Natural Resources

Hercynia – Beiträge zur Erforschung und Pflege der natürlichen Ressourcen (commonly shortened to Hercynia, and subtitled Ökologie und Umwelt in Mitteleuropa, "Ecology and Environment in Central Europe") is a German-language scientific periodical issued at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. It publishes scholarly articles devoted to the study, care and protection of natural resources, spanning the disciplines of botany, zoology, geology, geography, and forestry and agriculture. Its geographic focus is the so-called "Hercynian region" of Central Europe, which the journal itself defines as the area bounded by the Mittelland Canal line to the north, the Oder-Neiße line to the east, the Main line to the south and the Weser line to the west. The journal's first volume appeared in 1937. Its predecessor was the Bericht der Vereinigung zur Erforschung der Heimischen Pflanzenwelt in Halle a. d. Saale, published from 1914 to 1922. The first volume of the "Neue Folge" (New Series), the sequence still running today, was published in 1963. The periodical appears at a rate of one volume per year, each volume normally comprising two issues. Hercynia is published under the auspices of Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, with the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt (University and State Library of Saxony-Anhalt) handling publication and hosting the online archive. The journal is peer-reviewed and follows an open-access policy: it provides free access to its contents on the principle that the free public availability of research benefits worldwide exchange of knowledge. Its editorial language is German, with English also offered on the site, and its archive is browsable by volume and issue, with book reviews (Rezensionen) appearing within issues. The online archive lists volumes from the current year back through the journal's run, and the journal is catalogued by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (DNB 01069045X). As a scholarly serial rather than a commercial consumer product, Hercynia functions as an academic "brand" tied to its university publisher and its regional ecological remit. Its readership consists of researchers, students, conservation practitioners and librarians, and its content is indexed and made available through the university library's open-access platform.

Hercynia traces its lineage to the Bericht der Vereinigung zur Erforschung der Heimischen Pflanzenwelt in Halle a. d. Saale, a publication of the association for the study of the native plant world in Halle an der Saale, which appeared from 1914 to 1922. The journal proper, Hercynia – Beiträge zur Erforschung und Pflege der natürlichen Ressourcen, published its first volume in 1937 under the auspices of what is today Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. After an interruption, the modern sequence known as the "Neue Folge" (New Series) began with its first volume in 1963, and this series continues to the present day. Throughout its run the journal has served as a regional scientific forum for the Hercynian area of Central Europe, publishing work in botany, zoology, geology, geography, and forestry and agriculture, with an emphasis on the study, care and protection of natural resources. The journal defines its own geographic scope as the region between the Mittelland Canal line in the north, the Oder-Neiße line in the east, the Main line in the south and the Weser line in the west. In the digital era the journal has been hosted on the open-access platform of the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt (University and State Library of Saxony-Anhalt), which maintains an online archive of issues. The archive lists volumes from the current period back through the journal's history, including recent volumes such as Hercynia N. F. Bd. 58 Nr. 1 (2025), Bd. 57 Nr. 1 (2024), Bd. 56 Nr. 1/2 (2023), Bd. 55 Nr. 1/2 (2022), and earlier volumes going back through the 2010s and beyond. Issues have regularly included book reviews (Rezensionen) alongside research articles. The journal is peer-reviewed and follows an open-access policy, and it is catalogued by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek under the identifier DNB 01069045X. Publication is organized at the university, with the editorial office based at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and the library handling technical and publishing infrastructure.

• 2025

  Hercynia N. F. Bd. 58 Nr. 1 (2025) listed in the online archive.

• 1963

  First volume of the "Neue Folge" (New Series), the sequence still running today, is published.

• 1937

  First volume of Hercynia is published.

• 1914

  Predecessor publication, Bericht der Vereinigung zur Erforschung der Heimischen Pflanzenwelt in Halle a. d. Saale, begins publication (runs to 1922).

A university-published, peer-reviewed, open-access German-language journal specializing in the ecology and natural resources of the Central European Hercynian region.

• Hercynia N. F. (journal volumes and issues)

  Annual volumes, each typically comprising two issues, containing peer-reviewed research articles and book reviews.

• Open-access online archive

  Digital archive of issues hosted by the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt.

1. 1Archiv | Hercynia - Ökologie und Umwelt in Mitteleuropapublic.bibliothek.uni-halle.de
2. 2Über die Zeitschrift | Hercynia - Ökologie und Umwelt in Mitteleuropapublic.bibliothek.uni-halle.de
3. 3Schutz personenbezogener Daten | Hercynia - Ökologie und Umwelt in Mitteleuropapublic.bibliothek.uni-halle.de
4. 4Kontakt | Hercynia - Ökologie und Umwelt in Mitteleuropapublic.bibliothek.uni-halle.de
5. 5Hercynia: Beitraege zur Erforschung und Pflege der Natuerlichen Ressourcen (Wikidata)wikidata.org
6. 6Hercynia (Zeitschrift) – Wikipedia (German)de.wikipedia.org