Population Biology Modeling & Theory journal | Evolutionary Games: Mathematical Theory and Biological Insights

About the Journal

Population Biology Modeling & Theory (PBMT) is a peer-reviewed journal reporting advances in modeling and theory in population biology, covering areas including demography, ecology, epidemiology, evolutionary biology, population genetics, and phylogenetics. In addition to research articles, the journal also publishes commentaries, scholarly reviews, software notes, and pedagogical articles.

PBMT is the journal of the Society for Modeling & Theory in Population Biology. Published by Stanford University Press, PBMT is a society-owned open-access publication that emphasizes serving the needs of the modeling & theory community. Content is free to authors and readers. The journal was founded in 2025.

Call For Papers

PBMT is planning a special issue, Evolutionary Games: Mathematical Theory and Biological Insights. [Note: contributions to this special issue are by invitation from the issue editors only.]

Evolutionary game theory (EGT) offers a powerful modeling framework for analyzing frequency-dependent interactions in biological, social, and artificial systems. Originally adapted from economic models and applied to animal behavior, EGT has become a foundational tool for studying phenomena ranging from microbial competition and tumor progression to cultural dynamics and cooperative AI. The field’s mathematical foundations have expanded over the years, incorporating tools from dynamical systems, probability theory, partial differential equations, and network science. This diverse modeling toolkit has enabled researchers to examine how social behaviors evolve in structured populations, how empirical data can inform game parameters, and how environmental feedbacks shape evolutionary dynamics. The purpose of this special feature is to gather insights and research arising from the workshop Evolutionary Games: Mathematical Theory and Biological Insights at the National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology held in Chicago in May 2026.

The editors of the special issue are Alex McAvoy (UNC), Joshua Plotkin (U Penn), Daniel B. Cooney (U Illinois Urbana-Champaign), and Olivia Chu (Bryn Mawr College).

Submission Process

All submissions will be assessed at the editorial level. Articles that are not declined at this stage will be sent for peer review. Before submitting a manuscript, authors are responsible for obtaining permission to publish any material included with the submission, such as photographs and datasets. All authors identified on the submission must consent to be identified as an author. Where appropriate, research should be approved by an appropriate ethics committee in accordance with the legal requirements of the study’s country.

Original Research Articles, Notes, and Software Reports can be submitted without prior consultation with an editor. For all other types of manuscripts, manuscripts are generally invited by the associated Section Editors, and unsolicited submissions are unlikely to be accepted. Authors interested in writing such manuscripts are encouraged to contact Section Editors for relevant sections, or the Editor-in-Chief, summarizing the article they propose to write and indicating the type of article.

Peer reviewers at PBMT are anonymous, unless they wish to identify themselves to authors. The review system is single-blind: author names are known to reviewers.

Source and more information: https://pbmt.journals.sup.org/index.php/pbmt/announcement/view/13