The 13 Weirdest-Named Academic Journals

Scientists are constantly out proving how the world works, often answering questions most people wouldn’t think deserve probing, much less funding: how fast couples walk together, the fluid dynamics of elephant pee, what makes turkeys sexy and how lesbian couples hold hands. And what of the academy that publishes these works? These journals undoubtedly churn out important work cataloging the day-to-day grind of the scientific machine. But…some of them have ridiculous names. Some, like the Nordic Council for Reindeer Husbandry Research’s publication Rangifer, are so incredibly specific you’d think they’d run out of submissions after the first issue. Others, like the journal Small, seem so broad you wonder what they might even publish.

In our daily explorations of new studies and academic papers, we’ve come across a few scholarly publications, from the very scientific to the not-so, that crack us up. Here are some of our favorites.