The American Naturalist is the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society of Naturalists, whose purpose is "to advance and to diffuse knowledge of organic evolution and other broad biological principles so as to enhance the conceptual unification of the biological sciences."

[3] In 1878 the journal was for sale and Edward Cope bought half the rights.

He moved the journal to Philadelphia and arranged to edit it jointly with Professor Alpheus S. Packard Jr.

[4] In 1897, a group of professors from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and Tufts University bought the rights from the Cope estate and kept the journal in publication until 1907 when J. McKeen Cattell acquired control.

Although the ASN became increasingly involved in editing The American Naturalist through changes in 1941 and 1951, the journal remained with the Cattell family until 1968, when the University of Chicago Press took it over after Jacques Cattell's death.