The ICNAF Research Bulletin, first issued in 1964 and published annually, was established to provide a means of publishing the results of individual research relevant to the ICNAF Area. Although the majority of its material is selected from papers which appear in the first instance as research documents presented to annual meetings of the Commission's Standing Committee on Research and Statistics, other papers were occasionally accepted for publication if their contents were considered relevant to the work of the Commission. In order to maintain a high standard of publication, each contribution was subjected to the scrutiny of one or more referees selected from a list of scientists directly engaged in the work of the Commission.