ABSTRACTThe position of geography journals published by learned societies has undergone major changes over the last decades. Growth of scientific output, specialisation, the growing importance of English as the common language for scientific publication and changes in the science publishing industry due to the rise of the Internet have challenged and continue to challenge the classic geography journals from the various national geography societies. This paper shows how these journals perform in terms of numbers of citations, internationalisation of authorship and exposure in libraries, databases and on the web, compared to some key journals from commercial publishers. It discusses choices made by these journals and the threats and opportunities they are confronted with. The paper concludes that although the conditions for non‐UK and non‐US society journals in geography have become less favourable, there are viable routes forward. On the occasion of its publication centennial, the position of the Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie (TESG) is highlighted.