a.^ In some issues of National Geographic, the cover story would have one title on the cover and a different title (with the same meaning) on the headline of the actual article, or the title may appear different on the table of contents. Titles represented in this list, are taken from the cover and the citation represents the title listed in the table of contents.
b.^ Images could also be a painting, drawing or computer rendering.
c.^ There were five versions of this issue of the magazine, each from a different author and photographer.
d.^ Pictorial: No author associated with photos.
e.^ Multiple uncredited photographers. Photomontage of multiple past cover images
f.^ One large picture alongside a photomontage of multiple past cover images
g.^ Two photos on the cover from two different photographers
h.^ Although two photographers are credited, it is not stated to which one took the photo.
i.^ Uncredited photograph or illustration
j.^ Multiple articles associated with the cover. Cover photo not depicted in those articles.
k.^ Uncredited author. Usually a breakout article.
^ Braverman, Sandra (September 23, 1990). "A Photographic Odyssey" . The Boston Globe . p. West 9. Retrieved April 22, 2023 – via newspapers.com .
^ Dukehart, Coburn (October 1, 2013). " 'National Geographic' Celebrates 125 Years Of Photography" . NPR.com . Retrieved April 12, 2023 .
^ "National Geographic" . postalmuseum.si.edu . Washington, D.C. : Smithsonian Institution . Retrieved April 19, 2023 .
^ a b Katz, Harry Katz (May 2012). "Bringing the Civil War to Life" . National Geographic . Vol. 221, no. 5. p. 38.
^ a b Achenbach, Joel (November 2016). "The Race to the Red Planet" . National Geographic . Vol. 230, no. 5. p. 30.
^ a b Rosenberg, Tina (January 2017). "American Girl" . National Geographic . Vol. 231, no. 1. p. 110.
^ a b Mann, Charles C. (June 2011). "Birth of Religion" . National Geographic . Vol. 219, no. 6. p. 34.
^ a b Draper, Robert (February 2013). "New Old Libya" . National Geographic . Vol. 223, no. 2. p. 28.
^ a b Brown, Chip (January 2014). "Kayapo Courage" . National Geographic . Vol. 225, no. 1. p. 30.
^ a b Nordhaus, Hannah (November 2018). "Battle for the American West" . National Geographic . Vol. 234, no. 5. p. 42.
^ a b Anderson, Scott (February 2010). "The Polygamists" . National Geographic . Vol. 217, no. 2. p. 34.
^ a b Franzen, Jonathan (January 2018). "Why Birds Matter" . National Geographic . Vol. 233, no. 1. p. 30.
^ a b Wallace, Scott ; Fagon, Chris (October 2018). "Threatened By the Outside World" . National Geographic . Vol. 234, no. 4. p. 42.
^ a b Pringle, Heather (April 2011). "Genius of the Inca" . National Geographic . Vol. 219, no. 4. p. 34.
^ Fischman, Josh (January 2010). "A Better Life With Bionics" . National Geographic . Vol. 217, no. 1. p. 34.
^ Chadwick, Douglas H. (March 2010). "Wolf Wars" . National Geographic . Vol. 217, no. 3. p. 34.
^ Kingsolver, Barbara (April 2010). "Water Is Life" . National Geographic . Vol. 217, no. 4. p. 36.
^ Funk, Mckenzie (May 2010). "A Mountain Transformed" . National Geographic . Vol. 217, no. 5. p. 34.
^ Jenkins, Mark (June 2010). "Greenland's Changing Face" . National Geographic . Vol. 217, no. 6. p. 34.
^ Shreeve, Jamie (July 2010). "Evolutionary Road" . National Geographic . Vol. 218, no. 1. p. 34.
^ Todhunter, Andrew (August 2010). "Deep Dark Secrets" . National Geographic . Vol. 218, no. 2. p. 34.
^ Hawass, Zahi (September 2010). "Tut's Family Secrets" . National Geographic . Vol. 218, no. 3. p. 34.
^ Bourne, Joel K. (October 2010). "The Spill" . National Geographic . Vol. 218, no. 4. p. 28.
^ Quammen, David (November 2010). "Great Migrations" . National Geographic . Vol. 218, no. 5. p. 30.
^ Draper, Robert (December 2010). "David and Solomon" . National Geographic . Vol. 218, no. 6. p. 66.
^ Kunzig, Robert (January 2011). "Population 7 Billion" . National Geographic . Vol. 219, no. 1. p. 32.
^ Shea, Neil (February 2011). "Under Paris" . National Geographic . Vol. 219, no. 2. p. 104.
^ Ratliff, Evan (March 2011). "Taming the Wild" . National Geographic . Vol. 219, no. 3. p. 34.
^ Jenkins, Mark (May 2011). "Yosemite's Superclimbers" . National Geographic . Vol. 219, no. 5. p. 98.
^ Brown, Chip (July 2011). "Cleopatra, Is That You?" . National Geographic . Vol. 220, no. 1. p. 40.
^ Barcott, Bruce (August 2011). "Spirit Bear" . National Geographic . Vol. 220, no. 2. p. 34.
^ Shute, Nancy Shute (September 2011). "If We Only Had Wings" . National Geographic . Vol. 220, no. 3. p. 66.
^ Dobbs, David (October 2011). "Beautiful Teenage Brains" . National Geographic . Vol. 220, no. 4. p. 36.
^ Alexander, Caroline (November 2011). "Magical Mystery Hoard" . National Geographic . Vol. 220, no. 5. p. 38.
^ Nicolson, Adam (December 2011). "The Micicle of the King James Bible" . National Geographic . Vol. 220, no. 6. p. 36.
^ Miller, Peter (January 2012). "A Thing or Two About Twins" . National Geographic . Vol. 221, no. 1. p. 38.
^ Ratliff, Evan (February 2012). "New Tricks From Old Dogs" . National Geographic . Vol. 221, no. 2. p. 34.
^ Todhunter, Andrew (March 2012). "The Apostles External Journey" . National Geographic . Vol. 221, no. 3. p. 38.
^ Sides, Hampton (April 2012). "The Titanic, Illuminated" . National Geographic . Vol. 221, no. 4. p. 78. ASIN B00EZ8O0CC .
^ Ferris, Timothy (June 2012). "Sunny, With Chance of Woe" . National Geographic . Vol. 221, no. 6. p. 36.
^ Bloch, Hannah (July 2012). "The Riddle of Easter Island" . National Geographic . Vol. 222, no. 1. p. 30.
^ Fuller, Alexandra (August 2012). "Life After Wounded Knee" . National Geographic . Vol. 222, no. 2. p. 30.
^ Miller, Peter (September 2012). "Weather Gone Wild" . National Geographic . Vol. 222, no. 3. p. 30.
^ Christy, Bryan (October 2012). "Ivory Worship" . National Geographic . Vol. 222, no. 4. p. 28.
^ Gorney, Cynthia (November 2012). "Cuba's New Now" . National Geographic . Vol. 222, no. 5. p. 28.
^ Quammen, David (December 2012). "Scaling a Forest Giant" . National Geographic . Vol. 222, no. 6. p. 28.
^ Folger, Tim (January 2013). "Why We Explore" . National Geographic . Vol. 223, no. 1. p. 68.
^ Wallace, Scott (January 2013). "Saving Ecuador's Forest" . National Geographic . Vol. 223, no. 1. p. 82.
^ Wolfe, Nathan (January 2013). "Discovering Microbes Within Us" . National Geographic . Vol. 223, no. 1. p. 136.
^ Staff writer (January 2013). "Up on Earth's Roof" . National Geographic . Vol. 223, no. 1. p. Ad5.
^ Staff writer (January 2013). "As Low As You Can Go" . National Geographic . Vol. 223, no. 1. p. Ad7.
^ Quammen, David (March 2013). "America Stikes New Oil" . National Geographic . Vol. 223, no. 3. p. 28.
^ Zimmer, Carl (April 2013). "Back to Life" . National Geographic . Vol. 223, no. 4. p. 28.
^ Hall, Stephen S. (May 2013). "New Clues to a Long Life" . National Geographic . Vol. 223, no. 5. p. 28.
^ Gwin, Peter (June 2013). "The Mystery of Risk" . National Geographic . Vol. 223, no. 6. p. 30.
^ Irion, Robert (July 2013). "It All Began In Chaos" . National Geographic . Vol. 224, no. 1. p. 42.
^ Quammen, David (August 2013). "Sugar Love: A Not So Sweet Tale" . National Geographic . Vol. 224, no. 2. p. 78.
^ Folger, Tim (September 2013). "Rising Seas" . National Geographic . Vol. 224, no. 3. p. 30.
^ Draper, Robert (October 2013). "The Photography Issue" . National Geographic . Vol. 224, no. 4. p. 28.
^ Draper, Robert (November 2013). "Last Days of a Storm Chacer" . National Geographic . Vol. 224, no. 5. p. 28.
^ Salopek, Paul (December 2013). "Out of Eden" . National Geographic . Vol. 224, no. 6. p. 30.
^ Zimmer, Carl (February 2014). "Secrets of the Brain" . National Geographic . Vol. 225, no. 2. p. 28.
^ Finkel, Michael (March 2014). "Star Eater" . National Geographic . Vol. 225, no. 3. p. 88.
^ Slater, Lauren (April 2014). "Wild Obsession" . National Geographic . Vol. 225, no. 4. p. 96.
^ Foley, Johnathan (May 2014). "Feeding Nine Billion" . National Geographic . Vol. 225, no. 5. p. 26.
^ Paterniti, Michael (June 2014). "Dogs of War" . National Geographic . Vol. 225, no. 6. p. 26.
^ Lemonick, Michael (July 2014). "Life Beyond Earth" . National Geographic . Vol. 226, no. 1. p. 26.
^ Smith, Roff (August 2014). "Before Stonehenge" . National Geographic . Vol. 226, no. 2. p. 26.
^ Draper, Robert (September 2014). "Rethinking Nero" . National Geographic . Vol. 226, no. 3. p. 30.
^ Mueller, Tom (October 2014). "King Spinosaurus" . National Geographic . Vol. 226, no. 4. p. 100.
^ Zimmer, Carl (November 2014). "Mindsuckers" . National Geographic . Vol. 226, no. 5. p. 36.
^ Staff writer (December 2014). "The Joy of Food" . National Geographic . Vol. 226, no. 6. p. 36.
^ Hodges, Glen (January 2015). "The First Artists" . National Geographic . Vol. 227, no. 1. p. 124.
^ Alexander, Caroline (February 2015). "In Invisible War in the Brain" . National Geographic . Vol. 227, no. 2. p. 30.
^ Achenbach, Joel (March 2015). "The Age of Disbelief" . National Geographic . Vol. 227, no. 3. p. 30.
^ Goodheart, Adam (April 2015). "Lincoln" . National Geographic . Vol. 227, no. 4. p. 30.
^ Foer, Joshua (May 2015). "It's Time for a Conservation" . National Geographic . Vol. 227, no. 5. p. 30.
^ Sides, Hampton (June 2015). "High Science" . National Geographic . Vol. 227, no. 6. p. 30.
^ Drake, Nadia (July 2015). "Pluto at Last" . National Geographic . Vol. 228, no. 1. p. 112.
^ Draper, Robert (August 2015). "Will The Pope Change the Vatican?" . National Geographic . Vol. 228, no. 2. p. 30.
^ Christy, Bryan (September 2015). "Tracking Ivory" . National Geographic . Vol. 228, no. 3. p. 30.
^ Shreeve, Jamie (October 2015). "Mystery Man" . National Geographic . Vol. 228, no. 4. p. 30.
^ Miller, Peter (November 2015). "Pulse of the Planet" . National Geographic . Vol. 228, no. 5. p. 146.
^ Orth, Maureen (December 2015). "The World's Most Powerful Woman" . National Geographic . Vol. 228, no. 6. p. 30.
^ Quammen, David (January 2016). "This Land is Your Land" . National Geographic . Vol. 229, no. 1. p. 24.
^ Smith, Roff (February 2016). "London Down Under" . National Geographic . Vol. 229, no. 2. p. 90.
^ Royte, Elizabeth (March 2016). "Waste Not, Want Not" . National Geographic . Vol. 229, no. 3. p. 30.
^ Shea, Rachel Hartigan (April 2016). "Every Last One" . National Geographic . Vol. 229, no. 4. p. 70.
^ Quammen, David (May 2016). "Yellowstone: America's Wild Idea" . National Geographic . Vol. 229, no. 5. p. 54.
^ Mueller, Tom (June 2016). "Plundering the Past" . National Geographic . Vol. 229, no. 6. p. 58.
^ Greenwood, Veronique (July 2016). "Beyond Reasonable Doubt" . National Geographic . Vol. 230, no. 1. p. 30.
^ Specter, Michael (August 2016). "DNA Revolution" . National Geographic . Vol. 230, no. 2. p. 30.
^ Dobbs, David (September 2016). "A Cure in Sight" . National Geographic . Vol. 230, no. 3. p. 30.
^ Egan, Timothy (October 2016). "Unplugging the Selfie Generation" . National Geographic . Vol. 230, no. 4. p. 30.
^ Vance, Erik (December 2016). "Mind Over Matter" . National Geographic . Vol. 230, no. 6. p. 30.
^ Barnett, Cynthia (February 2017). "Saving the Seas" . National Geographic . Vol. 231, no. 2. p. 54.
^ Pringle, Heather (March 2017). "New Visions of the Vikings" . National Geographic . Vol. 231, no. 3. p. 30.
^ Max, T.D. (April 2017). "Beyond Human" . National Geographic . Vol. 231, no. 4. p. 40.
^ Clab, Claudia (May 2017). "Who is Genius" . National Geographic . Vol. 231, no. 5. p. 30.
^ Bhattacharjee, Yudhijit (June 2017). "Why We Lie" . National Geographic . Vol. 231, no. 6. p. 30.
^ Ballesta, Laurent (July 2017). "The Crisis on the Ice" . National Geographic . Vol. 232, no. 1. p. 50.
^ "Shoot for the Moon. Again" . National Geographic . Vol. 232, no. 2. August 2017. p. 3.
^ Aguilera-Hellweg, Max (September 2017). "The Addicted Brain" . National Geographic . Vol. 232, no. 3. p. 30.
^ Gerber, Tony (October 2017). "Becoming Jane Goodall" . National Geographic . Vol. 232, no. 4. p. 30.
^ Buettner, Dan (November 2017). "The World's Happiest Places" . National Geographic . Vol. 232, no. 5. p. 30.
^ Romey, Kristin (December 2017). "The Search for the Real Jesus" . National Geographic . Vol. 232, no. 6. p. 30.
^ Draper, Robert (February 2018). "They Are Watching You" . National Geographic . Vol. 233, no. 2. p. 30.
^ Drake, Nadia (March 2018). "Beyond the Blue Marble" . National Geographic . Vol. 233, no. 3. p. 30.
^ Edmonds, Patricia (April 2018). "Skin Deep" . National Geographic . Vol. 233, no. 4. p. 12.
^ Fadel, Leila (May 2018). "Picasso, Genius" . National Geographic . Vol. 233, no. 5. p. 98.
^ Parker, Laura (June 2018). "Plastics?" . National Geographic . Vol. 233, no. 6. p. 40.
^ Brennan, Christine (July 2018). "Faster. Higher. Smarter. Stronger" . National Geographic . Vol. 234, no. 1. p. 42.
^ Finkel, Michael (August 2018). "The Science of Sleep" . National Geographic . Vol. 234, no. 2. p. 40.
^ Connors, Joanna (September 2018). "Katie's New Face" . National Geographic . Vol. 234, no. 3. p. 40.
^ Draper, Robert (December 2018). "The Bible Hunters" . National Geographic . Vol. 234, no. 6. p. 40.
^ Smith, Fran (January 2019). "Every Body is Unique" . National Geographic . Vol. 235, no. 1. p. 42.
^ Synnott, Mark (February 2019). "Solo" . National Geographic . Vol. 235, no. 2. p. 42.
^ Shreeve, Jamie (March 2019). "Who's Out There?" . National Geographic . Vol. 235, no. 3. p. 42.
^ Shea, Neil (April 2019). "Walking Tokyo" . National Geographic . Vol. 235, no. 4. p. 38.
^ Kalb, Claudia (May 2019). "Leonardo's Enduring Brilliance" . National Geographic . Vol. 235, no. 5. p. 56.
^ Daly, Natasha (June 2019). "Wildlife Tourism" . National Geographic . Vol. 235, no. 6. p. 44.
^ "How Humans Got to the Moon" . National Geographic . Vol. 236, no. 1. July 2019. p. 44.
^ Salopek, Paul (August 2019). "Waling With Migrants" . National Geographic . Vol. 236, no. 2. p. 40.
^ Shea, Neil (September 2019). "The New Cold War" . National Geographic . Vol. 236, no. 3. p. 50.
^ Kolbert, Elizabeth (October 2019). "Vanishing" . National Geographic . Vol. 236, no. 4. p. 40.
^ "Women: A Century of Change" . National Geographic . Vol. 236, no. 5. November 2019.
^ Lawler, Andrew (December 2019). "Under Jerusalem, Ancient Finds - and New Controversies" . National Geographic . Vol. 236, no. 6. p. 40.