Museum Blog

Back to Blog

New species can be published online

Posted 9/18/2012 12:09 AM by Frank Krell | Comments

2012 has brought two pivotal decisions for the publication of newly discovered species. Before, everything relevant to scientific names (nomenclature) had to be published on hard copy. From this year, species discoveries can be published in online journals. Electronic works containing new animal names need to be registered in the vastly overhauled ZooBank, ISSN/ISBN needs to be provided, and the works need to be intended for electronic archiving. Open-access journals are now a suitable outlet for species discoveries and other taxonomic work. BMC Evolutionary Biology, an open-access journal, published in interview on this topic with Frank Krell, Commissioner of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature and Chair of the ICZN ZooBank Committee.