The journal Zootaxa has been named a
Rising Star in the field of Plant & Animal Science
by ScienceWatch.com multiple
times* this year,
meaning that the journal has had the highest percent
increase in total cites compared with other journals in its
field. The journal's current citation record in this field
in Essential Science Indicators from
Thomson
Reuters includes 3,333 papers cited a total of 2,451
times between January 1, 1998 and April 30,
2008.
Since its founding in 2001, Zootaxa
has published 8,141 new taxa. The journal is
published by Magnolia Press.
In
the interview below, ScienceWatch.com talks with
Zootaxa's Chief Editor and Founder, Dr. Zhi-Qiang Zhang,
about the journal's history and citation
achievements.
Did you expect Zootaxa to become
highly cited, or is this surprising to you?
Yes, many of my co-editors and I do expect Zootaxa to become
highly cited in the long term, but are surprised that this has happened so
rapidly.
How would you account for the high citation rate of
Zootaxa?
Zootaxa has become the largest and the most important journal in
taxonomy, and taxonomy has been fundamental to all branches of biological
sciences, especially biodiversity, biogeography, and evolutionary
development, as well as of ecology, the environment, and medicine.
Zootaxa provides more high-quality taxonomic information of all
animal taxa more promptly than any other journal. This surely must be the
most important factor contributing to the rapid increase in the citation
rate of the journal. Unlike most other taxonomic journals, Zootaxa
encourages monographs and large taxonomic revisions difficult to publish
elsewhere. These comprehensive, large works attract high citations to
Zootaxa.
Would you give us a brief history of the
journal?
"The large volume of works and citations of
Zootaxa have shown that taxonomic activity
could be much more intense than it was previously
perceived."
Millions of species of animals remain unknown to science. Although there
are many journals that may publish taxonomic papers, it is increasingly
difficult to publish papers on descriptive taxonomy in a timely and
cost-effective manner. Most journals are of a fixed size/frequency and have
limits on the length of papers. This impediment in publishing has a huge
negative impact on taxonomy—the delay and difficulty in getting works
published can discourage taxonomists who worked for years, and unpublished
works are a huge waste of talent and resources. Much needed is a rapid and
efficient journal for descriptive papers and monographs in taxonomy.
Zootaxa was established as a rapid journal at the start of this
century to remove these impediments in taxonomy. From the start,
Zootaxa was designed as an innovative journal for the future. Each
paper or monograph was individually issued, printed, and bound as soon as
it was accepted to allow the fastest possible publication. The online
edition was published on the same philosophy to assist dissemination over
the Internet. There is no fixed frequency, nor is there a limit on the
number of papers published, nor the length of papers published. There is no
page charge for publishing in Zootaxa and color illustrations are
published free of charge in the online edition. All authors are provided
e-reprints (PDF) of their papers without charge. Authors with funding have
the option to pay a small fee for allowing open access of their papers. The
rapidity, cost-effectiveness, high-quality review, and flexibility in the
type and length of manuscripts are all attractive features desired by most
taxonomists.
The journal has received overwhelming support from zoological taxonomists
around the world and rapidly transformed itself from a small journal
publishing 20 papers totaling 302 pages in 2001 to a mega-journal
publishing 1,020 papers in 22,052 pages as frequently as twice each week in
2006. In May 2005, short papers of fewer than 60 pages were no longer
published separately; instead, they were grouped to form issues of 60, 64,
or 68 pages to save paper, printing cost, and mailing cost. Since then,
Zootaxa has been publishing several issues on multiple occasions
each week with over 20,000 pages each year.
What historical factors have contributed to the success
of Zootaxa?
Certainly the biodiversity crisis and the subsequent resolution of many
countries to remove the "taxonomic impediment" in their respective nations
have increased productivity in this area of science in recent years.
Also, there has been an important historic trend in taxonomic publishing
over the last 20 years, in which journal editors have been making
increasing demands on authors to provide phylogenetic and biogeographic
analysis, molecular systematics, and other modern types of information in
taxonomic papers. These publishers have lost sight of the very strong need
for basic description and classification of animals, and many journals no
longer accept papers of that type. In addition, there are long publication
delays and/or increasing page charges for journals that do publish
descriptive taxonomic papers. Zootaxa provides a much-needed
outlet for such works that are difficult to publish elsewhere.
"The Internet has
significantly changed the way taxonomic information
is shared."
Another important factor is the participation of a large number of editors
who are volunteers; they are practicing taxonomists themselves as well as
being editors. This creates a community of people with shared values that
is very important to the success of our science.
Have there been specific developments in the fields
served by Zootaxa that may have contributed?
This is related to the last question. Specific scientific developments in
zoology have favored Zootaxa in an unexpected way. The increasing
popularity of phylogenetic and molecular systematics has led many other
publishers away from their traditional markets in descriptive taxonomy. But
there are still basic needs for rapid availability of taxonomic names and
high-quality taxonomic information is required for basic knowledge of
biodiversity and for related ecological and phylogenetic studies.
What, in your view, is this journal's main significance
or contribution in the field of Plant & Animal Science?
Provision of names and other high-quality taxonomic and phylogenetic
information about animals. Acceleration of rates of descriptions of new
taxa, some of which may be threatened or endangered.
The large volume of works and citations of Zootaxa have shown that
taxonomic activity could be much more intense than it was previously
perceived. Many colleagues have diagnosed the taxonomic impediment as a
lack of enough professionals or of high-throughput methods to describe
biodiversity before its loss. Zootaxa has elegantly showed that to
these two points we should add the lack of proper dissemination media.
There are many highly productive taxonomists out there just asking for
efficient outlet to publish high-quality works. Knowing that
Zootaxa is there to publish their quality works regardless of the
length of papers or number of papers encourages taxonomists to be more
productive than they were before Zootaxa’s availability.
How do you see your field(s) evolving in the next few
years?
Traditional taxonomy is likely to experience major growth in the next few
years. The Internet has significantly changed the way taxonomic information
is shared. Facilities such as the Biodiversity Heritage Library have
enabled open access to legacy taxonomic literature that was difficult to
access in the past (especially in developing countries). Many open
databases (e.g. GIBF, Species2000, ZooBank, etc.) will greatly facilitate
taxonomic research on a global scale. The increased output of taxonomic
research will demand for more effective outlets for publication.
What role do you see for your journal?
Zootaxa leads the way in the innovative and efficient publication
of taxonomic information. Some other journals have already adopted some of
Zootaxa's methods. Zootaxa will continue its own
development by innovation and will meet the needs of taxonomists to publish
their works. The large international base of authors (over 4,000) in
Zootaxa will play an increasing role in forming a community or
society of people with shared values that can further contribute to the
development of this branch of science.
Zootaxa has played a more significant role than most other
international journals in helping taxonomists in biodiversity-rich
developing countries to publish their works. Zootaxa is also very
supportive of graduate students and young scientists everywhere. We expect
the journal to continue to evolve and be able to meet the publication needs
of our authors, and, at the same time, reflect the pattern of growth of our
branch of science, which is expected to experience rapid development due to
the integration of the Internet with taxonomy as well as the increasing
awareness of the importance of taxonomy to the biodiversity
crisis.
Zootaxa
Dr. Zhi-Qiang Zhang, Chief Editor and Founder
Magnolia Press, publishers
Zootaxa's most-cited paper with 39 cites to
date:
Monne ML and Napp DS, "Cladistic analysis of the tribe
Torneutini Thomson (Coleoptera : Cerambycidae :
Cerambycinae : Trachyderoinia)," Zootaxa (1062):
1-56, 2005. Source:
Essential Science Indicators from
Thomson
Reuters.