| Title: |
Measuring the quality of species list governance |
| Authors: |
Garnett, Stephen T; Bánki, Olaf; Barik, Saroj Kanta; Berryman, Alex J; Bouchard, Patrice; Buckeridge, John; Christidis, Les; Cigliano, María Marta; Conix, Stijn; Crawford-Weaver, Haylee; van Dijk, Peter Paul; Evenhuis, Neil L; Hilton-Taylor, Craig; Hobern, Donald; Johnston, Claire; Klopper, Ronell R; Kroh, Andreas; Le Roux, Marianne; Pape, Thomas; Pyle, Richard L; Raz, Lauren; Thomas, Philip; Thomson, Scott; Vandepitte, Leen; Wambiji, Nina; Zachos, Frank E; Lien, Aaron M |
| Contributors: |
Australian Research Council; Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS |
| Source: |
BioScience ; volume 76, issue 3, page 254-268 ; ISSN 0006-3568 1525-3244 |
| Publisher Information: |
Oxford University Press (OUP) |
| Publication Year: |
2026 |
| Description: |
Taxonomic lists are important tools for efficient communication about biodiversity. The processes by which they are created and maintained need to be robust, scientifically sound, and transparent. Articulating and scoring a set of governance quality indicators provides a way to assess the relative strengths of list management, gives list users a means to assess the quality of this process, augments the information available to list aggregators, and allows patterns to be measured over time and among forms of life. Based on published principles, we created 12 governance quality indicators which we tested on 16 lists spanning a range of taxonomic groups. Independence of taxonomy from nomenclature scored most strongly, but scores for local and regional involvement were lower. The governance quality indicators may eventually provide a rubric for assessing best practice species list governance but now need a period of further testing, review, and refinement before they are institutionalized. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
English |
| DOI: |
10.1093/biosci/biaf071 |
| Availability: |
https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaf071; https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article-pdf/76/3/254/66612576/biaf071.pdf |
| Rights: |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.1BEB6A1D |
| Database: |
BASE |