From Seed to Tree—The Performance of Taxonomy in the Year 2024

“Welcome to the New Journal Taxonomy”, wrote Enric Sayas in his editorial in January 2021 [1] when Taxonomy was established. Since then, Taxonomy has been steadily growing and attracted numerous authors from life and earth sciences to present their research. After the launching phase, the year 2024 was expected by us to be a crucial phase of the journal’s evolution on its way to becoming a major player in its field. Indeed, the year 2024 was associated with several milestones for Taxonomy. In January, the number of published papers exceeded 100, meaning that the journal had established itself internationally and become a recognized partner for the scientific community. Also in January, there was a joint meeting of the members of the editorial board to discuss the medium- and long-term goals of Taxonomy. The Editorial Board currently comprises 53 members, covering all scientific disciplines dealing with taxonomy, systematics, and nomenclature. This expertise is the backbone for the professional handling of submissions. Our policy to provide rapid publication is one of our assets. Manuscripts are peer-reviewed, and a first decision is provided to the authors on average 26.4 days after submission. Acceptance for publication is undertaken in 7.3 days (median values for papers published in the first half of 2024). This fast process is the result of an efficient team of technical editors, responsive scientific editors, and—most importantly—responsible reviewers.

In April 2024, Taxonomy was indexed in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI)–Web of Science (WoS) (Clarivate Analytics), which boosts our visibility. In June 2024, we obtained the first CiteScore (CiteScore in 2023 was 1.8), which is another major leap for our journal. WoS states that the articles published in Taxonomy were cited 118 times, a significant increase from 2023. Compared to the previous year, the submission rate in 2024 increased by 25%, and 45 papers were published after review, testifying to the increasing acceptance of the journal in the scientific community. About 36% of the papers published in 2024 discussed insects and arachnids, followed by contributions on Chordata and plants (~16% each). In addition, we published conceptual papers, discussions on parasite-host systems, paleontological material, and papers on bacteria, fungi, and diatoms. In these papers, the authors established four new families and four new genera and described 54 new species. Again, these numbers document a strong increase compared to 2023, showing that Taxonomy is still in its growth phase. The full-text reads of Taxonomy papers in 2024 were 146.573 (20 December), which is 35% more than in 2023.

The following three Special Issues are currently advertised on our homepage: “Diversity, Distribution and Zoogeography of Coleoptera” edited by Massimo Meregalli and Pier Mauro Giachino; “Taxonomy in Marine Paleontology” edited by Oleg Mandic and me; and “Diversity and Taxonomy of Scarabaeoidea” edited by Frank-Thorsten Krell.

It is particularly satisfying and fulfilling for me as an Editor-in-Chief to see this journal grow and gain popularity. This success story would be impossible without the support of the scientific editors and reviewers. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the scientific editors and the numerous reviewers who often help in iterative rounds to ensure the quality of the articles. We look forward to the new year 2025 in anticipation of numerous stimulating and innovative contributions.

On behalf of the Taxonomy team, I wish you a successful year in 2025.