Success Across the Board—Taxonomy Comes of Age!

In an age of gene editing and artificial intelligence, taxonomy—the science of naming, describing, and classifying living organisms—can seem old-fashioned, even quaint. To some, it appears to be little more than an exercise in labeling plants and animals with long Latin names. Yet this perception could not be further from the truth. Taxonomy is foundational to biology and paleontology and essential to our understanding of life on Earth and our ability to protect it. At its core, taxonomy provides order to the overwhelming diversity of life. Without a systematic means of identifying and classifying organisms, meaningful communication on the subject of biodiversity would be impossible. Far from being an outdated discipline, it is a vital and necessary tool for navigating the biological challenges of the twenty-first century. Since 2021, our journal has functioned as a medium for this shared language, and the need for such a medium is evident in our journal’s continues success.

In many respects, 2025 was one of the most significant years for Taxonomy since the journal was founded. A milestone was reached in June when Taxonomy received its first impact factor, which, at 1.5, is a more than impressive start. This cleared one of the most important hurdles, as the impact factor is an essential criterion for many scientists when deciding whether to publish in a journal. Of course, this also greatly enhanced the journal’s international reputation, and Taxonomy received a CiteScore of 2.4 in June 2025, which is a 33% increase compared to 2024. Another key factor was the high visibility of the journal, which is indexed within ESCI (Web of Science), Scopus, AGRIS, and other databases.

This increased attractiveness also led to an increase in the number of submissions (122 compared to 86 in 2024). A total of 72 papers were published in 2025. At the same time, paper views increased by 184% compared to 2024, reaching 279,574 views.

One of Taxonomy’s most important assets is our short response time. Manuscripts are peer-reviewed and a first decision is provided to authors approximately 25.3 days after submission, and the acceptance-to-publication period is 5.6 days (median values for papers published in this journal in the second half of 2025). This makes Taxonomy one of the fastest journals in the field. These benchmarks could not be achieved without the diligent work of our 54 editorial board members, who ensure a fast, fair, and transparent publication process. Currently, calls to contribute to five topical collections are open, and we encourage our readers to submit their research articles here.

A particularly gratifying event in which Taxonomy was able to present itself as an important player in networking was the 1st International Online Conference on Taxonomy in December 2025, with 649 registered participants. Over two days, numerous presentations covered an enormous range of different systematic groups, demonstrating the strength that characterizes Taxonomy. The role of Taxonomy as a platform for interdisciplinary communication has become evident, and alongside its function as a publication organ, a new level of networking is developing.

Achieving our goals was only possible thanks to the quality of our readers’ contributions and the prudent leadership and precise organization of our editorial team, whom I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart for their professional and fruitful cooperation.