Assessing the health of zoological taxonomy: history, methods and contemporary challenges
This work is the first approach to zoological taxonomy based on data from the largest bibliographic database of Zoology, the Zoological Record, analyzed through scientometric tools : science mapping and countings. It challenges the view that taxonomy would be an endangered field, as its objects of study are. In the current biodiversity crisis, this is not a form of decline, but rather a lack of involvement to determine the overall biodiversity before its disappearance. This work on publications provides a clear definition of the discipline, and so proposes a new approach to assess its vitality. Since taxonomy is defined as the branch of science that works on collections with nomenclatural aims, it is pertinent that its health should be evaluated according to the dynamism of its collections. The decline of taxonomy no longer being regarded as a factual matter, it deserves to be addressed as a discourse given by a scientific community facing significant changes in both its practices and the disappearance of its objects of study. The evaluation of the vitality of taxonomy, as a theme, would no doubt benefit from a Humanities-orientated approach.