Article 8. What constitutes published work
A work is to be regarded as published for the purposes of zoological nomenclature if it complies with the requirements of this Article and is not excluded by the provisions of Article 9.
A work must satisfy the following criteria:
8.1.1. it must be issued for the purpose of providing a public and permanent scientific record,
8.1.2. it must be obtainable, when first issued, free of charge or by purchase, and
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8.1.3. it must have been produced in an edition containing simultaneously obtainable copies by a method that assures numerous identical and durable copies.
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8.1.3. it must have been produced in an edition containing simultaneously obtainable copies by a method that assures
8.1.3.1. numerous identical and durable copies (see Article 8.4), or
8.1.3.2. widely accessible electronic copies with fixed content and layout.
Example. PDF/A (Portable Document Format Archive), described by ISO Standard 19005-1:2005, is a file format that allows content and layout to be preserved unchanged.
8.2. Publication may be disclaimed
A work that contains a statement to the effect that it is not issued for public and permanent scientific record, or for purposes of zoological nomenclature, is not published within the meaning of the Code.
8.3. Names and acts may be disclaimed
If a work contains a statement to the effect that all or any of the names or nomenclatural acts in it are disclaimed for nomenclatural purposes, the disclaimed names or acts are not available. Such a work may be a published work (i.e. taxonomic information in it may have the same nomenclatural status as the taxonomic information in a published but suppressed work: see Article 8.7.1).
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8.4. Works produced before 1986
To be published, a work produced before 1986 must have been produced on paper, by a printing method then conventional (such as letterpress, offset printing) or by hectographing or mimeographing.
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8.4. Works issued as physical copies
Printing on paper and optical disc are the only recognized formats for works issued as physical copies. In addition to fulfilling the requirements of Article 8.1 while not being excluded by Article 9, works issued as physical copies are subject to the following criteria:
8.4.1. Works printed on paper
Before 1986 and after 2012, the only acceptable means of producing physical copies is by printing on paper using ink or toner.
8.4.2. Works on optical disc
To be considered published, a work on optical disc must be issued, in read-only memory form, after 1985 and before 2013, and
8.4.2.1. if issued before 2000, must contain a statement that any new name or nomenclatural act within it is intended for public and permanent scientific record and that the work is produced in an edition containing simultaneously obtainable copies, or
8.4.2.2. if issued after 1999, must contain a statement naming at least five major publicly accessible libraries in which copies of the optical disc were to have been deposited.
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8.5. Works produced after 1985 and before 2000
A work produced between 1985 and 2000 by a method other than conventional printing may be accepted as published within the meaning of the Code if
8.5.1. it meets the other requirements of this Article and is not excluded by the provisions of Article 9, and
8.5.2. contains a statement by the author that any new name or nomenclatural act within it is intended for public and permanent scientific record, and
8.5.3. contains a statement in words in the work itself that it is produced in an edition containing simultaneously obtainable copies.
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8.5. Works issued and distributed electronically
To be considered published, a work issued and distributed electronically must
8.5.1. have been issued after 2011,
8.5.2. state the date of publication in the work itself, and
8.5.3. be registered in the Official Register of Zoological Nomenclature (ZooBank) (see Article 78.2.4) and contain evidence in the work itself that such registration has occurred.
Examples. Evidence of registration is given by stating information that would be known only if the registration has occurred, such as the exact date of registration or the registration number assigned to the work or to a new name or nomenclatural act introduced in the work. A work issued as a PDF may contain the registration number as an embedded hyperlink. Even if the registration number is not visible in the normal viewing mode of the file or when the work is printed from the file, it is deemed to be cited in the work itself because the text of the hyperlink can easily be revealed using standard software for viewing PDFs.
8.5.3.1. The entry in the Official Register of Zoological Nomenclature must give the name and Internet address of an organization other than the publisher that is intended to permanently archive the work in a manner that preserves the content and layout, and is capable of doing so. This information is not required to appear in the work itself.
8.5.3.2. The entry in the Official Register of Zoological Nomenclature must give an ISBN for the work or an ISSN for the journal containing the work. The number is not required to appear in the work itself.
8.5.3.3. An error in stating the evidence of registration does not make a work unavailable, provided that the work can be unambiguously associated with a record created in the Official Register of Zoological Nomenclature before the work was published.
Examples. The following are examples of admissible errors: In preparing a manuscript an author accidentally deletes the final digit of the registration number. An author states the wrong date of registration forgetting that ZooBank uses Coordinated Universal Time rather than local time. An author registers two works that are in review for publication and accidentally uses the same ZooBank number in both published versions.
The following are examples of inadmissible errors: An author, in preparing a manuscript for publication, states that day's date for the registration date, intending to register it later that day but forgetting to do so. The author discovers the omission after the work is published and immediately registers it; because registration occurred after publication, the work is not available. A publisher discovers errors in a work and reissues it to correct those errors, but instead of registering the new edition, uses the original ZooBank number; the revised edition is not available because it was not separately registered.
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8.6. Works produced after 1999 by a method that does not employ printing on paper
For a work produced after 1999 by a method other than printing on paper to be accepted as published within the meaning of the Code, it must contain a statement that copies (in the form in which it is published) have been deposited in at least 5 major publicly accessible libraries which are identified by name in the work itself.
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8.6. New methods of publication and archiving
The Commission may issue Declarations to clarify whether new or unconventional methods of production, distribution, formatting or archiving can produce works that are published in the meaning of the Code.
8.7. Status of suppressed works
A work that has been suppressed for nomenclatural purposes by the Commission by use of the plenary power [Art. 81] and that satisfies the provisions of this Article remains published within the meaning of the Code, unless the Commission has ruled that it is to be treated as not having been published;
8.7.1. such a work remains available as a source of published descriptions and illustrations, but not as a work in which a name or nomenclatural act (such as the fixation of a name-bearing type, or the determination of precedence under Article 24.2) can be made available.
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8.8. Permanence of available works
A work once published within the meaning of the Code remains so, unless the Commission rules otherwise. Any subsequent disclaimer or retraction of a work or parts of a work does not affect the availability of the original work or any new name or nomenclatural act contained therein.
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Recommendation 8A. Wide dissemination. Authors have a responsibility to ensure that new scientific names, nomenclatural acts, and information likely to affect nomenclature are made widely known. This responsibility is most easily discharged by publication in appropriate scientific journals or well-known monographic series and by ensuring that new names proposed by them are entered into the Zoological Record. This is most easily achieved by sending a copy of the work to the Zoological Record, published by BIOSIS U.K.
Recommendation 8B. Desirability of works on paper. Authors and publishers are strongly urged to ensure that a new scientific name or nomenclatural act is first published in a work printed on paper.
Recommendation 8C. Public accessibility of published works. Copies of published works which contain a new scientific name or nomenclatural act should be permanently conserved in libraries whose works are publicly accessible (but for the deposition of works produced after 1999 by a method other than printing on paper see Article 8.6).
Recommendation 8D. Responsibilities of authors, editors and publishers. Authors, editors and publishers have a responsibility to ensure that works containing new names, nomenclatural acts, or information likely to affect nomenclature are self-evidently published within the meaning of the Code. Editors and publishers should ensure that works contain the date of publication, and information about where they may be obtained.
Recommendation 8E. Inclusion of disclaimers. Editors and publishers should avoid including new names and the information that might appear to make the names available, or new nomenclatural acts, in works that are not issued for public and permanent scientific record (such as pre-symposium abstracts, or notices of papers to be delivered at a meeting). They should ensure that such documents contain a disclaimer (see Article 8.2), so that new names published for the first time therein do not enter zoological nomenclature unintentionally and pre-empt intended publication in another work.
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Recommendation 8A. Wide dissemination. Authors have a responsibility to ensure that new scientific names, nomenclatural acts, and information likely to affect nomenclature are made widely known. Authors can accomplish this by publishing in appropriate scientific journals or well-known monographic series, by entering new names and nomenclatural acts into the Official Register of Zoological Nomenclature (ZooBank), and by sending copies of their works to the Zoological Record.
Recommendation 8B. Minimum edition of printed works. A work on paper should be issued in a minimum edition of 25 copies, printed before any is distributed.
Recommendation 8C. Electronic works. Electronic works should be structured to allow automated indexing and data extraction and should include actionable links to external resources (such as embedded hyperlinks to records in the Official Register of Zoological Nomenclature), where appropriate.
Recommendation 8D. Content immutable. The content of a work is immutable once it is published. Corrections should be made through notices of errata or other separate publications. Second or other additional printings of a work should be clearly labeled as such, with date of publication stated in the work, even if no changes have been introduced.
Recommendation 8E. Public accessibility of published works. Copies of published works that contain new scientific names or nomenclatural acts, or information likely to affect nomenclature, should be permanently conserved in or by libraries that make their holdings publicly accessible.
Recommendation 8F. Responsibilities of authors, editors and publishers. Authors, editors and publishers have a responsibility to ensure that works containing new names, nomenclatural acts, or information likely to affect nomenclature are self-evidently published within the meaning of the Code. Editors and publishers should ensure that works contain the date of publication, and information about where they may be obtained.
Recommendation 8G. Inclusion of disclaimers. Editors and publishers should avoid including new names and the information that might appear to make the names available, or new nomenclatural acts, in works that are not issued for public and permanent scientific record (such as pre-symposium abstracts, or notices of papers to be delivered at a meeting). They should ensure that such documents contain a disclaimer (see Article 8.2), so that new names published for the first time therein do not enter zoological nomenclature unintentionally and pre-empt intended publication in another work.
Recommendation 8H. Archiving encouraged. Authors are encouraged to ensure that their electronic works are archived with more than one archiving organization. Archiving organizations utilized for registered works should have permanent or irrevocable license to make a work accessible should the publisher no longer do so.