[tdwg-content] Taxonomic name usage files

[Gaurav Vaidya]

> On 18 Apr 2016, at 4:18 PM, Nico Franz <nico.franz at asu.edu> wrote:
> 
> Hi TDWG Content group:
> 
>    Perhaps someone can answer these question? Suppose I submitted a new biodiversity study to a journal for peer review and ultimately publication. My study mentions taxonomic names, but some names are used in more than one specific sense throughout the manuscript. As part of my study's data body, I want to say things like: at this point or these sections in my manuscript, I am using the name in the sense of authors X. And: later on in the Discussion, I am using the name in "my new sense" (as an example). I want to submit a table with structured metadata on the various usages of names in my manuscript, as part of the supplementary data provided to the Journal. I believe part of what the table would have to reflect, for each usage, is whether this is my usage, or that of someone else that I am ok with (=> define speaker role).
> 
>    Is there a best TDWG standard to glean terms and definitions from to draft up that table? I assume it is Darwin Core and/or the TCS, but then has someone actually tried this (= extract the subset of terms needed to identify names, usages, speaker roles) in conjunction with (e.g.) a biodiversity inventory or taxonomic revision to be published? The key purpose here would be to facilitate better name usage data practices, tied to the process of publishing new data via journals. To make data about name usages part of the supplementary data, in a structured and rather explicit format.
> 
> Thanks and best, 
> 
> Nico

I don’t know if this is the standard way to do it, but the relevant Darwin Core term is http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/nameAccordingTo (or http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/nameAccordingToID). You could establish a set of taxonIDs in any Darwin Core files that go with your publication, some of which would then share the same scientificName but have a different nameAccordingTo.

I don’t know the best way to represent different agents (outside of citing them in nameAccordingTo), but you can always include that information in http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/taxonRemarks

cheers,
Gaurav