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For a journal with more than 125 years of history, a single decade may seem like a mere drop in the ocean. However, the last ten years have been significant for Zoosystematics and Evolution (ZSE) as they have seen the historic Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN) journal transition to an open-access publishing model.
Established in 1898 as Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin Zoologische Reihe, ZSE is one of the oldest zoological journals in Europe. But far from falling behind the times, the journal partnered with Pensoft in 2014 to make their research available and free to all. The move marked the beginning of a new era, enhancing the journal’s global reach, accessibility, and influence.
Here we take a look back and celebrate some of the publications that have defined Zoosystematics and Evolution’s decade of Open Access with Pensoft.
Read our blog post celebrating 10 years of Open Access for all of Museum für Naturkunde Berlin’s journals here.
Salazar’s pit viper
ZSE’s most popular article, “A new species of green pit vipers of the genus Trimeresurus Lacépède, 1804 (Reptilia, Serpentes, Viperidae) from western Arunachal Pradesh, India” has been viewed more than 47,000 times at the time of writing.
Published in 2020, the article drew major mainstream attention due to the scientific name of the new species, Trimeresurus salazar, which was inspired by Salazar Slytherin of the Harry Potter franchise.
Spectacular pictures of the species accompanies the article, undoubtedly contributing to the success of the Indian researchers’ publication.
On his decision to publish with ZSE, lead author Zeeshan Mirza of the Max Planck Institute for Biology Department of Integrative Evolutionary Biology said: “Zoosystematics and Evolution is a reputed journal of the Museum Für Naturkunde, and I was happy that my work was published in it. I like the simple and excellent layout and the smooth experience throughout the article’s publication process.”
Research paper: Mirza ZA, Bhosale HS, Phansalkar PU, Sawant M, Gowande GG, Patel H (2020) A new species of green pit vipers of the genus Trimeresurus Lacépède, 1804 (Reptilia, Serpentes, Viperidae) from western Arunachal Pradesh, India. Zoosystematics and Evolution 96(1): 123-138. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.96.48431
Losing a medical leech
One of the first articles published by Pensoft on behalf of MfN was an exploration of the morphology and occurrence of the European medicinal leech Hirudo medicinalis.
Now, ten years since its publication, the 2014 article has garnered almost 30,000 views, cementing it as a major research paper for the journal.
Featured in the 2020 European Union publication, ‘Potential impacts of bioenergy developments on habitats and species protected under the birds and habitats directives’, the paper suggests that the loss of natural freshwater ecosystems is largely responsible for the decline of the species in Northern Europe.
Research paper: Kutschera U, Elliott J (2014) The European medicinal leech Hirudo medicinalis L.: Morphology and occurrence of an endangered species. Zoosystematics and Evolution 90(2): 271-280. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.90.8715
Explaining image editing for scientific publications
It is no surprise that the ‘Guide to image editing and production of figures for scientific publications with an emphasis on taxonomy’ by Marcus Bevilaqua of the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, is one of ZSE’s most viewed publications with almost 30,000 views.
A fantastic resource for researchers, the guide published in 2020 focuses on digital photo editing and the production of figures using Adobe Photoshop to produce publication-quality figures for scientific publications.
Research paper: Bevilaqua M (2020) Guide to image editing and production of figures for scientific publications with an emphasis on taxonomy. Zoosystematics and Evolution 96(1): 139-158. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.96.49225
A new catfish genus
The most cited research published in ZSE is the 2018 article, ‘Multigene analysis of the catfish genus Trichomycterus and description of a new South American trichomycterine genus (Siluriformes, Trichomycteridae)’.
With 59 citations, the paper is an important analysis of an elusive genus that has attracted wide attention from fellow researchers.
Asked about the success of the paper, lead author Axel Makay Katz of the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro said: “I believe that since it is one of the first attempts to organise a taxonomically challenging genus, many authors see that as a big step in solving a problematic genus.”
Research paper: Katz AM, Barbosa MA, de Oliveira Mattos JL, da Costa WJE (2018) Multigene analysis of the catfish genus Trichomycterus and description of a new South American trichomycterine genus (Siluriformes, Trichomycteridae). Zoosystematics and Evolution 94(2): 557-566. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.94.29872
A ‘cute but deadly’ discovery
Recent years have seen an influx of media attention for research published in ZSE. A fantastic recent example of this came when a newly discovered velvet worm species was published in the journal.
More than 20 years in the making, the 2024 discovery represented the first study of Ecuadorian velvet worms for over 100 years. The cute appearance and fascinating behaviour of the species attracted plenty of attention from news outlets and social media users.
Describing the study, Diego Cisneros-Heredia, one of the authors and director of the USFQ Museum of Zoology, Ecuador said: “The research on this new species took several decades. I discovered the first individual of this new species in 2001, and we finally managed to describe it as part of Jorge Montalvo’s graduation thesis.
“To complete the description, we used not only macromorphological descriptions but also high-magnification images obtained with a scanning electron microscope.”
Research paper: Montalvo-Salazar JL, Bejarano ML, Valarezo A, Cisneros-Heredia DF (2024) A new species of velvet worm of the genus Oroperipatus (Onychophora, Peripatidae) from western Amazonia. Zoosystematics and Evolution 100(3): 779-789. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.100.117952
The League of Legends crab
While this crab discovered in coral reefs of the South China Sea may seem unassuming, it gained hundreds of thousands of views, likes and shares when it was published just a few months ago.
The surge of popularity came from its name, Gothus teemo, which references the popular character Teemo from the video game League of Legends.
In a perfect example of the global reach of open-access publishing, the paper was shared extensively on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, and even resulted in Riot Games sending the lead author a goodie bag!
Research paper: Yuan Z-M, Jiang W, Sha Z-L (2024) Morphological and molecular evidence for Gothus teemo gen. et sp. nov., a new xanthid crab (Crustacea, Brachyura, Xanthoidea) from coral reefs in the South China Sea, with a review of the taxonomy of Actaeodes consobrinus (A. Milne-Edwards, 1867). Zoosystematics and Evolution 100(3): 965-987. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.100.117859
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Much of the popularity and success of these articles can be attributed to Museum für Naturkunde Berlin’s decision to move their journal to an open-access publishing model with Pensoft. By making research available to all, the potential reach of research increases exponentially, allowing for greater accessibility and collaboration.
As we celebrate a decade of partnership between Pensoft and Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, we look forward to many more years of Open Access!
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