THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR PLANT TAXONOMY (IAPT) ANNOUNCES: REGISTRATION OF PLANT NAMES, TEST AND TRIAL PHASE (1998-1999)Karen L. WilsonRoyal Botanic Gardens, Mrs Macquaries Road Sydney, N.S.W. 2000, AustraliaINTRODUCTIONSubject to ratification by the XVI International Botanical Congress (St Louis, 1999) of a rule already included in the International code of botanical nomenclature (Art. 32.1-2 of the Tokyo Code), new names of plants and fungi will have to be registered in order to be validly published after the 1⟨sup⟩st⟨/sup⟩ of January 2000. To demonstrate feasibility of a registration system, the International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) undertakes a trial of registration, on a non-mandatory basis, for a two-years period starting 1 January 1998. The co-ordinating centre will be the Secretariat of IAPT, currently at the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem, Germany. Co-ordination with present indexing centres for major groups of plants is being sought, in view of their possible active involvement at the implementation stage. The International Mycological Institute in Egham, U. K., has already accepted to act as associate registration centre for the whole of fungi, including fossil fungi.REGISTRATION PROCEDUREThe co-ordinating registration centre (IAPT Secretariat), and any associated centre operating under its auspices, will register and make available all names of new taxa, all new combinations or rank transfers that are brought to their attention in one of the following ways:- by being published in an accredited journal or serial;- by being submitted for registration (normally by the author or one of the authors), eitherdirectly or through a national registration office; or- (for the non-mandatory trial phase only) as a result of scanning of other publishedinformation by the registration centres' own staff.Registration by way of publication in accredited journals or serialsFor a journal or serial to be accredited, its publishers must commit themselves, by a signed agreement with the IAPT, to- point out any nomenclatural novelties in each individual issue of their journal or serial, either by including a separate index of novelties or in another suitable, previously agreed way;- submit each individual issue, as soon as published and by the most rapid way, to a pre-defined registration office or centre.Accredited journals and serials will be entitled, and even encouraged, to mention that accreditation on their cover, title page or in the imprint.A permanently updated list of accredited journals and serials is being placed on the World Wide Web (http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/iapt/registration/journals.htm). This list will be published annually in the journal Taxon.Registration by way of submission to registration officesAuthors of botanical nomenclatural novelties that do not appear in an accredited journal or serial (but e.g. in a monograph, pamphlet, or non-accredited periodical publication) are strongly encouraged to submit their names for registration - and will be required to do so once registration becomes mandatory - in the following way:- all names to be registered are to be listed on an appropriate registration form, using a separate form for each separate publication;- the form (in triplicate) must be submitted together with two copies of the publication itself, either to a national registration office (see below) or, optionally, directly to the appropriate registration centre. Reprints of articles from books or non-accredited periodicals are acceptable, provided their source is stated accurately and in full;- one dated copy of each form will be sent back to the submitting author in acknowledgement of effected registration.Registration forms can be obtained free of charge (a) by sending a request to any registration office or centre, by letter, fax or e-mail, or (b), preferably, by printing and copying the form as available on the World Wide Web (http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/iapt/registration/regform.htm).Registration offices are presently being arranged for in as many different countries as possible. They will serve (a) as mailboxes and forwarding agencies for registration submissions and (b) as national repositories for printed matter in which new names published locally appear.A permanently updated address list of all functioning national registration offices is being placed on the World Wide Web (http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/iapt/registration/offices.htm). This list will also be published annually in the journal Taxon.Registration dateThe date of registration, as here defined, will be the date of receipt of the registration submission at any national registration office or appropriate registration centre. For accredited journals or serials (and, for the duration of the trial phase, for publications scanned at the registration centres), it will be the date of receipt of the publication at the location of the registration centre (or national office, if so agreed).For the duration of the trial phase, i.e. as long as registration is non-mandatory, the date of a name will, just as before, be the date of effective publication of the printed matter in which it is validated, irrespective of the date of registration. Nevertheless, the registration date will be recorded, for the following reasons:- to make clear that the name was published on or before that date, in cases when the date of effective publication is not specified in the printed matter;- to assess the time difference between the (effective or stated) date of the printed matter and that of registration, since it is envisaged that the date of registration be accepted as the date of names published on or after 1 January 2000.It is therefore in the interest of every author to submit nomenclatural novelties for registration without any delay, and by the most rapid means available.ACCESS TO REGISTRATION DATAInformation on registered names will be made publicly available as soon as feasible, (a) by placing them on the World Wide Web without delay in a searchable database (http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/iapt/registration/regdata.htm). (b) by publishing non-cumulative lists biannually, and (c), hopefully, by issuing cumulative updates on a CD-ROM-type, fully searchable data medium at similar intervals.[Liv Borgen, Oslo; Werner Greuter, Berlin; David L. Hawksworth, Egham; John McNeill, Toronto; Dan H. Nicolson, Washington; Officers of the IAPT, c/o Botanischer Garten & Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem, Koenigin-Luise-Str. 6-8, D-14191 Berlin, Germany.]REGISTRATION AS A POSITIVE STEPRegistration of nomenclatural novelties seems to me a natural way to go, heading into the 21⟨sup⟩st⟨/sup⟩ Century. It will enable us to find quickly what new names have been published, and to be sure that we have not missed any new name hidden in the paper mountain of botanical literature that comes out each year around the globe. This is particularly important for one-off publications (floras, field guides, etc.), which are notorious for 'hiding' new names.Some people seem to think that registration implies censorship, but this is wrong. As in the current Index kewensis all names will be listed, and without comment as to status, and as soon as received at one of the registration centres. My only caution to those looking at the mechanisms for making registration effective is that they should ensure there is a large network of registration centres or offices spread evenly around the world. This is necessary to make it easy to submit novelties for registration, given the apparently worsening state of mail services in all areas.