Professors Richard Korf (Cornell University) and Grégoire Hennebert (Université Catholique de Louvain) began plans for the journal in 1972, believing that a need existed for a mycological journal devoted solely to taxonomy and nomenclature of fungi, including lichens. A prime motive was to reduce the time between submission and publication. They were the original co-Editors of the journal. Publication commenced in 1974. Mycotaxon is abstracted in essentially all abstracting journals worldwide, and tables of contents appear in Current Contents and similar resources. back to list of questions
Mycotaxon was an international scientific quarterly restricted to papers on the taxonomy and nomenclature of fungi. This included monographic works, reviews of taxonomic groups and/or taxonomic criteria, arguments dealing with specific nomenclatural problems, proceedings of symposia on taxonomic or nomenclatural matters, and mycobiota providing full taxonomic descriptions and illustrations. Papers that dealt with other mycological disciplines (cytology, ecology, genetics, phylogenetics, physiology, etc.) were directed to other journals for publication, unless their primary focus was taxonomic. Mycotaxon was unusual among scientific journals in that authors obtained their own peer reviews before submission by contacting two scientific experts in their field outside the senior author’s home institution. back to list of questions
Hennebert and Korf initially decided that a 6x9 inch page format, which fits on most bookshelves, was appropriate. The journal became an online journal with volume 115 (Jan-Mar 2011), but continued to provide a print copy to subscribers who requested print. When Lorelei L. Norvell became Editor-in-Chief, she instituted many changes in layout to standardize the formatting from article to article. back to list of questions
The Editor-in-Chief is the final authority on what is published in Mycotaxon and appoints the Assistant Editors. The Editorial Advisory Board does not work with manuscripts, but instead functions to advise the Editor-in-Chief and the corporation that provides financial stability for the journal, Mycotaxon, Ltd., on policy matters. back to list of questions
The last issue (137-4) is completely OA as are all articles older than 2 years old. Prior to 2024, authors had the option of paying a small fee to make their articles Open Access, so some of the articles were Open Access from day of publishing; most, however, had a 2-year embargo so only paying subscribers had access to those articles. We are in the process of making ALL of the back issues OpenAccess in the near future. Stay tuned. back to list of questions
Who designed this website and the Mycotaxon T-shirt?
Full credit for both belongs to Noni Korf. For the website she worked with ideas furnished by her father, who in turn thanks his student, Kathie Hodge, of Virtual Library fame, for helpful advice. For the T-shirt, she had input from Dick, Pavel, and Teresa. In 2024 the website was modernized and simplified with the assistance of RGR GIGS, LLC. back to list of questionsHow do I contact the Mycotaxon staff?
If you have other questions, or want to contact us for other reasons, please write to mycotaxon @ gmail. com. Please understand that since the journal is no longer active, there may be a delay in our response back to you. back to list of questions
