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Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity
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Overview
Paper Summary
Conflicts of Interest
Identified Weaknesses
Rating Explanation
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Topic Hierarchy
File Information
Paper Summary
Paperzilla title
Keeping Tabs on All the Plants (Almost)! A Giant Checklist Gets a Digital Makeover
This paper describes the World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), a comprehensive, continuously updated database of over 340,000 accepted plant species and 1.3 million plant names. It's compiled from published literature, databases, herbaria, and expert review, and aims to be a central resource for plant research and conservation efforts worldwide.
Possible Conflicts of Interest
None identified.
Identified Weaknesses
Lack of transparency in expert review process
The data descriptor lacks details on the methodology used for expert review. How were experts selected? What were their qualifications? What specific criteria did they use for review? This lack of transparency makes it difficult to assess the reliability and consistency of the taxonomic decisions.
Uncertainty about future data platform and API
The data descriptor mentions a planned transition to a new data platform and API. However, the timeline and details of this transition are vague. This lack of clarity raises concerns about the long-term accessibility and sustainability of the data.
Lack of transparency in handling user feedback
The data descriptor mentions feedback emails as a source of updates. However, there is no information on how this feedback is evaluated and incorporated. Is there a formal process for assessing the validity of feedback? This lack of transparency raises concerns about the potential for bias or errors introduced through user feedback.
Rating Explanation
This data descriptor presents a valuable resource for plant biodiversity research. The WCVP dataset is comprehensive, continuously updated, and freely available online. The data collation and review processes are well-documented, and the use of international data standards ensures data quality. However, some limitations include the lack of complete geographic data in the current release and some lack of transparency in expert review and feedback handling processes.
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Topic Hierarchy
Domain:
Life Sciences
File Information
Original Title:
The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity
File Name:
s41597-021-00997-6.pdf
[download]
File Size:
1.38 MB
Uploaded:
July 14, 2025 at 06:45 AM
Privacy:
🌐 Public
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