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Science depends on nomenclature, but nomenclature is not science

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The International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes (ICSP) has recently altered long-standing phylum names and given no guidance for taxonomy of uncultured or imperfectly cultured archaea and bacteria, disrupting progress towards a universal system of microbial taxonomy. Inclusion of new members into ICSP may help it to keep up to date.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Microbiology Department, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA

    Karen G. Lloyd

  2. Department of Agrotechnology and Food Sciences, University of Wageningen, Wageningen, Netherlands

    Guillaume Tahon

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  1. Karen G. Lloyd
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  2. Guillaume Tahon
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Correspondence to Karen G. Lloyd.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Lloyd, K.G., Tahon, G. Science depends on nomenclature, but nomenclature is not science. Nat Rev Microbiol 20, 123–124 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-022-00684-2

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