Are scientific policies promoting internationalization related with a decline in descriptive taxonomy? Insights from the case of Spanish entomology

Abstract

Linnean and Wallacean shortfalls limit our ability to, respectively, describe species and map their distributions. In entomology, well-established national scientific communities are essential for bridging these shortfalls, given the world’s entomofauna crisis. However, descriptive taxonomic entomology has arguably lost academic appeal in recent decades due to changes in scientific policies. Here, by documenting temporal changes in the number of Spanish entomological societies and journals in 1900 to 2020 and the subject matter of PhD theses in 1980 to 2020, we analyzed how scientific policies aimed at boosting internationalization may have influenced Spanish taxonomic entomology. Seventeen societies, 58 journals, and 1,162 PhD theses were scrutinized. The number of entomological societies increased over time and their membership either rose or remained stable. Furthermore, the number of journals published increased over time up to the early 1980s. The affiliation and nationality of authors was stable over time or showed an increase in academic and international authorship. However, the scientific policies implemented in the late 1980s were related with the disappearance of several national journals, especially those published by universities. In addition, the percentage of PhD theses dealing with descriptive taxonomy and inventorying fell from ca. 40% in the 1980s to ca. 7% in 2016 to 2020, while those tackling molecular taxonomy only increased slowly from 1% to 9% in the period 1980 to 2020. These trends suggest that Spanish entomology might not be in a position to overcome Linnean and Wallacean shortfalls in the future. Countries implementing similar scientific policies may face comparable problems and could learn from the Spanish situation.