Electronic publications need registration in ZooBank to be available.

The 2012 Amendment to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature allows electronic publication for nomenclatural purposes if certain requirements are fulfilled. We here explain these simple requirements, including what needs to be registered in ZooBank and when, which version of an electronic work is potentially Code-compliant (only the final, immutable version), and what is the correct date of publication (that of the final, immutable version; pre-final versions posted online are preliminary and as such always unavailable). We advise registration in ZooBank of publications that are issued in both electronic and paper version to secure the nomenclatural priority of the generally earlier electronic version. Failure to update a ZooBank record after publication will not have any impact on availability under the Code but will keep the registered information hidden from public view. Publishers may want to consider automated registration as an integral part of the publishing process; this has already been shown to be feasible and would ease the burden of manual registration for editors and authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]