taxonthey

TaxonThey is an open-resource project that promotes inclusive language in taxonomy by standardizing the use of gender-neutral pronouns in taxonomic writing, databases, and museum records. Initiated by biologists, linguists, and data scientists in the early 2020s, TaxonThey aims to improve clarity, consistency, and accessibility across biodiversity literature.

Origins and goals: The initiative addresses the prevalence of binary pronouns in taxonomic texts and metadata. It provides guidelines for pronoun usage and a metadata layer that associates taxa with preferred pronouns, enabling more inclusive and machine-readable data without altering scientific names or nomenclatural rules.

Key features: A pronoun metadata schema attached to taxon records, multilingual guidance, an API, and export formats compatible with Darwin Core. It also hosts community glossaries, examples, and best practices to help authors, editors, and data curators apply inclusive language consistently.

Governance and reception: TaxonThey operates as an open, community-governed project with contributions via public repositories. It has been praised for inclusivity and data interoperability and debated for how pronoun metadata interacts with formal nomenclature and Latin grammar. It positions pronouns as supplementary metadata rather than changes to taxonomic names.

Impact and status: With ongoing collaborations with museums, universities, and publishers, TaxonThey has been integrated into several biodiversity platforms. The project continues to evolve through community input and real-world testing, refining guidelines as global usage grows.