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Terminology

Checklist
The definitive, evidence-backed list of species known from a region or taxon group.
Dataset
GBIF's term for a published checklist — a structured, citable snapshot of species occurrence that other tools and researchers can query and build on.
Publisher
The GBIF-endorsed organization or individual credited as a dataset's point of contact — every checklist needs one attached before GBIF will register it.
Publishing Partner
A publisher that runs its own IPT and is willing to host datasets it didn't create itself — typically a national GBIF node, museum, or university. Useful if your own organization isn't endorsed or doesn't run an IPT yet.
Decision record
How Checklist Hub treats a species entry — identity, taxonomy, evidence, review history, and discussion all attached to it, rather than a bare spreadsheet row.
Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A)
The standard exchange format a checklist is published in — a Taxon core file (one row per accepted name) plus optional extensions like Distribution, VernacularName, or Species Profile.
IPT (Integrated Publishing Toolkit)
The GBIF-registered tool a Darwin Core Archive is uploaded to for publication — it registers the dataset, assigns it a DOI, and keeps it re-harvestable on future updates.
DOI
The persistent, citable identifier a checklist is assigned once published and registered through an IPT.
Evidence strength
A Low / Medium / High score for a species, derived from the number of occurrence records and publications linked to it inside the checklist's region.
Reconciliation
Comparing a checklist's species against other published checklists for the same region or taxon group to surface conflicts.
Watcher
A scheduled process that re-fetches occurrences from GBIF, iNaturalist, and eBird for an active checklist and surfaces genuinely new candidates for review.
Synonym
An alternate name for a taxon that GBIF Backbone / Catalogue of Life resolve to a single accepted name during import.