![](https://sciencepress.mnhn.fr/sites/default/files/periodiques/visuels/grand/zoo_visuel_2019.jpg)
A basic reason for the diverging interpretations regarding the nomenclatural status of ‘retracted’ publications lies in different understandings of some ‘simple’ terms like ‘issued’, used in Article 8 of the Code but not defined in this text. After a discussion of the questions at stake, formal definitions of some of these terms are provided.
Nomenclatural availability, retraction of publication, International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, terminology, definitions