# Request: get access to a taxon name source using the API

**URL:** <https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/request-get-access-to-a-taxon-name-source-using-the-api/33901>\
**Category:** General\
**Tags:** api\
**Created:** [July 27, 2022, 10:26am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/request-get-access-to-a-taxon-name-source-using-the-api/33901 "2022-07-27T10:26:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![popexpangea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b487fb/32.png) [@popexpangea](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/popexpangea)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 5:04pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/request-get-access-to-a-taxon-name-source-using-the-api/33901/3 "2022-07-27T17:04:23Z")

</div>

Thanks a lot @bouteloua  
From your comments and after looking at the curatorial policies described in your link, looks like I might found a number of different curatorial situations. Let me cite:

> Most of our classifications come from our external name providers, but for some groups we try to adhere to different taxonomic authorities (…)  
> (…)  
> So, as a curator, what’s to be done? Basically, we try to match parts of our taxonomy to global taxonomic authorities. When that’s not possible, we try stitching together regional taxonomic authorities (…). And for everything else we cite the primary literature or use the names and classifications we import from name providers like the Catalogue of Life and uBio.

All that’s fine.  
But in the end, my question is about how iNat documents the usage of all these curatorial choices, so the final user can see **which** sources were finally employed for a particular taxon name (even if for some taxons there is no source at all, how can I check that “no source” situation?).

In the thread I linked above, @deboas [mentions](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/include-author-citations-for-taxa/671/18) the “taxonomy details” page available in the web UI for each taxon.  
[https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/42048/taxonomy\_details](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/42048/taxonomy_details)

This is more or less what I am looking for.  
But I would like to use the api to get it in a more computer-friendly way: i.e. how can I get the same info in JSON format?

---

_[View the full topic](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/request-get-access-to-a-taxon-name-source-using-the-api/33901)._