Why are so many effectively published names of prokaryotic taxa never validated?

Nearly half of the new names of prokaryotic taxa between the ranks of subspecies and class that were effectively published in journals other than the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (IJSEM) in the period 2014–2017 were never submitted for validation. A survey of such effectively published names that include information on the etymology of the name, a description of the taxon, and for species and subspecies generally at least one culture collection deposit, shows that for more than 150 such effectively published names per year on average, validation was never requested. To prevent further accumulation in the literature of names of prokaryotic taxa without standing in the nomenclature, we call upon authors of taxon descriptions and on the editors of the journals handling such papers to be more aware of the duty to validate effectively published names.