Its goals include eliminating the need for repeated reference to primary sources for basic bibliographic information about plant names.

These were initially based on Brummitt & Powell (1992), but new names and abbreviations are continually added.

IPNI is the product of a collaboration between The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Index Kewensis), The Harvard University Herbaria (Gray Herbarium Index), and the Australian National Herbarium (APNI).

The IPNI database is a collection of the names registered by the three cooperating institutions and they work towards standardizing the information.

A digital and continually updated list of authors and abbreviations can be consulted online at IPNI.