Specify is a database platform for museum and herbarium research data. It manages species and specimen information for computerizing biological collections, tracking museum specimen transactions, linking images to specimen records and publishing catalog data to the Internet. Specify is written in Java for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux computers and uses the relational data manager, MySQL, as its data engine. Specify, Java, and MySQL are free and open-source.

Specify supports data from specimens, taxonomic and stratigraphic classifications, field notebooks, DNA sequence runs, literature references, as well as from other primary sources. It also manages the information associated with repository agreements, accessions, conservation treatments, collection object containers, images, and document attachments.

Data fields in Specify’s form windows can be selected, organized, re-named, and re-sized to suit your curatorial preferences and to eliminate the need for tabbing through multiple data forms. Specify’s “tree” data windows for taxonomy, geography, storage location, chronostratigraphy and lithostratigraphy provide intuitive access to hierarchical data for editing, drag-and-drop synonymization, re-parenting, and for discovering linked collection objects.