Publication date

[Frederick J. Peabody]

On Wed, 22 Nov 1995, Richard Jensen wrote:

> Does anyone know how the publication date for a dissertation is
> determined?  The case in question involves a dissertation approved in
> 1989, but bearing on the cover 1990, the year the degree was awarded.  I
> have encountered both dates in the literature and wonder if there is a
> "rule" covering this.  I assumed that the date it was approved (i.e.,
> accepted by the graduate committee) was the date of publication.
>
> Richard J. Jensen      |   E-MAIL: rjensen at saintmarys.edu
> Dept. of Biology       |   TELEPHONE: 219-284-4674
> Saint Mary's College   |   FAX: 219-284-4716
> Notre Dame, IN  46556  |
>

>From a reading of the ICBN I would infer that the "publication" date is
the date that the information was made available to the general
scientific community.  Sometimes this is the same date that appears on
the publication itself, but this is not always the case.  We have only to
look at some of the older multi-volume works to see an example of this.
The dates printed on the volumes may not be the precise time that they
were made available.  Sometimes they were published earlier in parts and
later assembled as a whole volume.  Our botanical reference to unravel
this mystery is "Taxonomic Literature, ed. 2" by Frans Stafleu in which
detailed information (i.e. month, day, and year) about publication dates
are presented for many of the important systematic works.