thesis publications

[Bernard Landry]

Hi all,

I have been observing with interest the thread concerning the validity of
names published in theses.

I think that there are enough names published today in such a multitude of
journals, some of which being already hard to get to, that taxonomy
does not need the burden of the need to consider names in theses.

The "problem" of the publication costs is not a real problem to me. I have
been able to publish my dissertation (some 400 ms pages) at no cost in
the United States, even getting 20 or so free copies.  I know that this is
also possible in many European countries.

Also please consider the services provided by the Zoological Record. WOuld
they be willing to accept indexing names published in dissertations? How
would you know about a thesis if the contents is not indexed somewhere?

N'ouvrons pas cette boite de Pandore!

Salutations distinguees,

BERNARD LANDRY

Environmental Science, Policy
and Management
Division of Insect Biology
201 Wellman Hall
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720
U.S.A.

Tel.  (510) 642-7381 (office)
Tel.: (510) 642-7410 (lab, answering machine)
Tel.: (510) 486-0204 (home)
Fax.: (510) 642-7428

blandry at nature.berkeley.edu
www.cnr.berkeley.edu/sperlinglab/landry.html

On Sat, 1 Mar 1997, Curtis Clark wrote:

> At 09:00 PM 02/28/97 -0700, JOSEPH E. LAFERRIERE wrote:
> >Article  30.5.   Inclusion  of   new   names   or   neo-   or
> >lectotypifications in a thesis or dissertation required to be
> >written as  part of  a degree  program at  an institution  of
> >higher education  is considered  effective publication if and
> >only if  1) The  degree program  was completed  on or after 1
> >January 2000; 2) The thesis or dissertation is made available
> >by sale,  trade, or gift to people at institutions other than
> >that at  which the  degree was awarded, whether by electronic
> >publication, microfilm  xerography, or more traditional means
> >of dissemination;  and 3) All other requirements of this Code
> >are met.  For purposes  of priority, effective publication is
> >dated from  the day the thesis or dissertation was officially
> >accepted at the author's institution.
>
> Sorry, but I don't buy this. How will it help systematics if protologues
> don't already exist in major libraries, but have to be ordered? (At my
> library, even faxes of articles in journals we don't have are free, but I'd
> have to pay for a dissertation fiche myself.) How will it help systematics
> if PhD students avoid putting new names in their theses, or avoid
> nomenclature altogether, so that they can have some *refereed* publications
> when they are out competing for jobs? I think the solution is to explicitly
> exclude copies of official theses and dissertations, no matter how they are
> distributed.
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Curtis Clark                       http://www.is.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
> Biological Sciences Department                     Voice: (909) 869-4062
> California State Polytechnic University, Pomona    FAX:   (909) 869-4078
> Pomona CA 91768-4032  USA                          jcclark at csupomona.edu
>