peer review

[Robin Leech]

Many scientists and medicos have the opinion that taxonomy is a
"fossilized science" - that is, until there is a critical need for a name
to be applied to an organism.  "Critical need" in my field is usually
when a child is bitten by a spider, or a person has a necrotic lesion
somewhere on the body that a local medico has blamed on a "brown recluse"
spider.

And as for certification, who certifies the certifiers?  Along this line,
Among other things, the role of the Mater Instructor is to teach and
certify regular instructors.  I have met several of these "masters", and
their knowledge about firearms leaves much to be desired.

My question is this: if these masters know so little, what was the level
of knowledge of those who certified them?

Robin Leech


On Thu, 19 Feb 1998, Anita Cholewa wrote:

> Asking systematic societies to refuse papers unless one or
> more authors is certified isn't going to solve the problem.
> 1. there is no certification program at present for taxonomists
> 2. if we wanted a certification are current faculty willing to go
>    through this hoop (be honest)
> 3. several ecologists (and other biologists) have been
>    overheard voicing their view that taxonomy is a fossilized
>    science with no relevance to today's world
> If peers are of the same opinion as just mentioned, peer review
> is not enough.
> Anita
>
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