TAXACOM Digest - 27 Jul 2000 to 28 Jul 2000 (#2000-183)

[Kevin Winker]

Vouchers do indeed remain a critical issue across taxa. As an author of one of
the cited papers, I am not sure whether it had any effect whatsoever, except
as something to cite in support of collection (often important when applying
for permits to collect birds).

We are undoubtedly ranting to the converted here, however. Journal editors,
NSF program officers, and, most importantly, *reviewers* have to get on top of
this issue and insist on the need for vouchers at all stages of research, from
proposals to submitted mss. Molecular biologists come under particular fire
because they are less likely to have a background in traditional systematics,
wherein vouchers have been standard for over a century. Stressing the
importance of vouchers at GenBank would really put the message forward - how
about some sort of quality rating system, with vouchered sequences getting a
big boost?
--
Kevin Winker
University of Alaska Museum
907 Yukon Drive
Fairbanks, Alaska 99775
907-474-7027; ffksw at uaf.edu