outlets for alpha taxonomy

[Barry M. OConnor]

At 2:57 PM +0200 1/30/02, Denis Brothers wrote:
>IMO, the attitude of the editor cited below is grossly irresponsible. If
>someone in his/her position 'publishes' a work with nomenclatural
>content which is thereby considered as "not published" in terms of the
>ICZN, knowing that this is the case and without warning the author(s) of
>the situation, then I would seriously question the ethics (or lack of
>them) involved....

I believe this particular editor, who is not a systematist and whose
journal publishes entomological papers on a variety of topics, didn't
particularly care what the ICZN rules were.  When I asked him about this
controversy, he explicitly said it would be up to authors to submit and
reviewers to allow acceptance in his journal.  There are some systematists
who view the ICZN rule about paper-only publishing as anachronistic and are
willing to flaunt the rule as a "test-case" so to speak.  Some have already
done so.  With the latest ICZN now allowing CD-ROM publication, the notion
that one should be able to read an original taxonomic work by "eyes-only"
is no longer mandated.  Thus, I think it is only a matter of time before
electronic publishing will be allowed, particularly since there are
systematists pushing for this.  Denis' question about permanence of the
original work, and how this is to be assured, remains to be decided. - Barry

Barry M. OConnor
Curator & Professor             phone: (734) 763-4354
Museum of Zoology               FAX: (734) 763-4080
University of Michigan          e-mail: bmoc at umich.edu
1109 Geddes Ave.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079  USA