[Taxacom] Open review as a wiki

[Richard Pyle]

I agree that the perception by most recent taxonomists (including me) is
consistent with that expressed by Don Colless and Paul van Rijckevorsel.
And I further agree that a bibligraphic citation for a concept
circumscription is more important than a citation for an original
description of a name.

However, my point was directed at those people concerned that the science of
taxonomy is under-rated due to inadequate citation indexing, even when such
citation indexing is perfectly justifiable.

I support my "perfectly justifiable" comment above on the basis of many,
many historical and modern monographs and revisions, which provide citation
details as well as authors among the synonymy listings in species
treatments.  That these full citation details are often provided underscores
the legitimacy of them warranting such citation.  That they are included in
the synonymy listing instead of the bibliogrpahy section may well explain
why taxonomic works are not given approproiate weight in the context of
citation indexing.

If what I just said above does not make sense, please let me know and I will
provide an example.

Aloha,
Rich

> -----Original Message-----
> From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu 
> [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Paul 
> van Rijckevorsel
> Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 10:54 PM
> To: taxacom
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Open review as a wiki
> 
> From: <Don.Colless at csiro.au>> I have always (i.e. for 60 
> years) understood the citation of author and date to be just 
> that: the author's name and the year of publication - a guide 
> to the publication, but by no means a formal citation. In the 
> fields where I have worked, perhaps I've been lucky; but when 
> I want the original reference, I then go to a catalogue (or, 
> at worst, the Zoo. Rec.)
> 
> ***
> Yes, I agree. The author's name and the year of publication 
> are important for purposes of homonymy and priority, 
> respectively. Not particularly useful for bibliography.
> 
> If a citation is to be included in a list of references it 
> would be more useful to include the author whose 
> circumscription is being used, although even that publication 
> is not all that likely to be less than two years old.
> 
> Paul 
> 
> 
> 
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