[Taxacom] Article 16.2 of the ICZN

[Bob Mesibov]

Maurizio Bollino wrote:

"I'd say: it is irresponsible of reviewers to accept manuscripts that clearly don't follow the Code."

Reviewers should tell authors whether there are non-compliance issues and how they should be fixed. Editors should tell reviewers of taxonomic manuscripts that this is expected of reviewers. (In the case I cited in my earlier post, I wrote to the editor, who replied that reviewers would be encouraged to make sure that the Code was followed.)

Should, should. The only practical way to guarantee compliance is to move toward the Doug Yanega model of digital taxonomic publishing (see Taxacom archives)  -  effectively one 'journal' with an unlimited number of reviewers and editing software with validation rules (in the databasing sense) - and away from the current system of numerous journals, a limited number of reviewers per article and no automatic validation checks.

ZooBank is an excellent start in this direction, and it would be simply *great* to see mandatory name registration in the upcoming 5th edition of the zoological Code.
-- 
Dr Robert Mesibov
Honorary Research Associate
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, and
School of Zoology, University of Tasmania
Home contact: PO Box 101, Penguin, Tasmania, Australia 7316
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