[Taxacom] Taxonomist Appreciation Day

[John Sullivan]

Socorro:  Yes, Pensoft is ahead of the curve in many respects. I think all of their journals require taxonomic citations be added to the Literature Cited, but after all they’re a taxonomy-oriented publisher. I’m suggesting all journals, whatever their focus, follow suit. What if all the relevant societies (with publishers like Pensoft) wrote a joint letter suggesting (demanding?) this practice?

Norbert: In your excellent letter to Nature in response to Garnett & Christidis, you and Federico suggested using full citations as a means to clarify communication about species concepts, as well as to boost recognition of taxonomic science. The communication and stability issue is another important reason to cite taxonomic works.

Citing vouchers and natural history collections in papers is a necessity also, of course. But the rationale for the idea I put forward is the all-powerful h-index. It is low for most taxonomists in large part because most authors aren’t in the habit of citing species descriptions, revisions and keys, although they should be doing so. Journal editors could remedy that with a simple change of policy.

~ John Sullivan