[Taxacom] Clarivate Analytics Case # CM-200703-4025857 : suppression of taxonomic journals [ ref:_00D411O1D5._5004Nn5RPP:ref ]

[Les Watling]

Dear Imam,
Thanks for your response. Perhaps your metric needs a bit of tweaking. For
example, Zoological Records reports that 26% of all taxonomic acts and
descriptions of new species of a zoological nature since 2015 were
published in Zootaxa. Next in line is Zookeys at 6%, and then a list of
journals all around a few percentage points. That in itself should explain
why Zootaxa has such a high level of self-citation. And therefore, the
metrics you use should reflect the fact that publishing world for this
branch of science is narrow.
>From a posting on the Annelida list:

*Journal title*

*New taxa*

Zootaxa

24722

26.57%

Zookeys

5682

6.11%

European Journal of Taxonomy

1686

1.81%

Linzer Biologische Beiträge

1374

1.48%

Cretaceous Research

1347

1.45%

Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society

981

1.05%

Insecta Mundi

964

1.04%

Paleontological Journal

939

1.01%

Journal of Systematic Palaeontology

791

0.85%

Systematic and Applied Acarology

744

0.80%

>From Edwin Cruz-Rivera: "Another example is the /International Journal of
Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology/, the official journal of record
for new microbial taxa.
According to the /International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes/, all
new prokaryote names have to be published or get validated in this
one journal (C.T. Parker /et al./, /Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microb./ *69*, S1–S111;
2019). " As a result it will also have a very high level of self-citation,
as your metric found out. But that is due to the rules of the game.

One hopes that this helps you to understand the nature of taxonomic
publishing. That your metric does not account for the peculiarities of
taxonomic science is not surprising to those of us who pursue this line of
work. You are just one of many organizations who have shown that you do not
know how our branch of science operates. But now that it has been explained
we hope that you will modify the metrics that you use.

Best wishes,

Les Watling
Professor, Dept. of Biology
216 Edmondson Hall
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Honolulu, HI 96822
Ph. 808-956-8621
Cell: 808-772-9563
e-mail: watling at hawaii.edu






On Mon, Jul 6, 2020 at 12:43 PM Web of Science Group <
wosg.support at clarivate.com> wrote:

> Dear Les,
>
>
> Thank you for your patience.
>
>
> This year, we have updated our suppression policy, including our
> methodology and parameters for journal self-citation. Our approach remains
> data-driven; we do not apply subjective interpretations and we do not
> assume motive. The analysis now includes the percentage of out-going
> (citing) journal self-citation, as well as the percentage of in-coming
> (cited) activity. We now compare each journal within its assigned category
> (or categories) – instead of to the entire JCR – to allow for subject-based
> differences in citation behavior. We also now consider the level of
> distortion of the citation network, in addition to the outcome of that
> distortion on journal metrics and/or journal rank.
>
>
> We acknowledge that in exceptional circumstances there may be compelling
> editorial reasons for an atypical level of journal self-citation, which
> fulfils a genuine scholarly purpose. We will liaise with Zootaxa’s Chief
> Editor to resolve any appeal as we continue to improve our method of
> identifying and addressing citation distortion.
>
>
> I hope this information helps.
>
>
> *Sincerely,*
> Imam Shaik
>
> *Imam Shareef Shaik*
> Product Support, Customer Service
>
> *Clarivate*
> *clarivate.com <http://clarivate.com/>*
>
> Visit *Customer Service – Get Help Now <https://support.clarivate.com/>* for
> all of your support needs.
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
>
> Dear Les,
>
>
> Thank you for contacting Clarivate Analytics.
>
>
> I am currently working on your request with our Technology Team. I shall
> get back to you once I have an update.I appreciate your patience.
>
> Sincerely,
> Imam Shaik
>
> Imam Shareef Shaik
> Product Support, Customer Service
>
> Clarivate
> clarivate.com
>
> Visit Customer Service – Get Help Now for all of your support needs.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> ------------------------------
> From: watling at hawaii.edu
> Sent: 7/3/2020 2:33 PM
> To: wosg.support at clarivate.com
> Cc:
> Subject: suppression of taxonomic journals
> Dear Statisticians,
>
> Please learn a little something about the field of taxonomy. While I am in
> favor of your trying to weed out bogus journals, I can assure you that
> Zootaxa is not one of them.
>
> Taxonomy, more than almost any other science, is self-referential due to
> the nature of the work. Taxonomy builds on the work that has come before,
> sometimes a very long time before, and has rules about including all
> previous work on a subject. Those rules mean that work that I previously
> published on a specific group of animals MUST be referred to. There is no
> ignoring those papers.
>
> While your rules about self-citation might be satisfactory in some other
> scientific disciplines, they penalize taxonomists for doing their work
> correctly.
>
> I suppose we can forgive your ignorance of this issue just this once, but
> those of us who work in this field hope that you can and will learn
> something about the business of taxonomy and that you don't continue to
> apply your one-size-fits-all approach to your statistical metrics to our
> field of endeavor.
>
> With best regards,
>
> Les Watling
> Professor, Dept. of Biology
> 216 Edmondson Hall
> University of Hawaii at Manoa
> Honolulu, HI 96822
> Ph. 808-956-8621
> Cell: 808-772-9563
> e-mail: watling at hawaii.edu<mailto:watling at hawaii.edu>
>
>
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> ------------------------------
> From: clarivate.customersupport at clarivate.com
> Sent: 7/3/2020 2:34 PM
> To: watling at hawaii.edu
> Cc:
> Subject: Clarivate Analytics Case # CM-200703-4025857 : suppression of
> taxonomic journals
> Dear ,
>
> Thank you for contacting Clarivate Analytics.
>
> We have received your query and have opened case number CM-200703-4025857
> on your behalf. A member of our Customer Service team will be reaching out
> to you within 24 hours.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Clarivate Analytics Customer Service
>
> Case #: CM-200703-4025857
>
> Description:
>
> Sincerely,
> Imam
>
> Imam Shaik
> Product Support, Customer Service | Clarivate
> Clarivate.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ref:_00D411O1D5._5004Nn5RPP:ref
>