[Taxacom] [EXT] Re: NZ Royal Society fails to object to suppression and censorship of science

[JF Mate]

The authors (Water et al 2013) are free to call for rejection of
panbiogeography papers but since its publication panbiogeography papers
have continued to be published. I don't understand what you want the panel
to do, punish the author's? Sure, calling for banning raises an eyebrow but
you can't suppress them. You can argue against them.

J

On Tue., 10 Aug. 2021, 09:17 John Grehan via Taxacom, <
taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> wrote:

> Mary,
>
> this is not about rejection of a paper. This was about the Society
> establishing a Panel to respond to a complaint that some of their members
> acted in ways contrary to their ethics by calling for suppression and
> censorship of a research program they opposed (that research program being
> panbiogeography). That panel found nothing wrong with their members calling
> for suppression or censorship and the Society leadership did not contest
> that finding and has taken no further action. Thus, I am correct that the
> Royal Society of New Zealand has failed to object to calls by some of its
> members for censorship and suppression of panbiogeography. Thus the Royal
> Society of NZ effectively endorsed that view no matter how anyone may wish
> to parse that.
>
> On Mon, Aug 9, 2021 at 6:46 PM Mary Barkworth via Taxacom <
> taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> wrote:
>
> > A panel to evaluate a complaint is a far cry from "[endorsing] calls for
> > suppression and censorship as being compatible with the Society's ethics
> > policy. It simply means that if someone wants to complain about rejection
> > of their manuscript or whatever, their complaint will be reviewed by a
> > panel rather than being automatically accepted, dismissed, or referred to
> > the same individual who made the decision that is being appealed.
> > Mary
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> On Behalf Of John
> > Grehan via Taxacom
> > Sent: Monday, August 9, 2021 4:33 PM
> > To: Peter A Rauch <peterar at berkeley.edu>
> > Cc: taxacom <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
> > Subject: [EXT] Re: [Taxacom] NZ Royal Society fails to object to
> > suppression and censorship of science
> >
> > I mentioned earlier that I would provide the R Soc Panel document to
> > anyone who asks (and will send to Peter next). Point is that the Society
> > set up the panel to 'evaluate' a complaint. The Panel denied any conflict
> > with the Society's ethics and recommended no further action. That is the
> > Society conclusion. Thus the Society, through its Panel, has effectively
> > endorsed calls for suppression and censorship as being compatible with
> the
> > Society's ethics policy.
> >
> > John Grehan
> >
> > On Mon, Aug 9, 2021 at 6:18 PM Peter A Rauch <peterar at berkeley.edu>
> wrote:
> >
> > > John pointed to the published paper by Waters et al., Syst. Biol., as
> > > the stimulus for his comments, and states [*emphasis* mine]:
> > >
> > > "... now the Royal Society Te Apārangi (New Zealand) has trashed its
> > > slogan "We support New Zealanders to explore, discover and share
> > > knowledge" *by providing endorsement of suppression and censorship by
> > > their members through a Panel that concluded that there was nothing
> > > wrong for their members to do this*.
> > >
> > > I'm still missing the point he apparently wants to make (about the
> > > RSTA's
> > > Panel) because I don't know (John didn't provide?) what that Panel
> > > actually wrote ("concluded"), nor what the RSTA wrote (to "endorse"
> > > the Panel's "conclusions").
> > >
> > > Peter R
> > >
> > >
> > > On Sun, Aug 8, 2021 at 3:06 PM John Grehan via Taxacom <
> > > taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > >> Some of you may recall that some years ago several researchers
> > >> published a paper in Systematic Biology in which they called for the
> > >> suppression and censorship of a research program they opposed. That
> > >> they felt it was OK for scientists to openly admit to such practices
> > >> is shocking enough, but now the Royal Society Te Apārangi (New
> > >> Zealand) has trashed its slogan "We support New Zealanders to
> > >> explore, discover and share knowledge" by providing endorsement of
> > >> suppression and censorship by their members through a Panel that
> > >> concluded that there was nothing wrong for their members to do this.
> > >> Perhaps others on Taxacome feel the same way,  that it is OK  for
> > >> scientists to actively engage in suppression. To me it is horrifying,
> > >> but perhaps I am in an ethical minority. Boggles the mind.
> > >>
> > >> John Grehan
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