Publishing taxa in Latin and in print

Tim Chapman tim@gingerwoodnursery.com
Thu, 21 Jul 2011 17:12:36 PDT
In regards to the paper vs electronic aspect one fact that seems to be left out is that printed journals are becoming more and more inaccessible. There are very few if any public university libraries out there that haven't decreased the number of subscribed journals. Most continue to cancel more every year.   Many of the articles I've looked for can't be accessed in paper form from two major university systems.  Journals continue to increase in price and subscriptions continue to decline.  The archival benefits are less effective when access is extremely expensive or near impossible in some areas.  

An electronic system that reduces the hurdles in getting new species published is needed. The concept some are promoting of a free to publish free to access system would be great.  Authors don't profit from publishing new species, and it seems absurd to pay $35 for a PDF file of the one article you might be looking for.   It would make sense if feasible to require  electronic copies of newly published species to be stored in central locations. Ie, a database like theplantlist.org with links to the PDF files.  This would mainly be for those that weren't published through traditional journals. 

I have discovered new species myself and know many others that have as well. Several are still unpublished after 15 years, and were made available to taxonomists early on.  Simplifying the system only makes sense and is needed.  Any scenario out there will have flaws, but I still think making it easier to publish and easier to access is something all will benefit from. 

Tim Chapman


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