[Zoobank-list] Yanega scenario

[GOEMANS, Geert]

Dear all,

 

I just heard about the discussion on the zoobank idea. I read parts of
the discussion and want to say I am very 'pro' the 'yanegian' idea, one
of the big advantages would be, (To quote Doug Yanega) "personal grudges
or biases of the reviewers are exposed to scrutiny - in essence, one
insincere review for or against a manuscript is no longer going to
potentially get a bad paper approved, or a good one rejected. Amateurs
who submit well-done research will not have their work rejected because
of a single elitist reviewer, nor will entrenched taxonomists who submit
poor research be given a free ride based solely on their reputation;
work will be much more readily recognized as good or bad on its own
merits when politics is taken out of the equation."

This Yanega scenario will most certainly speed up publication
(personally I have at the moment a publication that is already almost
two years on it's way! And this mainly because of slowing down at editor
and printers level), and will most probably avoid that new additions
will make even a bigger mess of some taxonomical groups because one can
(almost) reach the whole taxonomic community and get positive as well as
negative feedback and information about possible paratypes, etc. (as
Doug already pointed out).

But what will happen to the sometimes incredibly well illustrated
catalogues that are published but that are not peer reviewed but do
fulfil the requirements of the ICZN code. Will they still get accepted
or would they also have to go through the system? Because I think these
works could also get a whole lot better with just a simple on-line
review. 

Another problem Doug touched was the 'universal language' I am not
convinced that this will be as easy as thought, ok for the New World
(maybe with the exception of Brazil) and for most of Europe. But what
with China or Russia, just to name some? I am not convinced it will be
so easy for them to just write in English. Could it be an option to have
translations in several languages? 

 

Sincerely,

 

Geert Goemans  

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