On Sun, Jun 13, 2010 at 11:33 AM, Harris, Jerald <jharris@dixie.edu> wrote:
* who should (or will) define what is and is not a "publication" for the purposes of
taxonomic validity? The ICZN? The PhyloCode? A third, entirely separate committee? The ICZN, as
others have noted, is either wholly intractable and stolid, or else it moves in a tectonic time
frame and is therefore useless in light of the rapid pace of technological change. I don't know
nearly enough about the PhyloCode to comment on its ability, but have to wonder whether or not the
idea of a publication is too different from its primary mandate to need to fall under its purview.
A third organization -- the International Commission on Publication Validation or somesuch...? Who
would be on that commission -- taxonomists, obviously, but should publishers have representation,
too? Who would choose these people? Of course, even if such a body existed and had a set of
definition, how would it be enforced? Or labeled (e.g., a "stamp of approval")?
Well, the ISO already does this, issuing ISSN and ISBN numbers. So one
possibility would be to say it's a publication if it has an ISBN or
ISSN number, at least after a certain date.