On taxonomy again
23-06-2009 20:10
Persoonia
is a journal on molecular phylogeny and evolution of
fungi. I must admit that I had never heard of it,
before Peter Hovekamp send around this
link
pointing to an interesting short note of Seifert,
Crous & Frisvad on impact factors of taxonomic
journals.
One of the factors influencing the decline of taxonomy is the low ranking in the statistics that are used for the SCI-ranking of journals and the H-ranking for authors. On both, taxonomical work and authors usually can be found at the tail end. Needless to say that this reinforces the negative imago of taxonomy (a so-called ‘perverse feed-back loop’).
The authors propose a quite elegant principle to be followed by all taxonomists and taxonomic journals, called Appropriate Citation of Taxonomy. “The principle is to ensure that common elements of taxonomic papers, generally considered de facto citations by taxonomists but not by ISI, are presented in a format that is considered a valid citation by ISI”. In short, if you can’t beat them, join them...
By citing the original works of species names or DNA sequences, taxonomists can ensure that taxonomical work will be given appropriate citation. Even if the list of references is curtailed by the editors, one should at least cite five taxonomic papers.
The only remaining condition is, that the taxonomist is able to publish in a SCI/ISI-covered journal... That is not so simple as it may seem, as the original ISI-coverage was rather arbitrary (including e.g. the Journal of Conchology), while leaving out similar journals (e.g. Basteria and Archiv für Molluskenkunde). And as a befriended editor recently told me, it may only be possible to be included in the ISI-list by paying a substantial fee... Who said that taxonomists are on the loosing end of the battle for money?
As the authors say: taxonomists and taxonomic journals: ACT!
Reference:
Seifert, K.A., Crous, P.W. & Frisvad, J.C., 2008. Correcting the impact factors of taxonomic journals by appropriate citation of taxonomy (ACT). - Persoonia 20: 105.
One of the factors influencing the decline of taxonomy is the low ranking in the statistics that are used for the SCI-ranking of journals and the H-ranking for authors. On both, taxonomical work and authors usually can be found at the tail end. Needless to say that this reinforces the negative imago of taxonomy (a so-called ‘perverse feed-back loop’).
The authors propose a quite elegant principle to be followed by all taxonomists and taxonomic journals, called Appropriate Citation of Taxonomy. “The principle is to ensure that common elements of taxonomic papers, generally considered de facto citations by taxonomists but not by ISI, are presented in a format that is considered a valid citation by ISI”. In short, if you can’t beat them, join them...
By citing the original works of species names or DNA sequences, taxonomists can ensure that taxonomical work will be given appropriate citation. Even if the list of references is curtailed by the editors, one should at least cite five taxonomic papers.
The only remaining condition is, that the taxonomist is able to publish in a SCI/ISI-covered journal... That is not so simple as it may seem, as the original ISI-coverage was rather arbitrary (including e.g. the Journal of Conchology), while leaving out similar journals (e.g. Basteria and Archiv für Molluskenkunde). And as a befriended editor recently told me, it may only be possible to be included in the ISI-list by paying a substantial fee... Who said that taxonomists are on the loosing end of the battle for money?
As the authors say: taxonomists and taxonomic journals: ACT!
Reference:
Seifert, K.A., Crous, P.W. & Frisvad, J.C., 2008. Correcting the impact factors of taxonomic journals by appropriate citation of taxonomy (ACT). - Persoonia 20: 105.