Online-only publishers are here to stay, and will continue to work closely with the ICZN | MOYLAN | Zootaxa
abernard102@gmail.com 2014-06-03
Summary:
"BioMed Central is a Science, Technology and Medical publisher of online, open access journals. We have always
endeavoured to ensure that our journals adhere to the norms of the research communities we serve (Knapp et al.,
2011; Krell 2012; Sands & Moylan 2012). We were therefore somewhat bewildered by the tone of the piece from
Dubois et al. (2013) criticising online-only journals, specifically our interpretation of the International Code of
Zoological Nomenclature (the Code) on criteria for publication for nomenclatural purposes (ICZN 1999) prior to
the 2012 Amendment to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN 2012a,b,c). We
responded to this in our recent blog (Harold et al., 2013). We appreciate that Dubois et al. (2013) are challenging the Commission on certain ambiguities and misunderstandings of the Code (and its amendments) and the implications this has for publishers, editors and authors alike. Following the 2012 Amendment, online publications are available for nomenclatural purposes if certain criteria are met. However, the crux of the problem for works published after 1999 and before 2012 seems to be in our interpretation of Article 8.6 of the fourth edition of the Code which states that: ‘For a work produced after 1999 by a method other than printing on paper to be accepted as published within the meaning of the Code, it must contain a statement that copies (in the form in which it is published) have been deposited in at least five major publicly accessible libraries which are identified by name in the work itself' ..."