e-Publication
of
Plant Names
using standards
Arthur D. Chapman
Australian Biodiversity Information Services
Toowoomba, Australia
TDWG 2010 – Wood’s Hole
The current state
• The International Code for Botanical
Nomenclature
– Allows publication only in hard copy
– If electronic
• Mandatory that hard copies placed in 2 libraries
• Recommended hard copies placed in 10 libraries
• Only the hard copies regarded as effectively
published
TDWG 2010 – Wood’s Hole
The Code
• 29.1. Publication is effected, under this Code,
only by distribution of printed matter (through
sale, exchange, or gift) to the general public or
at least to botanical institutions with libraries
accessible to botanists generally. It is not
effected by communication of new names at a
public meeting, by the placing of names in
collections or gardens open to the public, by the
issue of microfilm made from manuscripts,
typescripts or other unpublished material, or
solely by distribution electronically or through
any electronic medium.
TDWG 2010 – Wood’s Hole
The need
• Many new electronic journals publishing names
– Currently producing limited paper copies
• Cost of hard copy journals
– cost of publishing
– cost to author
– cost of subscription
• Liklihood of bypassing the Code
– Code has no legislative basis
• e-Journals allow for inclusion of additional
information (spreadsheets, specimens cited, high
quality images, interactive keys, etc.)
• Code should not be an impediment to taxonomy
or science generally.
TDWG 2010 – Wood’s Hole
Some existing e-Journals
Biota Neotropica (http://www.biotaneotropica.org.br/)
• published in Brazil
• peer-reviewed papers
• open access
• three languages (English, Portuguese, and Spanish)
• XML indexing of names
• PLoS ONE (http://www.plosone.org/)
• interactive,
• open-access
• peer-reviewed
• scientific and medical research.
Phytotaxa (http://www.mapress.com/phytotaxa/)
• peer-reviewed
• international
• papers on any aspect of systematic botany
• preference for large taxonomic works
• open-access and subscription-only papers.
TDWG 2010 – Wood’s Hole
The process
• Special Committee on Electronic Publication
– 26 members
– Meets electronically (Google Groups)
– Makes recommendations
• Report published in Journal - Taxon
• Need 25% of Postal vote of members of IAPT*
• Must be accepted at nomenclature session of
IBC^ (Melbourne 2011)
• If passed - starting date is 1 January 2013
* International Association for Plant Taxonomists
^ International Botanical Congress
TDWG 2010 – Wood’s Hole
Key issues
• Discovery
– for an electronic document to be discoverable
• Immutability
– for an electronic publication to be
unchangeable after it is first issued
• Archiving
– for an electronic document to be discoverable
and readable many decades or centuries to
come
TDWG 2010 – Wood’s Hole
Committee deliberation
• Committee believed
– most of the key issues could be solved
through use of ISO standards
– there is a reality that some issues would not
be accepted
• Registration of names (as in Bacteria) previously
rejected
– peer review could not be mandated
– open source laudable but not enforceable in
Code
TDWG 2010 – Wood’s Hole
Standards recommended
• PDF (Portable Document Format)
– ISO/IEC 32000-1:2008
• based on Adobe PDF Version 7
– specifies a digital form for representing electronic documents to
enable users to exchange and view electronic documents
independent of the environment in which they were created or
the environment in which they are viewed or printed.
– open source
– internal metadata (in XML) – can be enhanced through RDF,
Dublin Core, XML
– Can include Digital Signatures
• Recommended to be mandated as the form for effective
publication
TDWG 2010 – Wood’s Hole
Standards recommended
• PDF/A
– ISO 19005-1:2005
• based on Adobe PDF Version 1.4
– a file format for long-term archiving of electronic documents
– incorporates all metadata, fonts, etc.
• i.e. everything needed to read a document long into the future
– open source
– platform independent
– Can be written form large range of proprietary and open-source
software (MS Word 7, OCR, Open Office, direct from XML, etc.)
• earlier versions of MS Word (3 onwards) can save as PDF Version
1.4 which is PDF/A compliant.
• Strongly recommended as the format for longterm archiving.
TDWG 2010 – Wood’s Hole
Standards recommended
• ISSN (International Standard Serial Number)
– ISO 3297-1975
– Assigned by network of national centres
– Coordinated by International ISSN Centre in Paris
• ISBN (International Standard Book Number)
– ISO 2108-1970
– Assigned by network of national centres
– Coordinated by International ISBN Agency in London
• Recommended to be mandated as the form for
effective publication
TDWG 2010 – Wood’s Hole
Archiving
Committee recommends that:
• Publishers and authors should ensure that
effectively published electronic material is
archived
– the material should be placed in multiple
online digital repositories;
– digital repositories should be in more than one
area of the world and preferably on different
continents.
TDWG 2010 – Wood’s Hole
Some existing digital archives
•
(http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/)
BHL is a consortium of 12 major natural history museum libraries, botanical
libraries, and research institutions organized to digitize, serve, and preserve the
legacy literature of biodiversity.
(http://www.bioone.org/)
BioOne is a global, not-for-profit collaboration that brings together scientific
societies, publishers, and libraries to provide access to critical, peer-reviewed
research in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences.
(http://www.scielo.br/)
The Scientific Electronic Library Online electronic library
covering a selected collection of scientific journals.
(http://www.jstor.org/)
JSTOR is a not-for-profit, online system for storing academic journals
TDWG 2010 – Wood’s Hole
National Archives
• The following countries have well-established national Web
archiving programs in place or are actively pursuing relevant issues:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Australia
Austria
Canada
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Japan
Lithuania
The Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Sweden
United Kingdom
United States
Ref. National Library of Australia. Undated. PADI – Preserving Access to Digital
Information. Published at http://www.nla.gov.au/padi/topics/92.html
TDWG 2010 – Wood’s Hole
Conclusion
• Committee has finalised its report and
submitted for publication
• Part of key recommendation is that:
Publication is effected by electronic
distribution of material in Portable Document
Format (PDF) in an online serial publication
with an International Standard Serial Number
(ISSN).
TDWG 2010 – Wood’s Hole
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements to all members of the Committee
Mary E. Barkworth (UTC),
Bernard R. Baum (DAO),
William R. Buck (NY),
Katherine M. Challis (K),
Arthur D. Chapman (Toowoomba, Australia),
Laurence J. Dorr (US),
Renée H. Fortunato (BAB),
Susan Fraser (NY),
Hugh F. Glen (NH),
Martin J. Head (Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada),
Elvira Hörandl (WU),
Douglas Holland (MO),
Victoria C. Hollowell (MO),
Paul M. Kirk (IMI),
Joseph H. Kirkbride, Jr. (NA),
Sandra Knapp (BM),
Pierre-André Loizeau (G),
Karol Marhold (PRC/SAV),
Tony Orchard (CANB),
Peter Phillipson (MO/P),
Peter A. Schäfer (MPU),
Peter F. Stevens (MO),
Nicholas J. Turland (MO),
Mark F. Watson (Secretary, E),
Karen L. Wilson (Convener, NSW), Richard H. Zander (MO).
Ex Officio:
John McNeill (E) Rapporteur-général of the Vienna and Melbourne Congresses
Richard L. Pyle (Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.), representing the zoological community
TDWG 2010 – Wood’s Hole