Thanks to Donat Agosti for the alert and, since I don't have access, for this summary:
Wheeler and Krell [call for] changes in the Codes of Zoological and Botanical Nomenclature to assure that any new described species are immediately known to the universe. For that they require
First, require such registration before a name is formally available for use.
Second, require full text descriptions of species to be deposited by publishers or authors in a central, publicly open ‘bank’, free of charge, such as will be provided by ZooBank for zoological names....
Third, require electronic publications to include a ‘hot’ link to these banks of names and descriptions....
Agosti continues, as a comment:
The call for open access to systematic literature is not new, but coincides this time with the announcement of the Encyclopedia of Life, which is building very strongly on the published record. Within the Biodiversity Heritage Library component, they plan to scan in the [public-domain] legacy publications....
We need to rethink our own behavior. We should change the Codes, that open access to the publication is mandated, and with that that the species descriptions can be discovered online. We need at least to self archive our publications, not signing contracts with publishers which do not allow that....
Posted by
Peter Suber at 5/11/2007 03:35:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
