While describing or analyzing species taxonomy, we find some taxonomic changes proposed within thesis that we considered appropriate but, since they have never been published in peer reviewed articles they are not officially accepted.
I think that the best way would be to publish a peer reviewed article with the main results from the thesis. This is a frequently used method to make the results from a thesis accessible to a wider scientific community.
Thanks Wolfgang, my question is when it is not your own thesis, but from another researcher. Some theses are from the 90s, I believe that unfortunately they will not be published.
Julian; Without a published, formal description the taxon remains undescribed. That work needs to be done by somebody. Best regards, Jim Des Lauriers
It doesn't matter. In taxonomy, you can propose whatever you like. Perhaps your changes will be accepted too :)
Hanks. I think my concern focus mainly on the ethical component. I will probably contact the authors first and ask them if they are planning to publish it anytime soon ( I really doubt it) or perhaps invite them to publish with me. I am not sure what to do if they refuse and don't publish anyway.
You can cite thesis works as references. If it's an older work then it seems rather unlikely that the original student author is going to follow up with a peer-reviewed publication.
Not yet Nikola, I have sent emails to the authors, and I am still waiting for their replies.
If the author of the thesis is still living, he/she can publish with you as a second author or even as the first author, if he/she agrees to this. A person who is no longer living can still publish "in memoria", either as a second author, first author, only author, or whatever. I would highly recommend that you give all the species the same names that the author of the thesis was going to give them, with an explanation explaining why you are doing this.
Thanks John. That is my first idea, to ask the authors to publish with me, or alone if they are about to do it. I will see!
Julian, in your initial question you mention that it has to be published in a peer review journal to consider it valid. It just has to be published. According to ICZN, to consider a thesis published an editorial process has to be evident in converting the work to print-on-demand form. I would check this first and in case it is not published, proceed as suggested by John.
Everything that is not published, in terms of scientific information and more in terms of changes or taxonomic proposals, does not exist! You must either publish it yourself and propose it or find the author and publish it together.
The most important thing in taxonomic works, is the validity of author that could be proven in peer reviewed publication. nevertheless, you can reference to a thesis if you have trust on its author.
Hello Julian; Poorly done taxonomic revisions usually have a bad effect on the field. Somebody eventually has to repair the damage. Here is an example of a paper that attempts to correct the errors of a poorly done study.
I made the mistake of following the changes of the poor study. Now I am in the midst of repairing the damage to my own work. Read this paper!
Ward, PS and BB Blaimer. 2022. Taxonomy in the phylogenomic era: species boundaries and phylogenetic relationships among North American ants of the Crematogaster scutellaris group (Formicidae: Hymenoptera). Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 2022, 194, 893-937.
Best regards, Jim Des Lauriers
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