Dear Geosciences Community,
I am interested in starting a discussion on a topic that has been on my mind lately. I have come across many papers where the coordinates of the samples are not provided. This has made me wonder: Should the coordinates of the samples be mandatory to publish a paper in our field?
From my perspective, the inclusion of sample coordinates is essential for ensuring the credibility of our research and allowing other scientists to re-evaluate the results obtained. This is especially true for new discoveries, where having access to the sample locations can help confirm the validity of the findings.
However, I have been unable to understand why some papers do not provide sample coordinates. Is it because they are considered confidential information or are there other reasons for this omission?
I would appreciate hearing your thoughts and opinions on this matter. Do you believe that sample coordinates should be mandatory for publication in the geosciences? If not, what are your reasons for this? And if so, how can we encourage more researchers to include this information in their papers?
I look forward to a productive discussion on this topic.
Best regards,
Mehdi
The necessity for sample coordinates in geoscience research will depend on the specific research question, objectives, and methodology. In many geoscience research studies, including environmental and geological studies, accurate sample locations are critical for ensuring the validity and reliability of the data collected. Therefore, in such studies, sample coordinates are often mandatory to ensure that researchers can identify and locate the samples precisely when analyzing and interpreting the data.
Overall, the importance of sample coordinates in geoscience research will largely depend on the nature of the research question and the type of data being collected. It is important for geoscientists to carefully consider the need for sample coordinates when designing their research studies and ensure that they are collecting and recording sample locations accurately to support their research objectives.
Usually, sample coordinates are included in research output. Often, coordinates are also only given in the supplementary material of a study and/or the data files.
However, sometimes, it may be necessary to omit coordinates in order to protect a specific outcrop or an area from destruction by too many visitors, or geology students who are too eager and inadvertently destroy it with their hammers.
Sometimes, omission may also be required if the data is owned by a company such as an oil company, who want to publish the research but do not want anyone to know the specific coordinates of the wells that were used.
It is rare for studies not to include coordinates of samples without any of the reasons above, such as when the research is about a review of the state-of-the art and combines lots of studies.
As much as sample coordinates are important in research and in other academic publications, it is not out of place to make samples private and confidential due to company data privacy terms. However, the research interest could also determine whether sample coordinates are key or not. In summary, sample coordinates should be encourage as a key inclusion in research in order to make our findings and contributions germane and noble in the public domain.
Locations on the Earth's surface are measured and represented in terms of coordinates; a coordinate is a set of two or more numbers that specifies the position of a point, line, or other geometric figure in relation to some reference system. The simplest system of this kind is a Cartesian coordinate system, named for the 17th century mathematician and philosopher René Descartes. A Cartesian coordinate system is simply a grid formed by put together two measurement scales, one horizontal (x) and one vertical (y). The point at which both x and y equal zero is called the origin of the coordinate system. The origin (0,0) is located at the center of the grid. All other positions are specified relative to the origin.
Cartesian and other two-dimensional (plane) coordinate systems are handy due to their simplicity. They are not perfectly suited to specifying geographic positions. However, the geographic coordinate system, as seen in Figure 2.3, is designed specifically to define positions on the Earth's roughly spherical surface. Instead of the two linear measurement scales x and y, the geographic coordinate systems bring together two curved measurement scales.
You have probably encountered the terms latitude and longitude before in your studies. A comparison of these two scales is given below in Figure 2.4. The north-south scale, called latitude (designated by the Greek symbol phi), ranges from +90° (or 90° N) at the North pole to -90° (or 90° S) at the South pole while the equator is 0°. A line of latitude is also known as a parallel.
The east-west scale, called longitude (conventionally designated by the Greek symbol lambda), ranges from +180° to -180°. Because the Earth is round, +180° (or 180° E) and -180° (or 180° W) are the same grid line. A line of longitude is called a meridian. That +/- 180 grid line is roughly the International Date Line, which has diversions that pass around some territories and island groups so that they do not need to cope with the confusion of nearby places being in two different days. Opposite the International Date Line on the other side of the globe is the prime meridian, the line of longitude defined by international treaty as 0°. At higher latitudes, the length of parallels decreases to zero at 90° North and South. Lines of longitude are not parallel, but converge toward the poles. Thus, while a degree of longitude at the equator is equal to a distance of about 111 kilometers, that distance decreases to zero at the poles.
Dear Mehdi Jouhari ,
You got very good answers to your question from: Ajit Singh , Andreas Paul , F. O. Balogun and Siraj Beyan Mohamed ,
All of them are valuable, even if some of them differ slightly from the subject of the discussion.
F. O. Balogun 's next observation is very good:
'As much as sample coordinates are important in research and in other academic publications, it is not out of place to make samples private and confidential due to company data privacy terms.'
Personally, I would not provide the coordinates in case the samples have economic significance. You can benefit from it at any time. It is certain that this information must be collected in a booklet.
Not worth storing on a computer, because hackers will steal it.
Thank you very much for reading my article:
Presentation The phenomenon of subduction is incompatible with Earth's su...
Regards,
Laszlo
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