Consultant reports and web pages as citable resources -- or not

[Barry Roth]

I would like to know Taxacomers' opinions as to whether (a) consultant reports, and (b) web pages, are acceptable for inclusion in the Literature Cited sections and formal synonymies of published research papers.

Briefly, some of the arguments for and against go as follows:

(a) (pro): consultant reports may contain biology of high quality and original observations that are not stated anywhere else; the authors of these reports deserve credit for their work.  (con): such reports are typically not peer-reviewed in the same way as academic papers and thus lack a certain control on their conclusions; they do not form part of the network of books and serials that are subscribed to by libraries; they are usually produced in short runs, perhaps only a single copy ultimately being submitted to the client (who, except perhaps in the cases of some public agencies) is under no obligation to make copies available to the public upon request; thus the work may be hard for readers to obtain and check.

(b) (pro): web pages may contain good quality work, especially images; web content is widely available, with potentially short lead time between the work being done and its being web-"published;" depending on the willingness of the manager of the site, it may receive real-time "peer review" that will allow correction or errors or omissions, making it a sensitive presenter of the best information at any given time.  (con): web pages are evanescent in the "library time" framework that print journals must work within; a web page may change at the author's whim and differ when accessed on different occasions; the characteristic peer-review process of academic publication is (or may be) lacking, as is the filter of being passed through the hands of an editor who is responsible to the community at large.

Some of these points may have been discussed previously on this list, but as a journal editor I would be very grateful to know what you think.

With thanks,

Barry Roth



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