Has taxonomic vandalism gone too far? A case study, the rise of the pay-to-publish model and the pitfalls of Morchella systematics
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Has taxonomic vandalism gone too far? A case study, the rise of the pay-to-publish model and the pitfalls of Morchella systematics. / Loizides, Michael; Alvarado, Pablo; Moreau, Pierre-Arthur; Assyov, Boris; Halasů, Viktorie; Stadler, Marc; Rinaldi, Andrea; Marques, Guilhermina; Zervakis, Georgios I.; Borovička, Jan; Van Vooren, Nicolas; Grebenc, Tine; Richard, Franck; Taşkin, Hatira; Gube, Matthias; Sammut, Carmel; Agnello, Carlo; Baroni, Timothy J.; Crous, Pedro; Fryssouli, Vassiliki; Gonou, Zacharoula; Guidori, Urbano; Gulden, Gro; Hansen, Karen; Kristiansen, Roy; Læssøe, Thomas; Mateos, Javier; Miller, Andrew; Moreno, Gabriel; Perić, Branislav; Polemis, Elias; Salom, Joan Carles; Siquier, José Leonardo; Snabl, Martin; Weholt, Øyvind; Bellanger, Jean-Michel.
In: Mycological Progress, Vol. 21, No. 1, 2022, p. 7-38.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Has taxonomic vandalism gone too far? A case study, the rise of the pay-to-publish model and the pitfalls of Morchella systematics
AU - Loizides, Michael
AU - Alvarado, Pablo
AU - Moreau, Pierre-Arthur
AU - Assyov, Boris
AU - Halasů, Viktorie
AU - Stadler, Marc
AU - Rinaldi, Andrea
AU - Marques, Guilhermina
AU - Zervakis, Georgios I.
AU - Borovička, Jan
AU - Van Vooren, Nicolas
AU - Grebenc, Tine
AU - Richard, Franck
AU - Taşkin, Hatira
AU - Gube, Matthias
AU - Sammut, Carmel
AU - Agnello, Carlo
AU - Baroni, Timothy J.
AU - Crous, Pedro
AU - Fryssouli, Vassiliki
AU - Gonou, Zacharoula
AU - Guidori, Urbano
AU - Gulden, Gro
AU - Hansen, Karen
AU - Kristiansen, Roy
AU - Læssøe, Thomas
AU - Mateos, Javier
AU - Miller, Andrew
AU - Moreno, Gabriel
AU - Perić, Branislav
AU - Polemis, Elias
AU - Salom, Joan Carles
AU - Siquier, José Leonardo
AU - Snabl, Martin
AU - Weholt, Øyvind
AU - Bellanger, Jean-Michel
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022, German Mycological Society and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - The genus Morchella has gone through turbulent taxonomic treatments. Although significant progress in Morchella systematics has been achieved in the past decade, several problems remain unresolved and taxonomy in the genus is still in flux. In late 2019, a paper published in the open-access journal Scientific Reports raised serious concerns about the taxonomic stability of the genus, but also about the future of academic publishing. The paper, entitled “High diversity of Morchella and a novel lineage of the esculenta clade from the north Qinling Mountains revealed by GCPSR-based study” by Phanpadith and colleagues, suffered from gross methodological errors, included false results and artifactual phylogenies, had misapplied citations throughout, and proposed a new species name invalidly. Although the paper was eventually retracted by Scientific Reports in 2021, the fact that such an overtly flawed and scientifically unsound paper was published in a high-ranked Q1 journal raises alarming questions about quality controls and safekeeping procedures in scholarly publishing. Using this paper as a case study, we provide a critical review on the pitfalls of Morchella systematics followed by a series of recommendations for the delimitation of species, description of taxa, and ultimately for a sustainable taxonomy in Morchella. Problems and loopholes in the academic publishing system are also identified and discussed, and additional quality controls in the pre- and post-publication stages are proposed.
AB - The genus Morchella has gone through turbulent taxonomic treatments. Although significant progress in Morchella systematics has been achieved in the past decade, several problems remain unresolved and taxonomy in the genus is still in flux. In late 2019, a paper published in the open-access journal Scientific Reports raised serious concerns about the taxonomic stability of the genus, but also about the future of academic publishing. The paper, entitled “High diversity of Morchella and a novel lineage of the esculenta clade from the north Qinling Mountains revealed by GCPSR-based study” by Phanpadith and colleagues, suffered from gross methodological errors, included false results and artifactual phylogenies, had misapplied citations throughout, and proposed a new species name invalidly. Although the paper was eventually retracted by Scientific Reports in 2021, the fact that such an overtly flawed and scientifically unsound paper was published in a high-ranked Q1 journal raises alarming questions about quality controls and safekeeping procedures in scholarly publishing. Using this paper as a case study, we provide a critical review on the pitfalls of Morchella systematics followed by a series of recommendations for the delimitation of species, description of taxa, and ultimately for a sustainable taxonomy in Morchella. Problems and loopholes in the academic publishing system are also identified and discussed, and additional quality controls in the pre- and post-publication stages are proposed.
KW - Cryptic species
KW - Genealogical Concordance Phylogenetic Species Recognition
KW - Integrative taxonomy
KW - Methodology
KW - Morels
KW - Nomenclature
KW - Phylogenetics
KW - Species delimitation
KW - Systematics
U2 - 10.1007/s11557-021-01755-z
DO - 10.1007/s11557-021-01755-z
M3 - Review
AN - SCOPUS:85126109523
VL - 21
SP - 7
EP - 38
JO - Mycological Progress
JF - Mycological Progress
SN - 1617-416X
IS - 1
ER -
ID: 307758301