[CPN] Online publication. Yes, again.

[David Marjanovic]

Following the botanical Code, the zoological Code was amended a few days 
ago to allow online publication under certain conditions. These 
amendments have already taken effect. The whole thing is explained and 
reproduced here: http://www.pensoft.net/journals/zookeys/article/3944/

Important points:

-- Publication on CD/DVD/BluRay will no longer be allowed from 2013 
onwards. "8.4.1. Works printed on paper. Before 1986 and after 2012, the 
only acceptable means of producing physical copies is by printing on 
paper using ink or toner."
-- Online publication must result in "8.1.3.2. widely accessible 
electronic copies with fixed content and layout.
Example: PDF/A (Portable Document Format Archive), described by ISO 
Standard 19005-1:2005, is a file format that allows content and layout 
to be preserved unchanged."
-- The date of publication must be stated in the work itself.
-- The work (not necessarily the name or nomenclatural act; but the 
work) must be registered in ZooBank, which is now also called the 
"Official Register of Zoological Nomenclature", before it is published. 
Evidence that registration has occurred must be included in the work itself.
-- "8.5.3.1. The entry in the Official Register of Zoological 
Nomenclature must give the name and Internet address of an organization 
other than the publisher that is intended to permanently archive the 
work in a manner that preserves the content and layout, and is capable 
of doing so. This information is not required to appear in the work itself."
-- "8.5.3.2. The entry in the Official Register of Zoological 
Nomenclature must give an ISBN for the work or an ISSN for the journal 
containing the work. The number is not required to appear in the work 
itself." It must, however, be mentioned in the ZooBank entry.
-- "21.9. Works issued on paper and electronically. A name or 
nomenclatural act published in a work issued in both print and 
electronic editions takes its date of publication from the edition that 
first fulfilled the criteria of publication of Article 8 and is not 
excluded by Article 9."

Finally, options for dealing with the future are kept open:
"8.6. New methods of publication and archiving. The Commission may issue 
Declarations to clarify whether new or unconventional methods of 
production, distribution, formatting or archiving can produce works that 
are published in the meaning of the Code."

I like all of these. Because it is described by an ISO Standard, PDF/A 
will not disappear if Adobe goes bankrupt or something, nor even if 
silicon chips are replaced by quantum computers or who knows what. 
Furthermore, PDF is designed for ease of printing. All this minimizes 
the concern that a special device is needed to read it, as is clearly 
the case with "optical discs".

The advantages of online publication are manifest; I think we should 
join the bandwagon. After all, the PhyloCode was online years before the 
ICZN was.