Non-repeatable science: assessing the frequency of voucher specimen deposition reveals that most arthropod research cannot be verified.

ABSTRACT: Scientific findings need to be verifiable and grounded in repeatability. With specimen-level research this is in part achieved with the deposition of voucher specimens. These are labeled, curated, data-based specimens that have been deposited in a collection or museum, available for verification of the work and to ensure researchers are calling the same taxa by the same names. Voucher specimens themselves are the subject of research, from the discovery of new species by taxonomists to ecologists documenting historical records of invasive species. Our objective was to quantify the frequency of voucher specimen deposition in biodiversity and community ecology research through a survey of the peer-reviewed literature about arthropods, from 1989 until 2014. Overall rates of voucher deposition

SUBMITTER: Turney S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4558062 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature