The Journal of Paleontological Sciences was recently announced by the Association of Applied Paleontological Sciences. Part of the journal's mission is to publish information about fossils held in private collections. While it is important that scientifically significant fossils and fossil assemblages are described in an accessible format, SVP has several concerns about the new journal. In response, members of the SVP Executive Committee have opened a dialogue with the sponsors of the new journal to revisit long-standing differences about fossils held in private collections.
The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology is a scientific organization. As such, it is committed to the highest standards of scientific practice. Foremost among these is the stipulation that observations and analyses made in peer-reviewed publications, including the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology (JVP), be repeatable. This practice is best ensured when fossils that are the subject of these publications reside in recognized, public-domain collections, where the fossils can be seen and studied by the entire community of scientists and educators.
Our primary concern with the Journal of Paleontological Sciences is that its publications about fossils held in private collections are not required to follow this standard practice. Without question, privately held collections contain specimens of potential scientific importance, but the scientific value of papers published on those collections is limited without the guarantee that specimens will be available for research beyond the lifetime of the owner, i.e., in perpetuity. The scientific process is one of continual questioning and reexamination. No matter how high the quality of a published paleontological description, its details may come into question as new minds focus on a problem, as new techniques become available, and as additional fossil material is brought to light. Images (such as photographs and CT scans) and casts cannot replace original fossils. To ensure that our observations are repeatable, the original objects — the fossils — must remain accessible for future generations of scientists, both academic and non-academic.
Finally, the members of the SVP Executive Committee wish to emphasize that non-academic vertebrate paleontologists are and always have been important members of this society and of our scientific field. These members publish in the JVP, give presentations and display posters at the annual meetings, and chair standing committees. Anyone who applies scientific methods and principles to publicly accessible vertebrate fossils is qualified to engage in the society's activities, whether or not he or she holds an advanced degree. It is the quality of the science that matters.