Re: Planet of the New Papers

[Michael Mortimer <mickey_mortimer111@msn.com>]

T. Michael Keesey wrote-

> Well, the Argentinian, Spanish, and Mexican scientists can all use
> Spanish (and probably still not lose the Brazilian audience), but I
> recognize your point. The real question is: Is reaching an
> international audience the primary priority of all papers? Yes,
> English will reach the widest audience, worldwide. But if you're a
> speaker of another language who's writing on a matter that may be of
> more interest in your sector of the world than it would be to
> foreigners, it may make sense to use another language. Why gain
> readers on the other side of the globe at the risk of losing readers
> close to home?

Why would a scientist ever NOT want to reach a global audience?  Science is 
a worldwide endeavor, not a local one.  Local discoveries have huge effects 
on global studies, whether in phylogenetics, biostraigraphy, biomechanics, 
etc..  Look at how that little corner of Liaoning has revolutionized 
theropod studies.  I'm a firm advocate of unifying language to improve 
global communication, especially in science.  Then we wouldn't have 
situations like Jixiangornis and Dalianraptor, where I and most other 
theropod workers have no way of deciphering their descriptions.  There's no 
more reason to keep other languages than there is to keep other measurement 
systems.  They just divide and obfuscate.

Mickey Mortimer