The emergence of Systematic Biology.

Abstract

In late 1989, Bill Fink, then the PresidentElect of the Society of Systematic Zoology (SSZ), called me up on the telephone. He wanted to know if I would consider running for election as Editor of Systematic Zoology. I quickly said no, but Imade themistake of not hanging up. “Before you say ‘no,’” he said (ignoring the fact that I already had), “hear me out.” Bill Žrst talked about the importance of Systematic Zoology, a point to which I readily agreed. He then said he was concerned with the recent decline in the size of the journal, its chronic lateness, and the declining membership of SSZ. Bill said that he was looking for an editor who would be an activist and shake things up. He said that as President of SSZ, he wanted to invigorate the society and turn it around, and that the journal was the most important aspect of the society. I admitted that Systematic Zoology was one of the few journals that I read cover to cover each issue, but said that I couldn’t imagine taking the time to be Editor. As Bill and I discussed Systematic Zoology, we talked about the possibility of expanding the mission of the society and the journal from zoology to biology in general. Since its beginning, the journal had been the primary outlet for papers on systematic theory and systematic methodology, and many leading botanists (and other nonzoologists) were active members of the society and contributors to the journal. In recent years, papers in zoology that were primarily taxonomic were more likely to be published in more specialized taxon-oriented journals, and Systematic Zoology seemed to have evolved beyond a strictly zoological orientation. Given the journal’s emphasis on theory, methods, and outstanding applications of biological systematics, neither of us saw much reason to exclude systematic papers that dealt with plants or fungi or microbes as the objects of study. Bill said that if Iwere elected Editor, I could propose and push that change in the journal. He also said that as President he would support a change in the society name. As we talked, Bill seemed to forget that I had already told him no, and by the end of the phone call, Bill’s enthusiasm for the prospects of the future made me forget as well. By the time I remembered, it was too late. Bill told me that the nominating committee would present two candidates for Editor to the SSZ Council. We were each to make a presentation to the Council at the SSZ annual meeting in Boston in December 1989, and the Council would vote at that time. I decided that it might be interesting to be Editor of the journal and push for a change in SSZ (in other words, I was clueless), but I didn’t want to the job unless I had some support about the expansion in emphasis from zoology to biology. When I met with the Council,1I made it clear that I thought the journal and society should work toward a change in name and mission, and that if I were elected Editor, I would push for that change. I further stated that even if that change in name did not take place, that I would solicit papers on all organisms, and not just on animals. A majority of the Council must have agreed, for shortly after the interviews they told me that the job was mine. The bad news was that this was in December 1989, and my Žrst issue of the journal was due out in March 1990! Fortunately, when I contacted the outgoing editor (Bob Shipp), he agreed to help Žll the Žrst two issues of 1990 with the manuscripts he had received, so I actually had until September to solicit manuscripts, get them reviewed, Žll an issue of the journal, and get it published. My Žrst order of business was to get the journal back on schedule (it was running 3 to 4months late). The September 1990 issuewas still amonth late, but the journal was back on track by December 1990. I started soliciting and receiving reviews and manuscripts by