What is an online ‘preliminary version’ of a publication in the meaning of Article 9.9 of the Code?—One more step on the trail of the Asian elephant

Abstract

Gentry et al. (2014) challenged our statement (Dubois et al., 2014) that the lectotype designation of Elephas maximus by Cappellini et al. was not nomenclaturally available from the first online publication in 2013 of a 'preliminary version' of their work but only from the publication in 2014 of a 'final version' of it. The question at stake here is the meaning of the term 'preliminary version' in Articles 9.9 and 21.8.3 of the Code. This question is discussed in detail here and we conclude that any version of a work published online and which differs, even slightly (by even a single-letter or a single modified element of layout), in content and/or layout from the final version of the same work subsequently published online, is to be considered a 'preliminary version' of this work. A preliminary version is accessible online only during a limited period, before being definitively replaced by the final version, which then remains unchanged. Such preliminary versions are not available for nomenclatural purposes. In Appendix 1, we also reply to some other comments of Gentry et al. (2014) on the paper by Dubois et al. (2014).