title: The Legitimate Name of a Fungal Plant Pathogen and the Ethics of Publication in the Era of Traceability.
abstract: When more scientists describe independently the same species under different valid Latin names, a case of synonymy occurs. In such a case, the international nomenclature rules stipulate that the first name to appear on a peer-reviewed publication has priority over the others. Based on a recent episode involving priority determination between two competing names of the same fungal plant pathogen, this letter wishes to open a discussion on the ethics of scientific publications and points out the necessity of a correct management of the information provided through personal communications, whose traceability would prevent their fraudulent or accidental manipulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, University of Torino, Largo Paolo Braccini 2, 10095, Grugliasco, Italy. paolo.gonthier@unito.it.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gonthier
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, University of Torino, Largo Paolo Braccini 2, 10095, Grugliasco, Italy.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Visentin
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, University of Torino, Largo Paolo Braccini 2, 10095, Grugliasco, Italy.
authors.forename: Danila
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Valentino
authors.affiliation: Department of Exploitation and Protection of the Agricultural and Forestry Resources, University of Torino, via Leonardo da Vinci 44, 10095, Grugliasco, Italy.
authors.forename: Giacomo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tamietti
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, University of Torino, Largo Paolo Braccini 2, 10095, Grugliasco, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cardinale
mesh_terms: D002965:Classification; D005658:Fungi / Q000145:classification; D010380:Peer Review; D011642:Publications / Q000941:ethics*; D015871:Scientific Misconduct / Q000941:ethics / Q000639:trends
keywords: Ethical conduct; Gnomoniopsis castaneae; Gnomoniopsis smithogilvyi; Personal communications; Scientific journals; Species taxonomy