2) The article on "Mineral exploration in the Iberian Pyrite Belt" where
the (short) list of references did not mention the work of my former team.
Prof. Lluis Fontboté, co-editor of the News, courteously answered
(in good French) that two of the authors had recently published a synthetic
paper with a rich list of references, and he joined this list. Actually,
in Ore Geology Reviews 11, 1996, R. Saez, G. R. Almodovar and E. Pascual
listed more than 130 papers and books including those by M. Lécolle
(thesis, 1977) and P. Routhier et al. (1978).
I am appeased and cordially thank L. Fontboté for the information.
Now, as he himself underlined, a more general problem of ethics and also
of efficiency remains open: would it be appropriate not to mention works
older than X years? With X=10, or 5 or even 2 as can be verified in so
many to-day publications?! If we applied such a rule many detailed descriptive
memoirs and most treaties of Metallogeny would be soon forgotten. Then,
the history of our field would become obscure to young researchers and
even to older science historians. Let us help to saveguard this thesaurus.
And say: there is still no better way than to put confidence in the integrity
of authors and the knowledge and vigilance of referees and editors.
To end allow me to mention a "wretched" book where, under a surname,
I described many violations of ethics in scientific circles; written in
French it is nevertheless rich in anglo-saxon examples...
Jean Destouches - Science, le cycle infernal (order to Editions Godefroy
de Bouillon, 113-119 rue Lecourbe, 75015 Paris. Tel: 01 45 31 33 65. Price:
80 FF).
Pierre Routhier, 21 rue Charles Fourier, 75013 Paris, France