HUM-MOLGEN archive: DIAG: re need to report citations/HIV appropriateness for HMG

************************************************************** HUM-MOLGEN DIAGnostics/Clinical Research ************************************************************** This DIAG message contains 2 submessage(s): 1) Wm. Kimberling Ph.D./ Need of reporting citations in e-mail replies 2) Chris Friedrich, M.D., Ph.D./ HIV issue inappropriate for HMG + replies from the editor Carlo Gambacorti MD, Editor, Human Molecular Genetics network Diagnostics/Clinical Research Section ************************************************************** ************************************************************** Carlo, This communication is just to let you know that I appreciated your moderating and appropriate comments regarding HIV transmission and mosquitoes. Hopefully, more respondents to you bulletin board will realize the necessity of adequately citing research that support their conclusions. The first two responses (Friedrich and Covitz) were not really convincing..they left certain questions open. Your addendum filled in the missing pieces. If electronic bulletin boards and e-mail are to become new, and worthwhile, mediums of scientific communication, then some of the tried and true 'rules' of scientific communication in journals (e.g. citations) should continue to be followed. Bill Date: Wed, 31 May 1995 15:50:25 -0400 (EDT) From: "Wm. Kimberling Ph.D." <76636.3556@compuserve.com> EDITOR NOTE: I AGREE AT 100%. This was the reason that prompted my note. ************************************************************** On Wed, 31 May 1995, Carlo Gambacorti wrote: > This editor thinks that any good faith question on HMG should > not be just discarded as "trivial", and should receive a scientific reply. Not true. Since this list is "Human Molecular Genetics", and this question did not involve any human genes, we should not have had our bandwidth wasted. He should have been directed to an infectious disease list (if one exists). While the mosquito genome and the HIV genome are undoubtedly important and of interest to some investigators, this is not the appropriate forum for those topics. Sorry to be so irritated by this, but I've already logged off another clinical list when it became overrun by laymen pushing quackery. Let's keep this list limited to clinical and scientific topics related to human molecular genetics. Chris Friedrich, M.D., Ph.D. Voice (410) 614-2521 Lipid Research-Atherosclerosis Unit Fax (410) 955-1276 Dept. of Pediatrics, CMSC 6-104 Voice mail (410) 614-1030 Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine 600 North Wolfe Street Baltimore, MD 21287 cfriedri@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu EDITOR NOTE: Thank you for your interesting suggestion. I will take note of it. Although the HIV issue is not the central focus of HMG, I did not consider wise to drop such a question as inappropriate for the following reasons: 1. HMG DIAG is at present far from being deluged with borderline messages; 2. I am not aware of a proper forum (perhaps somebody has a better address to communicate) for this question, which can be of interest for a number of HMG DIAG subscribers, since HIV has a profound impact on many human genes; 3. the decision to post questions like this one, that could pertain to different forums has to reside inside editor responsibilities; in fact you did not raise this argument in your first reply. In any case, your comment, as any suggestion from HMG subscribers, is useful to increase the quality of HMG, and I thank you for this.