One of the ways followed by the assessors in evaluating an author's scientific publications quantitatively is to determine the number of the references.

The citations to the publications of a candidate are taken into consideration in academic promotions in Turkish universities. But, Turkish academicians ignore steadily the Rules of the International Code of the Zoological Nomenclature for the taxonomic studies as a criterion, they do whether the journal in which the article was published is scanned by Science Citation Index.

In this context your journal is currently counted as a worthless publication by Turkish authorities because it has not been scanned by Science Citation Index. Although it has not been expressed officially, this is a some ten-year implementation on this issue. Consequently, if a Turkish author's article is referred by the author of a publication issued in your journal, Turkish author's article is also considered as a worthless study.

My warnings and reactions against this extreme unjust and non-scientific application I have shown for years are not enough because I have been alone at this point.

We would like to please you evaluate this serious issue and if you don't share the same view with Turkish authorities, we again please you to become active in favour of the freedom of the taxonomic thought and action via Foreign Ministery in your country.

We are looking forward to hearing from you,

Yours sincerely,