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Nature 445, 234-235 (18 January 2007) | doi:10.1038/445234b; Published online 17 January 2007

Open Innovation Challenges

Palaeontology journal will 'fuel black market'

Michael Hopkin

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Academics say published fossil finds should be available for study.

A controversial new 'amateur' palaeontology journal has angered academic researchers, who fear that the project will give a sheen of scientific legitimacy to the dealings of commercial fossil hunters.The organizers of the Journal of Paleontological Sciences, launched this month, say that it will publish details of privately held fossils, bringing them in from the "scientific darkness".