Relationship between The Chat and the Bird Records Committees

For reports of first, second, or third sightings of a bird species in either state, The Chat prefers to publish only records that have been accepted by the appropriate Bird Records Committee. A manuscript whose primary purpose is to describe a first, second, or third sighting of a species in a state will not be published unless a report of the sighting has first been submitted to the Bird Records Committee for that state, and normally not unless the report is accepted by the committee. If, however, the Records Committee has not voted on the report within 6 months of receiving it, or made a final decision within 12 months, and the report has also been submitted to The Chat, the appropriate Chat editor may proceed with peer review of the report and may accept it for publication.

The editors of The Chat will consider Records Committee action to be peer review on the acceptability of the sighting. However the editors may conduct their own peer review on the suitability of the manuscript for publication. In no event will The Chat publish a manuscript whose primary purpose is to report a sighting that has been rejected by a Records Committee.

A manuscript whose primary purpose is other than to report a first, second, or third sighting (including Briefs for the Files) may, if appropriate, mention a report that is pending Records Committee action, as long as it does not elaborate on the details and clearly states that the report is pending approval.

Likewise such a manuscript may briefly mention a rejected report as long as the rejection is clearly noted, and the purpose of the mention is not to contest the rejection.