Guidelines for Submitting a Proposal

The North American Classification Committee (NACC) operates on a proposal basis. Any member of the ornithological community may submit a proposal for consideration by the Committee. Proposals should detail taxonomic, nomenclatural, or distributional recommendations for revision from the latest edition of the Checklist of North and Middle American Birds and subsequent supplements. Submission of a proposal does not guarantee acceptance. Proposals are reviewed by the Committee and must receive a majority 2/3 vote to pass. Proposals that are not accepted by the Committee may be resubmitted if substantive new evidence warrants another review.

Proposals should adhere to the following guidelines to standardize the information presented:

Title of proposal
Background, including a description of the problem and prior classification or nomenclatural history
New information, including citations, that warrants review and possible revision
Recommendation, including changes in wording to Check-list
Literature cited
Name and affiliation of submitter
Date of proposal

Submit proposals electronically to Dr. Terry Chesser, Chair ( CHESSERT[at]si.edu), preferably as a Word document. Download guidelines as Word document