‘Published’ means ‘will be published,’ doesn’t it?

Question

Mr. Torres’ discovery will be registered, verified and his findings published if this spider proves to be biologically different from the known species of Cyclosa.

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‘Published’ means ‘will be published,’ doesn’t it?

KrisBlueNZ · Accepted Answer

No. This sentence borrows the will be after discovery to apply to published.

I think it's better to write it as:

"Mr. Torres’ discovery will be registered and verified, (comma here) and his findings ...... published, (comma here) if this spider proves to be biologically different from the known species of Cyclosa."

The explicit will be is implied in the place I marked with "......" by magic! There's bound to be a name for this rule, but I don't know it. You could explicitly say "... and his findings will be published, ...", but it's not necessary.

You can tell that it's the will be that is implied in the ...... position, because if you change it to was, the new meaning follows:

"The discovery was registered and verified, and the findings ...... published, two years ago." ...means the same as...
"The discovery was registered and verified, and the findings were published, two years ago."

‘Published’ means ‘will be published,’ doesn’t it?

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