"I have got a Jurassic / Cretaceous coral collection (or just some samples) ...

...and would like to get it published with you."

Great, of course we can do this. I just ask you, to take some points into account, so

1. Please do never ever send material without contacting me beforehand. I will provide a valid address. I am travelling a lot and often it is easier for me to pick up the samples somewhere. Do not send samples by ordinary mail to Mexico. Mexicans may still think that there is gold inside.
2. Please do not send "bulk" samples, e.g. uncleaned, unprepared samples, or just rock samples (where I have to search for the corals).
3. Please do not send e-mails bigger than 5 MB with scanned thin sections. Scanned thin sectios are very welcome, but if there are too many or they are very large, put them on a ftp server. Please do not forget to include a scale or indicate the resolution.
4. I prefer to work with Late Jurassic and Cretaceous corals. I am not so good with Triassic to Middle Jurassic as well as Late Cretaceous (Turonian-) corals, and I do really not know much about Tertiary corals. My knowledge is poor concerning small solitary deep water corals (you have to look for anybody else).
5. Samples should be thin sectionned. First, this gives you a good idea whether the material is well enough preserved to get it published. Second, the capacity of our lab is limited. Colleagues who send well preserved, well oriented (transversal, longitudinal) thin sections are first served.
6. Samples and thin sections must have numbers of a public collection (museum, institute).
7. Geographical and geological data should be available.
8. Stratigraphy should be as much precise as possible. At least sub stages.
9. If I decide that the material is appropriate for publishing, I will wait for the introducing part on the geology, lithology, stratigraphy etc. In the past I received several times many samples or thin sections, which I examined and for which I wrote my text - but then I had to wait months, even years for the completing text by the other author(s), or they never ever came back to the project.
10. Joint field work is very welcome if it fits in my working plan. Any publication or written report is welcome on the outcrop area beforehand. I spent too much time and money to visit waste places without any fossil just because the persons who "invited" me were thinking that the place might be full of holotypes.
11. Requests like Can you determine the corals - we are writing a paper together I receive on average every two weeks. I cannot do all this work. Sometimes I might say, OK, let's have a look, and then I put it on the waiting list. First in, first out doesn't work so well: well prepared projects (sending scans or thin sections, having a journal in mind, having an idea about the paper) are first served. If I invest time, I have to be sure that there will be an outcome. I hope for your understanding, but for that I am paid by my university.