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

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

Since there are very few people working seriously on Mesozoic corals I get much work and have got too many unfinished projects. I am not looking for work. Please lookup the following checklist.
  1. Please do no send any material except thin sections. Ask for a valid address before.
  2. In place of sending thin sections, it is better to send images. Please do not send images of complete specimens, they are useless for proper taxonomy. Scanned polished surfaces, acetate peels, and thin sections are possible. The minimum resolution for surfaces is 1200-4800dpi, for thin sections 6400dpi. If structures are large (corallite diameter more than 5mm) 3600/4800dpi may be fine, if even larger (c > 10mm) also 2400/3600dpi, XL corals (c > 20mm) also 1200/2400dpi.
  3. In no case send these files through e-mail, use a service like wetransfer or wesendit. Do dropbox, no google-whatever. No service where I have to register. Do not send any image without having sent an explaining e-mail before and having received my OK. Otherwise I will not download the archive. Please do not forget to include a scale or indicate the resolution of the scan. Scans should be in grey scale, not in colour. JPG uncompressed or PNG.
  4. In the exceptional case of sending thin sections to abroad, in no case declare them as "corals" or "fossil corals"; please declare them always as "rock samples".
  5. I prefer to work with Mid/Late Jurassic and Cretaceous corals. I am not a specialist of Triassic to Early Jurassic as well as Tertiary to Extant corals. Paleogene is negotiable. My knowledge is poor concerning small solitary deep water corals.
  6. When I decide to work the material ...
    • Samples must be thin sectioned. I do not prepare your material.
    • Samples and thin sections must have numbers of a public collection (museum, institute). No field numbers any more. No exceptions. I do not start to work if there are no numbers and/or depository place available.
    • Corals must be measured. This is new. Ask for instruction. I am not going to measure corals except for my own projects.
    • Geographical and geological data should be available.
    • Stratigraphy should be as precise as possible. At least sub stages.
    • 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). There are numerous cases, co-authors never ever came back to the project.
    • Preparing images of coral thin section may also speed up the whole process. Ask for instructions.
  7. No joint field work anymore; I am getting old.
  8. I receive frequently requests like Can you determine the corals - we are writing a paper together. 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 – providing all thin sections as images, having measurements completed, having a journal in mind, having an idea about the paper – are first served. New and uncommon material is served before ordinary faunas. If I invest time, I have to be sure that there will be a result. For that I am paid by my university. I can try to hand over faunas to students (if I find somebody interested). I hope for your understanding.
  9. I do not claim to be the first author of a joint paper if the main focus of the paper is palaeoecology or facies. Systematic parts can be extended or kept short, depending on your needs. Faunal lists, short taxonomic parts are served before more elaborated contributions that focus on taxonomy (and were I claim to be the first author). I do not claim to be author at all if I only determine one coral.
  10. Book chapters ... una papa caliente. Give at least two years. Didn't turn out well in the past decades with most cases.

[20 July 2023]