University of Bristol

Mike Taylor

Today, available for the first time, you can read my 2004 paper *A
survey of dinosaur diversity by clade, age, place of discovery and year
of description*. It's [freely
available](https://peerj.com/preprints/434/) (CC By 4.0) as a [PeerJ
Preprint](https://peerj.com/about/publications/#PeerJ-PrePrints). It's
one of those papers that does exactly what it says on the tin --- you
should be able to find some interesting patterns in the diversity
of your own favourite dinosaur group.

::: {#attachment_10594 .wp-caption .aligncenter shortcode="caption" style="width: 490px"}
[![Fig. 1. Breakdown of dinosaur diversity by phylogeny. The number of
genera included in each clade is indicated in parentheses. Non-terminal
clades additionally have, in square brackets, the number of included
genera that are not also included in one of the figured subclades. For
example, there are 63 theropods that are neither carnosaurs nor
coelurosaurs. The thickness of the lines is proportional to the number
of genera in the clades they
represent.](https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/figure1-diversity-by-phylogeny.jpeg?w=480&h=351){.size-full
.wp-image-10594 aria-describedby="caption-attachment-10594"
loading="lazy" attachment-id="10594"
permalink="http://svpow.com/2014/07/11/new-but-very-old-preprint-a-survey-of-dinosaur-diversity-by-clade-age-place-of-discovery-and-year-of-description/figure1-diversity-by-phylogeny/"
orig-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/figure1-diversity-by-phylogeny.jpeg"
orig-size="1584,1160" comments-opened="1"
image-meta="{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\"}"
image-title="Figure1-diversity-by-phylogeny" image-description=""
image-caption=""
medium-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/figure1-diversity-by-phylogeny.jpeg?w=300"
large-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/figure1-diversity-by-phylogeny.jpeg?w=1024"
width="480" height="351"
srcset="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/figure1-diversity-by-phylogeny.jpeg?w=480&h=351 480w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/figure1-diversity-by-phylogeny.jpeg?w=960&h=702 960w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/figure1-diversity-by-phylogeny.jpeg?w=150&h=110 150w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/figure1-diversity-by-phylogeny.jpeg?w=300&h=220 300w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/figure1-diversity-by-phylogeny.jpeg?w=768&h=562 768w"
sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px"}](https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/figure1-diversity-by-phylogeny.jpeg)

Taylor (2014 for 2004), Figure 1. Breakdown of dinosaur diversity by
phylogeny. The number of genera included in each clade is indicated in
parentheses. Non-terminal clades additionally have, in square brackets,
the number of included genera that are not also included in one of the
figured subclades. For example, there are 63 theropods that are neither
carnosaurs nor coelurosaurs. The thickness of the lines is proportional
to the number of genera in the clades they represent.
:::

"But Mike", you say, "you wrote this thing *ten years* ago?"

Yes. It's actually the first scientific paper I ever wrote (bar some
scraps of computer science) beginning in 2003. It's so old that all the
illustrations are grey-scale. I submitted it to *Acta Palaeontologica
Polonica* way back on on 24 October 2004 (three double-spaced
hard-copies in the post!) , but it was rejected without review. I was
subsequently able to publish [a greatly truncated
version](http://www.miketaylor.org.uk/dino/pubs/taylor2006/Taylor2006-dinosaur-diversity.pdf) (Taylor
2006) in the proceedings of the 2006 Symposium on Mesozoic Terrestrial
Ecosystems, but that was only one tenth the length of the full
manuscript --- much potentially valuable information was lost.

My finally posting this comes (as so many things seem to) from a
conversation with Matt. Off work sick, he'd been amusing himself by
re-reading old SV-POW! posts (yes, we do this). He was struck by my
exhortation in [Tutorial
14](http://svpow.com/2011/07/06/tutorial-14-how-to-actually-write-a-paper/ "Tutorial 14: How to actually write a paper"): "do
not ever give a conference talk without immediately transcribing your
slides into a manuscript". He bemoaned how bad he's been at following
that advice, and I had to admit I've done no better, listing a sequence
of old my SVPCA talks that have still never been published as papers.

The oldest of these was [my 2004 presentation on dinosaur
diversity](http://www.miketaylor.org.uk/dino/pubs/svpca2004/Taylor2004-dinosaur-diversity.ppt).
Commenting on this, I wrote in email: "OK, I got the MTE four-pager out
of this, but the talk was distilled from a 40ish-page manuscript that
was never published and never will be." Quick as a flash, Matt replied:

> If I had written this and sent it to you, you'd tell me to put it
> online and blog about how I went from idea to long paper to talk to
> short paper, to illuminate the process of science.

And of course he was right --- hence this preprint.

::: {#attachment_10597 .wp-caption .aligncenter shortcode="caption" style="width: 490px"}
[![Fig. 2. Breakdown of dinosaurian diversity by high-level taxa.
\"Other sauropodomorphs\" are the \"prosauropods\" sensu lato. \"Other
theropods\" include coelophysoids, neoceratosaurs, torvosaurs (=
megalosaurs) and spinosaurs. \"Other ornithischians\" are basal forms,
including heterodontosaurs and those that fall into Marginocephalia or
Thyreophora but not into a figured
subclade.](https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/figure2-high-level-taxa-pie-chart.jpeg?w=480&h=291){.size-full
.wp-image-10597 aria-describedby="caption-attachment-10597"
loading="lazy" attachment-id="10597"
permalink="http://svpow.com/2014/07/11/new-but-very-old-preprint-a-survey-of-dinosaur-diversity-by-clade-age-place-of-discovery-and-year-of-description/figure2-high-level-taxa-pie-chart/"
orig-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/figure2-high-level-taxa-pie-chart.jpeg"
orig-size="2041,1241" comments-opened="1"
image-meta="{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\"}"
image-title="Figure2-high-level-taxa-pie-chart" image-description=""
image-caption="Fig. 2. Breakdown of dinosaurian diversity by high-level taxa. “Other sauropodomorphs” are the “prosauropods” sensu lato. “Other theropods” include coelophysoids, neoceratosaurs, torvosaurs (= megalosaurs) and spinosaurs. “Other ornithischians” are basal forms, including heterodontosaurs and those that fall into Marginocephalia or Thyreophora but not into a figured subclade.
"
medium-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/figure2-high-level-taxa-pie-chart.jpeg?w=300"
large-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/figure2-high-level-taxa-pie-chart.jpeg?w=1024"
width="480" height="291"
srcset="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/figure2-high-level-taxa-pie-chart.jpeg?w=480&h=291 480w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/figure2-high-level-taxa-pie-chart.jpeg?w=957&h=582 957w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/figure2-high-level-taxa-pie-chart.jpeg?w=150&h=91 150w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/figure2-high-level-taxa-pie-chart.jpeg?w=300&h=182 300w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/figure2-high-level-taxa-pie-chart.jpeg?w=768&h=467 768w"
sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px"}](https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/figure2-high-level-taxa-pie-chart.jpeg)

Taylor (2014 for 2004), Figure 2. Breakdown of dinosaurian diversity by
high-level taxa. "Other sauropodomorphs" are the "prosauropods" sensu
lato. "Other theropods" include coelophysoids, neoceratosaurs,
torvosaurs (= megalosaurs) and spinosaurs. "Other ornithischians" are
basal forms, including heterodontosaurs and those that fall into
Marginocephalia or Thyreophora but not into a figured subclade.
:::

I will never update this manuscript, as it's based on a now wildly
outdated database and I have too much else happening. (For one thing, I
really ought to get around to finishing up the paper based on [my 2005
SVPCA
talk](http://www.miketaylor.org.uk/dino/pubs/svpca2005/Taylor2005-tendaguru-brachiosaur.ppt)!)
So in a sense it's odd to call it a "pre-print" --- it's not pre
anything.

Despite the data being well out of date, this manuscript still contains
much that is (I think) of interest, and my sense is that the ratios of
taxon counts, if not the absolute numbers, are still pretty accurate.

I don't expect ever to submit a version of this to a journal, so this
can be considered the final and definitive version.

# References

- [Taylor, Michael P. 2006. Dinosaur diversity analysed by clade, age,
 place and year of description. pp. 134-138 in Paul M. Barrett and
 Susan E. Evans (eds.), *Ninth international symposium on Mesozoic
 terrestrial ecosystems and biota, Manchester, UK*. Cambridge
 Publications. Natural History Museum, London, UK. 187
 pp.](http://www.miketaylor.org.uk/dino/pubs/taylor2006/Taylor2006-dinosaur-diversity.pdf)
- [Taylor, Michael P. 2014 (written in 2004). A survey of dinosaur
 diversity by clade, age, place of discovery and year of
 description. *PeerJ PrePrints* **2**:e434v1.
 doi:`10.7287/peerj.preprints.434v1`](https://peerj.com/preprints/434/)

Today, available for the first time, you can read my 2004 paper

 A survey of dinosaur diversity by clade, age, place of discovery and year of description

. It’s freely available (CC By 4.0) as a PeerJ Preprint. It’s one of those papers that does exactly what it says on the tin — you should be able to find some interesting patterns in the diversity of your own favourite dinosaur group.

New (but very old) preprint: A survey of dinosaur diversity by clade, age, place of discovery and year of description

Today (12th February) is [the one-year anniversary of the first PeerJ
papers](http://svpow.com/2013/02/12/peerj-launches-today-and-were-in-it/ "PeerJ launches today! (and we’re in it!)")!
As Matt put it in an email this morning:

> Hard to believe it's been a year already. On the other hand, it's also
> hard to believe that it's *only* been a year. PeerJ is just such an
> established part of my worldview now.

That's exactly right. PeerJ has so completely [rewritten the
rule-book](http://svpow.com/2013/02/21/how-disruptive-is-peerj/ "How disruptive is PeerJ?")
(on price, speed and quality of service) that now when I'm thinking
about new papers I'm going to write, the question I ask myself is no
longer "Where shall I send this?" but "Is there any reason not to send
it to PeerJ?"

::: {#attachment_9796 .wp-caption .aligncenter shortcode="caption" style="width: 490px"}
[![dorsals-ab-composite](https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/dorsals-ab-composite.jpeg?w=480&h=289){.size-full
.wp-image-9796 aria-describedby="caption-attachment-9796" loading="lazy"
attachment-id="9796"
permalink="http://svpow.com/2014/02/12/can-peerj-really-be-only-a-year-old/dorsals-ab-composite/"
orig-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/dorsals-ab-composite.jpeg"
orig-size="4583,2767" comments-opened="1"
image-meta="{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\"}"
image-title="dorsals-ab-composite"
image-description="Dorsals A and B (probably 8 and 9) of NMH R5937, “The Archbishop”, a still-undescribed brachiosaurid sauropod from the Upper Jurassic Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania, which I will get done this year, absolutely for sure, and which is destined for PeerJ.
" image-caption=""
medium-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/dorsals-ab-composite.jpeg?w=300"
large-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/dorsals-ab-composite.jpeg?w=1024"
width="480" height="289"
srcset="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/dorsals-ab-composite.jpeg?w=480&h=289 480w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/dorsals-ab-composite.jpeg?w=957&h=578 957w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/dorsals-ab-composite.jpeg?w=150&h=91 150w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/dorsals-ab-composite.jpeg?w=300&h=181 300w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/dorsals-ab-composite.jpeg?w=768&h=464 768w"
sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px"}](http://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/dorsals-ab-composite.jpeg)

Dorsals A and B (probably D8 and D9) of NHM R5937, "The Archbishop", a
still-undescribed brachiosaurid sauropod from the Upper Jurassic
Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania, which I *will* get done this year, and
which is destined for PeerJ. Top row: dorsal view with anterior to the
right. Bottom row, from left to right: left lateral, posterior, right
lateral, anterior.
:::

Yesterday in the comments of [a post on The Scholarly
Kitchen](http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2014/02/11/looking-for-pirates-in-the-sea-of-content/),
Harvey Kane asked me "I am curious as to where you get the notion that
publishing OA is less expensive and in some way "better" than the
traditional model?" [My
reply](http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2014/02/11/looking-for-pirates-in-the-sea-of-content/#comment-134997)
was (in part):

> My notion that OA publishing yields better results than traditional is
> rooted in the online-only nature of articles, which allows them to
> ignore arbitrary limits on word-count, number of figures, use of
> colour, etc., and to exploit online-only formats such as video, 3d
> models, CT-slice stacks, etc. In my own field of vertebrate
> palaeontology, it's now routine to see in PLOS ONE descriptive
> articles that are many times more comprehensive than their equivalents
> in traditional journals --- see for example [the recent description of
> the frog
> *Beelzebufo*.](http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0087236)
>
> Of course there is nothing specific to open-access about this: there
> is no technical reason why an online-only subscription journal
> shouldn't publish similarly detailed articles. But my experience so
> far has been that they don't --- perhaps because they are tied to the
> mindset that pages and illustrations are limited resources.

For *Beelzebufo* in PLOS ONE, read [baby *Parasaurolophus* in
PeerJ](https://peerj.com/articles/182/), which we described as "[the
world's most open-access
dinosaur](http://svpow.com/2013/10/22/the-worlds-most-open-access-dinosaur/ "The world’s most open-access dinosaur")".
This paper is 83 pages of technicolour goodness, plus all the 3d models
you can eat. And the crazy thing is, this sort of detail in descriptive
papers is not even exceptional any more --- see for example [the recent
description of *Canardia* in PLOS
ONE](http://www.ploscollections.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0069835),
or [this analysis of croc respiration in
PeerJ](https://peerj.com/articles/60/)

Years ago, I said that in the Archbishop descriptions I wanted to [raise
the bar for quality of
illustration](http://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/cervical-s-composite.jpeg).
Well, I've taken so long over getting the Archbishop done that the bar
has *been* raised, and now I'm scrambling to catch up. Certainly [the
illustrations](http://www.miketaylor.org.uk/dino/brontomerus/extras.html#2)
even in [our 2011 description of
*Brontomerus*](http://svpow.com/papers-by-sv-powsketeers/taylor-wedel-and-cifelli-2011-on-brontomerus/ "Taylor, Wedel and Cifelli (2011) on Brontomerus")
are starting to look a bit old-fashioned.

And of course, the truly astonishing thing about PeerJ is that it does
this so very cheaply. Because I'm already a member (which cost me \$99),
the Archbishop description is going to be free to me to publish this
year. (This year for sure!) If we also get [our *Barosaurus* neck
preprint](http://svpow.com/2013/09/23/our-new-barosaurus-paper-is-up-as-a-preprint-at-peerj/ "Our new Barosaurus paper is up as a preprint at PeerJ")
published properly this year,then I'll have to find \$100 to [upgrade my
Basic membership to Enhanced](https://peerj.com/pricing/). That's cheap
enough that it's not even worth going through the hassle of trying to
get Bristol to pay for me. And if I ever hit a year when I publish three
or more papers, I'll upgrade once more (for another \$100) to the
Investigator plan and then that's it: I'm done paying PeerJ forever,
however many papers I publish there. ([Matt jumped straight to the
all-you-can-eat
plan](http://svpow.com/2012/08/30/peerj-sorted/ "PeerJ: sorted"), so he
wouldn't even have to think about it ever again.)

::: {#attachment_8931 .wp-caption .aligncenter shortcode="caption" style="width: 490px"}
[![Barosaurus lentus holotype YPM 429, Vertebra Q (C?13). Top row: left
ventrolateral view. Middle row, from left to right: anterior view, with
ventral to the right; ventral view; posterior view, with ventral to the
left. Bottom row: right lateral view, inverted. Inset shows diapophyseal
facet on right side of vertebra, indicating that the cervical ribs were
unfused in this individual despite its great size. Note the broad, flat
prezygapophyseal facet visible in anterior view. (Taylor and Wedel
2013b: figure
6)](https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/figure6-vertebra-q-composite.jpeg?w=480&h=397){.size-full
.wp-image-8931 aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8931" loading="lazy"
attachment-id="8931"
permalink="http://svpow.com/2013/09/23/our-new-barosaurus-paper-is-up-as-a-preprint-at-peerj/figure6-vertebra-q-composite/"
orig-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/figure6-vertebra-q-composite.jpeg"
orig-size="5786,4789" comments-opened="1"
image-meta="{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\"}"
image-title="Figure6-vertebra-q-composite" image-description=""
image-caption="Barosaurus lentus holotype YPM 429, Vertebra Q (C?13). Top row: left ventrolateral view. Middle row, from left to right: anterior view, with ventral to the right; ventral view; posterior view, with ventral to the left. Bottom row: right lateral view, inverted. Inset shows diapophyseal facet on right side of vertebra, indicating that the cervical ribs were unfused in this individual despite its great size. Note the broad, flat prezygapophyseal facet visible in anterior view. (Taylor and Wedel 2013b: figure 6)
"
medium-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/figure6-vertebra-q-composite.jpeg?w=300"
large-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/figure6-vertebra-q-composite.jpeg?w=1024"
width="480" height="397"
srcset="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/figure6-vertebra-q-composite.jpeg?w=480&h=397 480w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/figure6-vertebra-q-composite.jpeg?w=960&h=794 960w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/figure6-vertebra-q-composite.jpeg?w=150&h=124 150w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/figure6-vertebra-q-composite.jpeg?w=300&h=248 300w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/figure6-vertebra-q-composite.jpeg?w=768&h=636 768w"
sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px"}](http://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/figure6-vertebra-q-composite.jpeg)

 
*Barosaurus lentus* holotype YPM 429, Vertebra Q (C?13). Top row: left
ventrolateral view. Middle row, from left to right: anterior view, with
ventral to the right; ventral view; posterior view, with ventral to the
left. Bottom row: right lateral view, inverted. Inset shows diapophyseal
facet on right side of vertebra, indicating that the cervical ribs were
unfused in this individual despite its great size. Note the broad, flat
prezygapophyseal facet visible in anterior view. (Taylor and Wedel
2013b: figure 6)
:::

PeerJ's pricing is making PLOS ONE's \$1350 APC look distinctly
old-fashioned; and the \$3000 charged by the legacy publishers (for a
distinctly inferior product) is now frankly embarrassing. You might
expect that as such low prices, PeerJ's quality of service would suffer,
but that's not been our experience: editing, reviewing, typesetting and
proofing for [our neck-anatomy
paper](http://svpow.com/papers-by-sv-powsketeers/taylor-and-wedel-2012-on-sauropod-neck-anatomy/ "Taylor and Wedel (2013a) on sauropod neck anatomy")
were all up there with the best we've received anywhere.

And it's great to see that it's not just minor researchers like Matt and
me who are persuaded by PeerJ: they've now accumulated [a frankly
stellar list](https://peerj.com/edu/) of 20 universities (so far) with
institutional plans for researchers to publish there. When I say
"stellar" I mean that the list includes Harvard, MIT, Cambridge,
Berkeley, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, UCL, Carnegie Mellon, Duke ... the
list goes on.

We can only hope that the next year, and the next ten and twenty, are as
successful for PeerJ as the first has been; and that other New
Generation publishers will join it in pushing the field forward.

I leave the last word to Matt:

> I'm getting Vicki a lifetime membership for Valentine's Day. Because
> I'm a romantic.

She's a lucky, lucky woman.

Today (12th February) is the one-year anniversary of the first PeerJ papers! As Matt put it in an email this morning:  That’s exactly right.

Can PeerJ really be only a year old?

Western University of Health Sciences

Matt Wedel

[![Triceratops-dorsal-full](https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/triceratops-dorsal-full.jpg?w=480&h=189){.aligncenter
.size-full .wp-image-9309 loading="lazy" attachment-id="9309"
permalink="http://svpow.com/2013/11/22/want-to-publish-for-free-in-peerj/triceratops-dorsal-full/"
orig-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/triceratops-dorsal-full.jpg"
orig-size="2823,1117" comments-opened="1"
image-meta="{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\"}"
image-title="Triceratops-dorsal-full" image-description=""
image-caption=""
medium-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/triceratops-dorsal-full.jpg?w=300"
large-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/triceratops-dorsal-full.jpg?w=1024"
width="480" height="189"
srcset="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/triceratops-dorsal-full.jpg?w=478&h=189 478w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/triceratops-dorsal-full.jpg?w=955&h=378 955w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/triceratops-dorsal-full.jpg?w=150&h=59 150w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/triceratops-dorsal-full.jpg?w=300&h=119 300w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/triceratops-dorsal-full.jpg?w=768&h=304 768w"
sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px"}](http://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/triceratops-dorsal-full.jpg)

As a nice little perk--presumably for being [early
adopters](http://svpow.com/2012/08/30/peerj-sorted/) and
[users](http://svpow.com/2013/02/12/peerj-launches-today-and-were-in-it/)
of PeerJ--Mike and I each have been given a small number of referral
codes, which will allow other folks to publish in PeerJ for free, as
long as the papers are submitted by March 1, 2014. Here's the scoop,
straight from the [monkey's](https://twitter.com/PeerJCharlie) mouth:

> If you have colleagues who would like to publish at PeerJ, then we
> want to give them the opportunity to try us out for free. Therefore,
> as a Published PeerJ Author, we are providing you with 5 unique
> 'Referral Codes' (which expire on March 1st) to distribute to your
> colleagues. Each code entitles the recipient to an entirely **FREE**
> PeerJ publication. They simply need to quote your referral code in the
> "Notes to Staff" field, when they submit to PeerJ, and as a result
> they will be able to publish that article for free (assuming it passes
> peer-review). Please disseminate these codes to colleagues who you
> feel will use them, but please make sure that they realize that this
> code is only valid for submissions made **before** March 1st, 2014.

Note that this is alongside the [current
promo](http://blog.peerj.com/post/67476390580/free-publications-in-peerj)
wherein, if you post a preprint to [PeerJ
PrePrints](https://peerj.com/preprints/) (which is a smashing way of
getting fast feedback, or at least it [was for
us](http://svpow.com/2013/09/24/reviews-for-our-barosaurus-preprint/)),
that manuscript can be published in PeerJ for free, as long as it is
formally submitted before January 1, 2014. So if you can get the lead
out before the end of the year and don't have an allergy to fast
feedback, you don't actually need one of these codes.

[![Trex-dorsal-full](https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trex-dorsal-full.jpg?w=480&h=97){.aligncenter
.size-full .wp-image-9310 loading="lazy" attachment-id="9310"
permalink="http://svpow.com/2013/11/22/want-to-publish-for-free-in-peerj/trex-dorsal-full/"
orig-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trex-dorsal-full.jpg"
orig-size="3295,672" comments-opened="1"
image-meta="{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\"}"
image-title="Trex-dorsal-full" image-description="" image-caption=""
medium-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trex-dorsal-full.jpg?w=300"
large-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trex-dorsal-full.jpg?w=1024"
width="480" height="97"
srcset="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trex-dorsal-full.jpg?w=476&h=97 476w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trex-dorsal-full.jpg?w=951&h=194 951w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trex-dorsal-full.jpg?w=150&h=31 150w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trex-dorsal-full.jpg?w=300&h=61 300w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trex-dorsal-full.jpg?w=768&h=157 768w"
sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px"}](http://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/trex-dorsal-full.jpg)

So. If you're not a PeerJ member but you have a manuscript that you'd
like to send to PeerJ before the first of next March, let us know and
we'll hook you up with a referral code. If you're fairly sure you will
use one but aren't ready to ship yet, let me know and I'll set one aside
for you, with the proviso that I can give it away if we're getting close
to the deadline and you're not realistically going to make it.

If we get more takers than codes, we'll figure out some fair way of
choosing who gets a code, probably randomly. I will be strongly biased
toward people without big paychecks\* or institutional support, like
grad students and postdocs. (If you're an undergrad, you can already
[publish in PeerJ for
free](http://blog.peerj.com/post/48113204454/peerj-supports-undergraduate-authors),
at least for the duration of the pilot program.) So if you're a grad
student or postdoc with a serious plan to get published, speak up and
you'll go to the head of the line. So if you let us know why getting a
code would benefit you, you're more likely to get one.

\* I know in academia none of us think we have big paychecks, but
compared to most grad students and postdocs, those of us with steady
full-time employment are living the dream. I'm trying to reach the folks
for whom the \$99 lifetime membership fee would be a genuine impediment.

[![Smilodon-Nelson-Maniscalco-TOP-full](https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/smilodon-nelson-maniscalco-top-full.jpg?w=480&h=133){.aligncenter
.size-full .wp-image-9314 loading="lazy" attachment-id="9314"
permalink="http://svpow.com/2013/11/22/want-to-publish-for-free-in-peerj/smilodon-nelson-maniscalco-top-full/"
orig-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/smilodon-nelson-maniscalco-top-full.jpg"
orig-size="3264,906" comments-opened="1"
image-meta="{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\"}"
image-title="Smilodon-Nelson-Maniscalco-TOP-full" image-description=""
image-caption=""
medium-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/smilodon-nelson-maniscalco-top-full.jpg?w=300"
large-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/smilodon-nelson-maniscalco-top-full.jpg?w=1024"
width="480" height="133"
srcset="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/smilodon-nelson-maniscalco-top-full.jpg?w=480&h=133 480w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/smilodon-nelson-maniscalco-top-full.jpg?w=960&h=266 960w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/smilodon-nelson-maniscalco-top-full.jpg?w=150&h=42 150w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/smilodon-nelson-maniscalco-top-full.jpg?w=300&h=83 300w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/smilodon-nelson-maniscalco-top-full.jpg?w=768&h=213 768w"
sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px"}](http://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/smilodon-nelson-maniscalco-top-full.jpg)

As is apparently the usual thing now when I'm writing about PeerJ and
don't have any images of my own queued up, I've borrowed images from
Brant Bassam's astoundingly cool
[BrantWorks.com](http://brantworks.com/) to spice up this post. Explicit
permission to reproduce the images with credit can be found on [this
page](http://brantworks.com/other.php), which is coincidentally where
these images themselves are from. Get on over there and prepare to lose
some time looking at sweet stuff.

# Update! Five more Golden Tickets available!

As noted in the comment below, Heinrich Mallison also has five PeerJ
vouchers to distribute to deserving causes. So if Matt and I run out,
the options are still open. Feel free to contact Heinrich directly or to
go through us if you prefer.

 


{.aligncenter .size-full .wp-image-9309 loading=“lazy” attachment-id=“9309” permalink=“http://svpow.com/2013/11/22/want-to-publish-for-free-in-peerj/triceratops-dorsal-full/” orig-file=“https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/triceratops-dorsal-full.jpg” orig-size=“2823,1117” comments-opened=“1”

Messaggi di Rogue Scholar

New (but very old) preprint: A survey of dinosaur diversity by clade, age, place of discovery and year of description

Can PeerJ really be only a year old?

Want to publish for free in PeerJ?