• Click here to apply for funding from the Institutional Arrangement

• Contact Ann Viera: annviera at utk dot edu (865-974-7338)
• See how PeerJ is author-centric and optimizes scientific publishing:  https://peerj.com/benefits/peerj-feature-comparison/
• Submitting a manuscript to PeerJ is simple.  Start by reading "How it Works"
• PeerJ is open, ethical, and adhering to discipline specific best practices with a business model that fully supports the land-grant mission to discover new knowledge and share it with the people of Tennessee and beyond.
• The UT Libraries are pleased to support innovative publishing through payment of the PeerJ APC.  Another option: Please consider a lifetime PeerJ membership.
• PeerJ University of Tennessee

Ann Viera (Pendergrass Library) and Peter Fernandez (ex Pendergrass Library, now at Hodges Library) are co-founders of the Pendergrass Library PeerJ publishing plan, with the support from many colleagues at the UTK Libraries.  We owe many thanks to the association ASERL which first brought PeerJ to our attention in 2014 with a Webinar,  and to OSU for leading the way with a PeerJ case study.

https://peerj.com/chemistry/

• PeerJ Feature Comparison
• PeerJ Subjects and Fact Sheet
• PeerJ Benefits
• PeerJ Workflow Philosophy May 2015 Peter Binfield, Co-Founder

PeerJ 2019 Year in Review

PeerJ @ UTK Libraries Institutional Arrangement timeline                       

Purpose:   How we found out about PeerJ and collaborated with colleagues to establish an institutional arrangement   9 February 2018 av

Ann Viera (Pendergrass Library) and Peter Fernandez (ex Pendergrass Library, now at Hodges Library) are co-founders of the Pendergrass Library PeerJ publishing plan, with the support from many colleagues at the UTK Libraries.  We owe many thanks to the association ASER for the 2014 Webinar featuring PeerJ, and to Oregon State University Libraries for leading the way with a PeerJ case study.

2014

• February 2014 ASERL Webinar "“Open Access Megajournals – What you need to know about how this model is changing journal publishing”
• February 2014
  • PF and AV Read OSU Case Study
  • PF and AV do due diligence: we find articles, a presentation about PeerJ and compare PeerJ with other journals etc.

    • An interview with the founders of PeerJ, an innovative new academic publishing startup.  Mendeley Blog 2012

  • • Binfield, Peter. (2013). PeerJ--a case study in improving research collaboration at the journal level.(Author abstract). Information Services & Use, 33(3-4), 251-255.
    • PeerJ's Publisher Speaks! The Benefits of PeerJ, Some Advice to Authors, and the Challenges of Publishing 10/23/2013 Standford University Open Access Week presentation (link to video unavailable 8/2019).
    • Binfield, P., (2014). PeerJ – more than just a publisher. Insights. 27(1), pp.75–81. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1629/2048-7754.130

    • Peter Binfield - Open Access Megajournals -- Have They Changed Everything?  Open UBC Week 2014 recorded talk

• PF and AV write proposal for Institutional plan
  • PeerJ supports the land-grant mission with superior business model: affordable innovation and author-centric approach
  • PeerJ supports librarians with case studies, graphics, deep knowledge of publishing and building community--see Insights article above, PeerJ Blog, PeerJ Twitter account.
  • What resonated with us:
    • PeerJ is author-centric.  Librarians are too.
    • PeerJ taught us about the importance of a business plan. 
    • PeerJ got funding from venture capitalists, including @timoreilly!
    • PeerJ has a What We Believe Statement, making it very clear what PeerJ was trying to do. 
    • We noticed that PeerJ, from its launch, led on and is still leading on affordability and innovation. 
    • PeerJ Supports undergraduates, who can publish for free!

• PF takes proposal establish institutional arrangement to UTK Libraries collections March 2014
• $5,000 establishes UTK Institutional Plan 15 April 2014

2015

• Outcome of PeerJ Institutional plan: 33 lifetime publishing plans purchased for UTK authors
• Peter Binfield SALA Webinar "PeerJ Workflow and Philosophy" May 2015

2016

• $5,000 top-up of UTK Institutional Plan 27 December 2016
• Along the way, PeerJ expands to Computer Science, and Environmental Science, winning awards and continuing to innovate.

2017

• Institutional plan rules changed in response to community suggestions. As of 3/6/2017, Pendergrass Library pays the Article Processing Charge (APC) for articles accepted for publication by PeerJ Bioscience (APC $995) or PeerJ Computer Science (APC $795). 
• PeerJ FactSheet
• PeerJ is self-sustaining!  One of the many things Ann Viera learned meeting with PeerJ co-founder Pete Binfield  28 Dec 2017
• Everything Hertz Podcast with co-founder Jason Hoyt "Breaking up with the impact factor"

2018

• $10,000 top-up of UTK Institutional Plan 8 January 2018
• All our experiences with PeerJ staff have been unfailingly professional and supportive of us and our authors
• Publishing with PeerJ continues and can be found on the UT PeerJ Institional Plan page listing all papers and preprints published by UT authors (Note: Only UTK authors are supported by the plan.  However, all authors, editors, advisors and reviewers are listed on the UT PeerJ page regardless of funding source.)
• Pete Binfield, co-founder PeerJ & OASPA Board Member, Spotlight Interview June 2018
• PeerJ optional open peer review cited by John Wilinsky during a panel discussion with Heather Joseph at Cornell University November 2018

Ann Viera, third veterinary librarian, UT Libraries Pendergrass Library, retires 31 July 2020.

In lieu of a retirement party, and to honor the first two veterinary librarians who built UT Libraries’ veterinary collection from scratch 1979-1987, please consider a gift to the UT Libraries' PeerJ Institutional Arrangement, which Ann Viera co-founded with Peter Fernandez.

To support PeerJ to honor the legacy of the three veterinary librarians 1979-2020 who have served UTK, please do two things:

1. please make your gift here, and
2. notify Casey Fox (cfox@utfi.org) that you want the gift to go to PeerJ

If you have questions, please contact Casey Fox (cfox@utfi.org).

What a gift to the PeerJ Institutional Arrangement will do: enable UTK authors to publish in a 21st century journal that offers a pleasant, high-quality, high-integrity publishing experience.  PeerJ benefits (https://peerj.com/benefits/) include optional open peer review and production staff who will format the references for authors upon acceptance (!).  PeerJ is perfect for UTK authors because of its author-centric business model and affordable pricing ($1095 Article Processing Charge--paid for with the Institutional Arrangement or grant funds, or $399 PeerJ lifetime membership, paid by author) that are congruent with the land-grant mission and funding levels.

More about PeerJ:

• PeerJ is proof that an equitable business model with authors at the center, is sustainable.
• PeerJ launched 5 chemistry journals in 2019, its sixth year in publishing.  It is free to publish in the 5 chemistry journals for all of 2019. 
•  For more about UT Librarians' work with PeerJ, please see "Timeline" TAB  on the PeerJ Guide.