Our impact

ASAPbio has been advocating for open, rapid sharing of research for 10+ years. Here’s what we’ve accomplished with the help of our worldwide community.

Expanding preprints in the life sciences

The ultimate measure of ASAPbio’s real-world impact is a meaningful change in the sharing of scientific findings and assessment of research.

One approach to measure this is the adoption of preprinting as a percentage of the literature. Thus far, the results are very encouraging: preprints in our field have exploded over the last 15 years — from almost none in 2010 to upwards of 160,000 per year in the 2020s, representing 13% of the literature. (Source: Europe PMC)

Even with such growth, there’s more work to do. See how we’re doing it.

Two paneled graph showing growth in preprints from 2010 to 2024. A red line extends upwards diagonally.

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Building momentum for open, rapid research communication

Change doesn’t happen in a day, especially for processes as deeply entrenched as academic peer review. So while the ASAPbio team is deeply motivated by that final result — the total number of preprints — it’s not the only measure of success.

We know that the preprint revolution is in progress through:

Connections made

Since 2015, the ASAPbio community has brought together over 3000 people around the world, including life scientists, researchers, publishers, graduate students, and more.

Collaborations established

We unite stakeholders of differing perspectives and backgrounds to further the pursuit of open science. Each year, our collaborations grow, and we always welcome more!

Major workshops convened

We’ve hosted 11 major workshops on preprints and peer review in which major players — from researchers and technologists to funders and publishers — have been able to build consensus on paths forward for more transparent knowledge sharing.

Resources shared

With input from our team and our Community Fellows, we’ve published and shared more than 25 resources on preprinting and open peer review.

Educational content viewed

The ASAPbio YouTube channel has 12,700 views with over 220 subscribers.

Fun fact: our most popular video is A Brief History of Peer Review.

Fellows nurtured

Over the last decade, we’ve supported over 200 researchers through our Community Fellows program, building knowledge of preprints and empowering hands-on project experience.

Community projects empowered

We’ve supported 8 community projects related to preprints and open peer review, each proposed and managed by one of our worldwide members.

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Our impact is all about community

The impact of ASAPbio radiates outward through the community members who share our resources and support with their own networks worldwide. Join us to make a bigger impact together.

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What our community members say

The power of ASAPbio is undoubtedly in our worldwide community members. We’re proud to make a positive impact on their personal and professional lives.

"Preprinting re-energized publishing for me."

“I felt way more energized by submitting my preprint than I did after final publication… Over two years later!”

Samantha Hindle

Professional Researcher, UCSF

A person with short hair and a beard is smiling while wearing a dark blue shirt with an orange lanyard, standing against a plain light-colored wall.

"It's motivating to see interest in my work."

“I uploaded my master’s thesis to thesiscommons.org, a preprint server for student dissertations. I did not do a perfect job on the thesis and was not 100% proud, but I decided to upload it and include the marker comments anyway. I just checked it the other day and it has been downloaded over a hundred times. As an ECR, it is motivating to see that someone cares about the work I produce.”

Peder M Isager

PhD student, Eidhoven University of Technology

"I want to be part of change."

“I, and also my PI, wanted to support open access and a vital, interacting research community.”

Lena Lampe

Former PhD student, MPI

"My preprint got me a faculty job."

“My preprint was the deciding factor when the UT Southwestern hiring committee was deciding whether to give me an interview or not. Once they saw my latest paper on bioRxiv, then they gave me the invitation. I’ll be starting as an Assistant Professor in January.”

Jeffrey Woodruff

Postdoc, MPI-CBG

"Preprinting saved me from scooping myself"

“While I was working to resubmit a manuscript, collaborators of mine decided it was time to submit a second paper related to the work. We had no way to reference my manuscript which laid the foundations for the second paper. Being able to submit a preprint saved me because within 48 hours I could submit my primary manuscript to bioRxiv and get a DOI for the second paper to reference.”

Steph Hays

PhD student, Harvard Medical School

"Preprint: feel the freedom!"

“Preprinting and preprint servers give me the freedom to write a paper and opportunities to get feedback and widen my network. It will also be my exercise to share my research at the earliest possible point and explore it at the same time.”

Dasapta Erwin Irawan

Assistant Professor Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia

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What’s our next pathway to impact?

Like science itself, ASAPbio is a work in progress. We’re continuously evaluating initiatives and iterating on programming to affect the most positive change in our field.

Learn more about what’s on our plate for 2025, and join the ASAPbio community to leverage your expertise toward our shared goal of more rapid and transparent knowledge sharing.

Join the community