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Urging the Australian Research Council to revise its preprint policies

We sent the list of signatories below to the ARC on September 3, 2021.

The Australian Research Council (ARC) does not allow researchers to cite preprints in their grant applications and recently disqualified a number of applications for this reason.  

Preprints advance scientific discovery and are encouraged by many funders, including Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council. Citation of any source, regardless of its peer review status, is essential for proper attribution of ideas, and prohibiting the citation of preprints prevents applicants from discussing and building on the latest science. Further, listing preprints as evidence of productivity allows reviewers to develop an accurate picture of an applicant’s research outputs.

On August 31, we will send the list of signatories below to the ARC along with an offer to provide more information about preprints in the life sciences that can inform their review of their policy. We are also happy to support Australian researchers, librarians, editors, and other stakeholders in having conversations about preprints. Please get in touch with Jessica Polka (jessica.polka@asapbio.org) if you would like assistance in hosting an event for your community. You can also sign other open letters: one drafted by Australian researchers to encourage the ARC to reconsider its preprint policies, and a second encouraging the same as well as eligibility extension and policy simplification. 

Pledge

We ask the Australian Research Council (ARC) to revise its policies and allow preprints to be cited anywhere other research products are included in application materials. Until this change enables the accurate evaluation of applications, we will decline invitations to peer review for ARC.

Signatories

This list is updated from entries to the form below. Please contact jessica.polka@asapbio.org with any questions or issues. To add your name, please complete the form below.


First name Last name Institution Discipline
Prachee Avasthi Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College Cell Biology
Carol Greider University of California Santa Cruz Molecular Biology
Tom Ellis Imperial College London Synthetic Biology
Richard Wilder Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations Lawyer
Heather Joseph SPARC Open Science Advocacy
Dyche Mullins UCSF Cell Biology/Biochemistry/Biophysics
Jennifer Lin CZI
Needhi Bhalla University of California Santa Cruz cell biology and genetics
Iain Cheeseman Whitehead Institute and Department of Biology, MIT Molecular Cell Biology
Olivier Pourret UniLaSalle, France Earth Sciences
Showing 1 to 10 of 123 entries
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