At the January 2020 workshop, we aim to build on significant recent progress by discussing best (or “good enough”) practices for metadata and processes that would build trust in preprints and support their discoverability, reuse and interoperability as first-class research outputs

From previously proposed recommendations and suggestions from participants, we propose the group develops practical recommendations for advancing work on the following elements, and a roadmap for implementing them:

  1. Minimally useful metadata standards to convey basic information about preprints (e.g. authors, funders, preprint licensing, versioning, full-text content, etc)
  2. Adherence to and transparency of screening, moderation and withdrawal processes (e.g. scientific and biomedical reporting guidelines, clinical trial registration, competing interests declaration, funding acknowledgement, etc)
  3. Indicating preprint status – recommendations for how to transparently and accurately convey:
    1. A preprint’s review status (from ‘not peer-reviewed’ to otherwise)
    2. Availability of supporting data and materials
    3. Preprint-level usage (views, downloads and citations by version)
  4. Citations, archiving, sustainability, and adoption: recommendations or ideas for:
    1. Citation standards (DOIs, versioning, etc)
    2. Archiving
    3. Sustainability of free open-access preprint platforms
    4. Encouraging adoption of preprints

A designated note-taker will record the discussions. You are welcome to view and comment on the discussion notes, openly available from https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Offi9tUGe9K0XaBnWaRcyt2jyoh2e0BdzFcCsEoV1vk/edit?usp=sharing (short link: tinyurl.com/bioPreprints2020).

Schedule

All times in UTC.

Monday January 20, 2020

9:00amOpening Remarks and Information
9:15amUpdates and introductions
Session lead: Maria Levchenko, EMBL-EBI and Europe PMC

9:15am | Preprint platform updates
10:15am | Stakeholder introductions
10:30amASAPbio Preprint Platform Directory report
Naomi Penfold, ASAPbio
10:45amMorning refreshment break
11:00amSession 1: Minimally useful metadata standards for preprints
Session lead: Jo McEntyre, EMBL-EBI and Europe PMC

What is/should be captured in preprint metadata?
How are/could these data be captured from authors or elsewhere?
How are/could these metadata be made openly available to third parties?
How do/could we leverage existing standards and infrastructure?

11:10am | Introductory talks

Michael Parkin, Europe PMC
Tom Demeranville, ORCID
Dario Taraborelli, CZI

11:40am | Breakout discussions
1:00pmLunch
2:00pmSession 1: Minimally useful metadata standards for preprints (continued)
2:00pm | Reporting back & whole group discussion
2:50pmSession 2: Adherence to and transparency of screening, moderation and withdrawal processes
Session lead: Sowmya Swaminathan, Nature Research, Springer Nature

Which scholarly publications practices are important to uphold at the preprinting stage?

Screening:
Which author-dependent practices should be checked before posting, and by whom? 
How transparent could/should screening processes be? 
How could their outcomes be communicated externally?

Moderation & Withdrawal:
What can be moderated after posting, and how? 
In what circumstances should preprints be withdrawn or removed? 
What would the impact of removal be on downstream aggregators? 
How transparent could/should moderation and withdrawal processes be? 
How could their outcomes be communicated externally?

3:00pm | Introductory talks

Iratxe Puebla, PLOS and representing COPE
Theo Bloom, BMJ and MedRxiv
Sowmya Swaminathan, Nature Research, Springer Nature

3:30pm | Breakout discussions
4:00pmAfternoon refreshment break
4:15pmSession 2: Adherence to and transparency of screening, moderation and withdrawal processes (continued)
4:15pm | Breakout discussions (continued)
5:00pm | Reporting back & whole group discussion
5:50pmDay one closing
6:00pmClose
7:00pmWorkshop dinner

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

9:00amDay two opening
9:15amSession 3: Indicating preprint status
Session lead: Richard Sever, bioRxiv & medRxiv

Choose one of the following topics for breakout discussions: how to transparently and accurately convey:
(1) A preprint’s review status (from ‘not peer-reviewed’ to otherwise)
(2) Availability of supporting data and materials
(3) Preprint-level usage (views, downloads and citations by version)
10:30amMorning refreshment break
10:45amSession 3: Indicating preprint status (continued)
Reporting back & whole group discussion
11:45amSession 4: Citations, archiving, sustainability, and adoption
Session lead: Oya Rieger, Ithaka S+R

Choose one of the following topics for breakout discussions:
(1) Citation standards
(2) Archiving and sustainability of free open-access preprint platforms
(3) Encouraging adoption of preprints
1:00pmLunch
2:00pmSession 4: Citations, archiving, sustainability, and adoption (continued)
Reporting back & whole group discussion
3:00pmReview the recommendations and roadmap
Session lead: Jessica Polka, ASAPbio

Individual work time to review the draft recommendations and roadmap
3:45pmAfternoon refreshment break
4:00pmReview the recommendations and roadmap (continued)
Whole group discussion to review the draft roadmap and consider next actions following this workshop
5:15pmWorkshop closing
5:30pmClose
6:30pmInformal pub dinner