The use of preprints has increased rapidly over the last few years, especially in biomedical and life sciences. We’ve been tracking changes in the preprint landscape over time and maintain a page dedicated to this topic. Here are some of the most notable trends over the last year. Adoption and sources The rate of life…
Posting on multiple preprint servers can cause challenges both for authors and readers. Authors may find it difficult to keep all versions updated, and it can cause citations and other usage metrics to be split between multiple copies, making it harder to track downstream impacts of the work. Indexing services and search tools may also…
How to use this directory Press the “+” icon next to a server’s name to expand the record. Use the search bar to find terms anywhere in the record. Click on the eye icon to select the columns you want to display. For further details about how the data were gathered, refer to the original…
Many journals that publish biological research allow preprint submissions. To get a sense for preprint policies, you can check SHERPA/RoMEO, Transpose, or Wikipedia’s List of academic journals by preprint policy. However, before submitting a manuscript, always check the journal’s website for recent changes or any nuances of their policy.
What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your work I study medicine at the University of Khartoum and conduct research on general surgery and anesthesiology in Sudan. I also conduct research in the area of scholarly communications in east Africa. I am currently on the board of directors of FORCE11 and on…
You can refer to the Licensing FAQ and discuss these options with your co-authors before beginning the submission process. Note that the NIH has encouraged the use of CC BY licenses, and we are not aware of any journals preventing the posting of preprints with a Creative Commons license. You can see which licenses are…
In most cases, they are the same in content. However, the preprint could offer more freedom in terms of format. For example, the short communication format of many journals has strict guidelines for length, formatting and often has only a paragraph of introduction and conclusion. However, in a preprint, you could extend the introduction, conclusion…
This is your decision and depends on when you have complete scientific work ready to share. In many cases, where the manuscript will be sent to journals as well, preprints are submitted close to the time of journal submission. Several journals have enabled one-click manuscript transfer from bioRxiv. Some scientists may want to post a…
Predatory journals, as defined by COPE in a thoughtful discussion document, are those that operate for profit in a “deceptive or fraudulent way and without any regard for quality assurance.” These journals undermine trust in science by enabling the dissemination of flawed work under false banners of quality. Recently, ICMJE and COPE made recommendations to…
Webinar: Rapid communication of COVID-19 research Tuesday, March 31, 12pm-1:30pm ET (9am PT, 5pm BST, 6pm CEST – see in your time zone) Join ASAPbio and the Knowledge Futures Group for a conversation about new ways of sharing scientific information relevant to the coronavirus pandemic via preprints, rapid peer review, and more. Individual talks will…
A preprint should fairly and completely disclose the data and methods that are necessary to evaluate and replicate the work, just as in a journal publication. If properly performed, then authors should also receive credit and be properly cited for their discovery. As with the formatting question above, a more complete description will help a…
This is a grey area and one that might change over time. Currently, authors may benefit from sharing reagents, code, and data after a preprint posting but are not required to do so, in contrast with most journal publications. Sharing ahead of publication may seed new collaborations, accelerate discovery, and also enhance the group’s reputation…
This event has passed. Watch recording here. Tuesday, March 31, 12pm-1:30pm ET (9am PT, 5pm BST, 6pm CEST – see in your time zone) Join ASAPbio and the Knowledge Futures Group for a conversation about new ways of sharing scientific information relevant to the coronavirus pandemic via preprints, rapid peer review, and more. Individual…
With preprints, it is simple to co-submit and have work from different groups appear at the same time. In contrast, a journal may not want both papers or one paper may be delayed to referee requests.
Most preprint servers allow new versions of the manuscript to be uploaded. Thus, you can update your paper based upon new experiments or input received from the community or through a journal-based peer review process, unless specified otherwise by the journal. For example, on bioRxiv it is quite easy to tell when a new version…