The best tool for tracking the quantity of preprints in the life sciences is Europe PMC, an open database that allows discovery of over 925,000 preprints. Europe PMC indexes metadata (such as title, abstract, authors) for 34 different preprint servers, as well as full text for a subset of servers.
Europe PMC also displays a data dashboard, updated monthly, depicting the overall volume of preprints on the servers they index. On the whole, preprint posting has continued to steadily increase, following a rapid jump during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Monthly submissions exceed 10,000 and routinely approach (or even surpass) 15,000.
Source: Europe PMC
Eagle-eyed readers will notice an apparent drop in submissions during the early months of 2025. Closer inspection reveals that the decrease is specific to the Research Square preprint server (which is owned by Springer Nature). Daily postings dropped from about 236 per day in the first quarter of 2024 (Q1) to fewer than 80 per day in 2025. On average, this represents a 66.6% decrease from Q1 2024 to Q1 2025. Over the same time period, bioRxiv submissions increased moderately, by an average of 9.8%.
Daily average postings for Research Square and bioRxiv, based on Europe PMC data
A representative from Springer Nature confirms that “the recent decrease in preprints is due to a temporary reduction in our screening capacity.” They also report that “our team is working to increase capacity so we can resume previous posting volumes” and additionally confirm that “we did experience a backlog, but this is steadily improving.” Additional information about Research Square screening processes is available at https://www.researchsquare.com/legal/editorial. Screening verifies the presence of statements about ethics and conflicts of interest, along with the lack of patient identifiers and pseudoscientific claims.
Researchers should be aware that they may experience a delay in posting of their preprints at Research Square. ASAPbio will continue to monitor the posting volume and report back when there are further developments. Have a recent preprinting experience you think would be useful for the community to know about?
The best tool for tracking the quantity of preprints in the life sciences is Europe PMC, an open database that allows discovery of over 925,000 preprints. Europe PMC indexes metadata (such as title, abstract, authors) for 34 different preprint servers, as well as full text for a subset of servers.
Europe PMC also displays a data dashboard, updated monthly, depicting the overall volume of preprints on the servers they index. On the whole, preprint posting has continued to steadily increase, following a rapid jump during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Monthly submissions exceed 10,000 and routinely approach (or even surpass) 15,000.
Eagle-eyed readers will notice an apparent drop in submissions during the early months of 2025. Closer inspection reveals that the decrease is specific to the Research Square preprint server (which is owned by Springer Nature). Daily postings dropped from about 236 per day in the first quarter of 2024 (Q1) to fewer than 80 per day in 2025. On average, this represents a 66.6% decrease from Q1 2024 to Q1 2025. Over the same time period, bioRxiv submissions increased moderately, by an average of 9.8%.
A representative from Springer Nature confirms that “the recent decrease in preprints is due to a temporary reduction in our screening capacity.” They also report that “our team is working to increase capacity so we can resume previous posting volumes” and additionally confirm that “we did experience a backlog, but this is steadily improving.” Additional information about Research Square screening processes is available at https://www.researchsquare.com/legal/editorial. Screening verifies the presence of statements about ethics and conflicts of interest, along with the lack of patient identifiers and pseudoscientific claims.
Researchers should be aware that they may experience a delay in posting of their preprints at Research Square. ASAPbio will continue to monitor the posting volume and report back when there are further developments. Have a recent preprinting experience you think would be useful for the community to know about?