What Are Preprints? How They’re Changing Scientific Publication

A preprint is a scientific manuscript shared publicly on a free, open-access platform called a preprint server. There, it can receive feedback before or during the formal peer review process. This public sharing gets new research into the public eye faster, while helping find fault and ultimately produce better science.

In the first 10 months of the COVID-19 pandemic alone, the research community released more than 125,000 COVID-19-related articles. Because of the need to share findings faster, more than 30,000 of them were preprints.

In addition to slashing publication speed from months to days, preprints allow prompt peer feedback, let researchers mark their work with an ID and establish primacy, and help the authors improve their work before they submit it for formal publication.

Definition of a preprint

According to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) a preprint is “a scholarly manuscript posted by the author(s) in an openly accessible platform, usually before or in parallel with the peer review process.”

In other words, it’s “pre-publication” – made public before or during formal peer review and before a journal publishes it.

Preprints are also called the author’s original manuscript (AOM). So, a preprint (or AOM) is essentially a draft, but it’s typically in a state ready for review. It lets the authors get almost immediate feedback while attaching an ID to mark it as their original work.

What is a “preprint server”?

Preprint servers are online repositories that let you post this early version of your manuscript online.

Since 2010, more than 60 new preprint servers have formed. A few have disbanded, while some have consolidated under leaders such as the nonprofit Center for Open Science. It’s a dynamic playing field.

Most of these servers are based on an open-source code that’s free to the public to use and modify.

Preprint servers’ providers include universities, non-profit institutions promoting scientific research, and for-profit publishing companies, like Elsevier’s SSRN.

Among the most popular preprint servers, repositories, are:

As you can see, some of these preprint servers are multidisciplinary, others focus on specific fields, and some are region- or language-specific, like AfricArxiv or indiaRxiv. Those servers are a good option for researchers from less-developed economies to level the playing field. But some regional hubs like the Indonesian preprint repository INA-Rxiv, and the French-language Frenxiv Papers faced funding troubles and had to shut down.

A common concern about preprints is that the researchers will get “scooped” and someone will steal their ideas. It’s generally not the case, though.

A preprint becomes a permanent part of the scientific record as soon as it’s posted on a public server. It’s given a digital object identifier (DOI). This way, it can be almost instantly cited in other research papers.

This means everyone using an Internet search engine can identify primacy and the order of priority compared with other preprints or published work.

When did preprints start? A quick history

Although the use of preprints has spiked recently, owing largely to COVID-19, preprints aren’t new. Preprints were first shared in the 1960s through the National Institutes of Health.

In the early 1990s, physicists in the U.S. state of New Mexico created a mail server to speedily exchange drafts of new research articles. Its increasing use led to the launch of the arXiv preprint server as early as 1991.

The initial motivation for arXiv was creating a transparent public record of a scientist’s work and keeping up to date on the latest scientific discoveries.

Gradually, the use of preprints spread beyond the physical sciences. Since the 2000s, other disciplines—e.g., life sciences, social sciences, medicine, education, and law—have felt the need to share their work quicker.

This is partly due to the slow pace of traditional publishing processes. It also allows authors to reach a broader audience. On top of that, preprints in some ways embody the spirit of open science and open access.

Why should I publish a preprint?

If you publish a preprint, you’ll reap most of the benefits of publishing in a peer-reviewed journal, only much quicker. Six main reasons for posting a preprint show these benefits.

1. Rapid (and free) research dissemination

An analysis of published papers over the past dozen years found that the average time from initial submission to publication is around 9 months. And this doesn’t include requests for revision that resulted in rejections.

Publicly posting a preprint means that your work will see the world a lot quicker. It’s a free and easy option for communicating your findings if you’re working on time-sensitive research. Or if you’re can’t wait to share your latest results.

A common concern linked to preprints is they may reduce the chances of potential future, formal publication. In many fields, journals used to consider articles first posted as preprints “prior publications’ and wouldn’t accept them. But this is no longer the case.

For example, the preprint policy of Nature Research journals moved from rejecting to allowing, and since 2017, to actively encourage preprints. PLOS Publisher even gives authors the option to directly transfer their manuscripts from a preprint server for publication consideration.

2. Better science

Publishing a preprint doesn’t only benefit the authors; it means science can develop faster.

Building on your findings, your peers can speed up their scientific discoveries.

Also, science journalists, policymakers, and the wider public get a better picture of the latest research.

The need for timely dissemination of findings to shape policymaking became evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, research has shown that COVID-19-related publications changed very little between the preprinted and published versions. This speaks to the quality of work published on preprint servers.           

Crucially, preprints make science more inclusive and accessible. Every researcher can share their work for free. And anyone interested can read and provide feedback without waiting for an invitation from a journal.

3. Priority and credit 

“If I make my findings public before formally getting published in a journal, do I risk being scooped?” Many researchers rightfully ask this. There’s a natural fear that someone else might take your ideas, replicate them or build on them, and publish them as their own original work.

Rest assured that posting preprints protects your authorship rights. It establishes primacy. But how?

• Most preprint servers assign your preprint a DOI.
• This comes with a non-editable timestamp showing when your work first appeared.
• At this point, your manuscript will be indexed by Google Scholar and Altmetric and made open access.

This means that other researchers can find and cite your work almost instantly. You can claim the priority of the findings and refer to the DOI if any dispute over who discovered something first arises. That’s super important if you’re working in a competitive field.

Also, research suggests that as preprints become more popular and widespread, scooping will become almost extinct.

4. Timely feedback             

Your manuscript gets feedback from 2 to 3 peer reviewers prior to publication in the traditional journal system. If you post on a preprint server, you can either accept public comments, or people can contact you privately (such as via email).

This is helpful in several ways:

• You get valuable comments and feedback from peers a lot earlier
• This way, you can improve your manuscript before submitting it to a journal
• You might even find other researchers with whom to co-author a more robust paper to publish in a top-tier, high-impact-factor journal.

5. Greater research impact and visibility

If you share your research earlier through preprints, your work achieves its full potential: more impact, exposure, and citations. A 2021 study on the role of preprints in the dissemination of COVID-19 research makes this clear. It found that COVID-19 related articles with preprints were accessed more, cited more, and shared more on various online platforms than COVID-19 related articles without preprints.

Mentions

For most authors, a preprint isn’t the final version of their research. Thanks to providers like Crossref, your preprint can bring new readers to your published paper.

A study looking at more than 7,000 bioRxiv papers found that articles with preprints garnered just under 7 citations per paper on average from 2013 to 2017. At the same time, those without preprints got a lower average: a little over 4 citations per article.

Greater visibility

More research is needed to prove the citation effect of preprints. But there’s robust evidence that people tweet more often about articles without a preprint. According to the bioRxiv study mentioned earlier, an article with preprint got approximately 2.5 tweets while one without got 1.8 tweets.

In short, the more places your work can be found in, the more attention it will attract.

Lay readers, policymakers, journalists, and the public are all potential readers.

Finally, social media engagement might help you network with peers working on similar topics or competitors on the other side of the globe.

6. Career advancement

The lack of a “growing publication record” can be a big hurdle in getting academic promotion or a research grant. Preprints can help you showcase your productivity in the eyes of a grant, hiring, or tenure committee.

A link to a preprint on your CV is far more persuasive than a journal article title noting “in development” or “under review” in parentheses.

Individual funders indeed treat preprints differently. Since 2017, funders such as UKRI, Wellcome Trust, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have started allowing researchers to cite preprints in grant proposals.

Currently, many funding agencies are reevaluating their policies (or lack of policies) regarding preprints. Many pro-preprint policies are expected to appear in the coming years.

How do you publish a preprint?

Reading about the benefits of preprints, you might be thinking of submitting one? Here are the key four steps to follow:

Choose a server

Think what’s the best server for your discipline, type of research (e.g., experimental research or systematic literature review), and community you’d like to reach. A list of preprint servers and their practices can be found here.

Choose the type of license and identifier that best meet your needs

For example, CC-BY 4.0 is a Creative Commons license permitting any reuse with attribution. In contrast, CC-BY-NC 4.0 permits reuse only for non-commercial purposes. Likewise, you need to choose the identifier to cite your preprint (e.g., DOI, arXiv ID, or URL).

Check your target journal’s preprint publication policies

Academic journals have different policies about preprints. According to the SHERPA/RoMEO and Transpose database, most journals in life sciences happily accept submissions that have circulated as preprints before. Scarce journals reject preprints because they consider them a “prior form of publication.”

Ensure your manuscript is good and follows preprint servers’ guidelines

Look for formatting and other requirements (e.g., size or limit) outlined on the platform. You want to post good-quality work that doesn’t leave out important data or findings. This way, you’ll make a good impression on other researchers and receive more attention and citations.

Useful preprint resources

• The ASAPbio resource center has all things preprints.
• PLOS’s preprints pages display how journals communicate with authors and readers on the use of preprints.
• Have a look at a report on the transformative role of preprints published by Knowledge Exchange in 2019.
• Read discussion papers on preprints by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
• Watch this video of a panel discussion on preprint ethics posted on the COPE website.
• Read a study on the ten essential things to consider about preprint submissions.

How to increase good feedback and publication chances for your preprint

Scize Editing will proofread or deeply edit the English in your preprint, and potentially increase its chances of publication in a journal.

Contact us with your manuscript and your hopes for it.