If you’re like me, you may not have interacted with preprints very much before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Preprints have grown in popularity and usage over the past few years.
In this article, I explore some basics of preprints and examples of preprints from different fields.
What is a preprint?
A preprint is an early version of a research manuscript draft that is uploaded and shared to a public repository, known as a preprint server, before it undergoes formal peer review.
Preprints offer a quick solution for researchers who ordinarily wouldn’t be able to share their work until after it’s been published in a journal, a process that can take months or even years.
By sharing a preprint, researchers can get a digital object identifier (DOI) for their work, which provides a “public timestamp” that establishes that they are the first to publish the work.
It also means that they can post their manuscript online and get critical feedback to validate, challenge, and ultimately improve their work.
The preprint may be available before or after a paper is published in a journal, often as a free non-typeset version.
The use of preprints has grown significantly, especially with the advent of COVID-19, as the need to expedite research and get it into the community has grown incrementally.
Examples of preprint servers/ platforms in different fields
Below are some examples of preprint servers/ platforms.
The first two are of particular relevance to African researchers and I have provided links to their websites.
AfricArxiv is a community-led digital archive for African research items such as research manuscripts, reports, datasets, code, illustrations, presentations, and more.
PREreview gives systematically disadvantaged scientists (e.g. early career researchers) better ways to find a voice, train, and engage in peer review.
eLife:
eLife is a not-for-profit, peer-reviewed, open access, science publisher for the biomedical and life sciences. It was founded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Max Planck Society, and Wellcome Trust in 2012.
Sciety:
Sciety was created by eLife to help scientists and researchers focus their attention on preprints that have been peer-reviewed by groups that they trust.
Sciety brings together groups of researchers who are evaluating and curating the preprints they find interesting or important in a central place
arXiv:
This is probably the best-known preprint server. It started in physics, but now accepts papers across the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The server is now run by Cornell University.
Open Science Framework:
OSF provides an open-source framework that helps researchers and institutions set up their own preprint servers.
Zenodo:
A multidisciplinary open repository maintained by CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) that allows researchers from diverse fields to share and preserve their research
Other preprint servers include:
- bioRxiv: A preprint server for the biological sciences.
- SocArXiv: A server for the social sciences.
- ChemRxiv: The preprint server of the American Chemical Society (ACS), which is for chemistry.
- EarthArXiv: For the geosciences.
- medRxiv: For medicine.
- EngrXiv – Engineering
- PsyArXiv – Psychological sciences
- SportaRxiv – Sport and exercise science
- PaleoarXiv – Paleontology
- LawArXiv – Law
- AgriXiv – Agricultural sciences
- NutriXiv – Nutritional sciences
- MarXiv – Ocean and marine-climate sciences
What are your thoughts on preprints? Have you published your work as a pre-print? We would love to hear from you below.
