Preprints: What you need to know before
posting your work
Caryn Jones and John Zepernick, MS
ThinkSCIENCE, Inc. | Publishing

A preprint is an academic
manuscript that has been sharedpublicly via an open-accessplatform but has not been formallypeer reviewed.
Preprints have long been used in
the physical sciences to propose
ideas, announce results quickly,and gain feedback from fellow
researchers to develop the work further. In recent years, preprints havestarted appearing in other disciplines, including the life sciences, socialsciences, medicine and healthcare, education, and law.
Posting a preprint offers some clear benefits to authors and readers, but posting incertain disciplines remains contentious.
If you are not familiar with reading or posting preprints, you may wonder if you
should be creating a preprint of your work.
To help you decide whether sharing your work as a preprint is the most suitableoption for you, in this article we cover the following topics.
1. Features of preprints
2. Value of posting preprints in sharing work early and openly
3. Potential pitfalls of posting preprints in certain disciplines
4. Examples of preprint platforms
5. Checklist of 12 considerations to help you decide if posting a preprint is theright choice for your latest manuscript
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1. Features of preprints
Preprints are manuscripts that often look like journal papers but have not been peer
reviewed and are not formatted to a particular journal’s style. They are the “author’sversion” of the paper (before any improvements are made via peer review, journalcopyediting, etc.). Preprints do not imply that the work described is of low quality.
Preprints can be posted on an open-access platform (e.g., a preprint server or otherpublic repository) or on an institutional or personal website. Platforms andrepositories often focus on specific fields of study. For example, the oldest andprobably best-known preprint server is aRxiv (pronounced “archive”), which hosts
preprints in physics, mathematics, and computer science, among other fields.
Although preprints are not peer-reviewed, they may be screened or moderated toprevent inappropriate content from being posted on platforms or in repositories.
Preprint servers enable readers to post feedback about preprints they areinterested in, which allows the authors to develop their research and improve theirmanuscripts before submitting the work to a journal. Not all preprints are later
published in journals, but many are.
Authors can update their preprints at any time before journal submission, and theyshould decide whether or not they want any new updates they post to be
automatically logged and time-stamped. Although the details will differ among
preprint servers, timestamps are simply a record of when different versions of awork were posted. Many preprint servers offer the automated process of version
control, which includes assigning timestamps and giving access to older versions of
the preprint.
Preprints often have a digital object identifier (DOI) assigned, which makes them apermanent record of the scientific work. The DOI enables the preprint to be citedclearly by other researchers, to be connected later to a fully developed journal
paper, and to be listed in a CV/resume if a final journal paper is not published oruntil one is published. If authors later find a problem with the content of theirpreprint, the DOI means that the preprint cannot be fully deleted from the publicrecord. However, the authors can formally apply to withdraw the preprint, whichremoves the content but retains metadata such as the authors’ names, preprint
title, and DOI. The preprint is marked as “Withdrawn” and the reason for thewithdrawal is posted (see examples of formal withdrawal processes for preprints
here and here). Withdrawing a preprint is like retracting a published paper, soauthors need to take care to avoid this whenever possible. Also, copies of theoriginal preprint may continue to be available via general search engines.

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Like manuscripts submitted to journals, preprints should follow best publication
practices, specifically ethical requirements such as those regarding informed
consent, participant anonymity, plagiarism/text overlap, and permissions for reuseof images. All authors must agree to each version of the preprint to be posted.
Authors should consider the license under which they publish their preprint (e.g.,
Creative Commons CC0 or CC BY). For example, the publisher Wiley states thatauthors should retain copyrights to their work when posting to a preprint server andpreferably assign a “no re-use” licence. ASAPbio provides a clear licensing diagramthat explains what rights and permissions are conferred by the different Creative
Commons licenses and no license at all. These licenses affect how the preprint canbe shared and reused by others.
Historically, authors in some fields faced barriers to posting preprints. For example,
the preprint policy of Nature has moved from opposition, to tolerance, and now toactive encouragement. In the past, many journals considered a preprint to be priorpublication and would not accept it as a submitted paper. Now, more journals andacademic publishers have come to accept and promote preprints, particularly as
open science has gained ground. Some journals and publishers even allow thedirect transfer of preprints from a preprint server to their journals, making
submission of a final preprint version to the journal easy. However, not all journals
and publishers allow preprints, so always check your target journal’s instructions
for authors before posting a preprint.

2. Value of posting preprints in sharing work early and openly
Preprints offer a number of benefits to authors and their readers (e.g., colleagues,peers, funders, and the public).
•Speed: Preprints allow you to share your work quickly, without having to wait
for weeks or months for peer review comments. This lets you get feedback
quickly from other researchers around the world to develop your work, rather
than just two or three peer reviewers for a manuscript submitted to a journal.
This can be helpful especially if you want to announce controversial findings
and get rapid feedback. You can then improve your preprint by incorporating
helpful feedback before submitting it to a journal.

•Evolution: You can update your preprint as many times as you want before
submitting it to a peer-reviewed journal, and time-stamping each update (viaversion control or manually) is a record of the evolution of your work.

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Page 3 of 9•Visibility: Preprints also offer greater visibility for your paper. Your publicly
available preprint may be read by some readers who might not read your final
journal paper if it is behind a paywall. Also, if your preprint is posted on a large
preprint server and has a DOI assigned, more people can potentially discussand cite your work early, ahead of it being written up and published in ajournal. A preprint may also attract attention from potential researchcollaborators.

•Priority: You can establish priority for your work in a preprint, which isimportant for securing intellectual property rights and raising the profile ofyour research.

•Impact: Sharing your work early via a preprint can be a big plus in a fastmoving field, so your work can have a greater impact on the direction of future
research. Listing a preprint on your resume can help showcase research thathas not been published in a journal, and citing your preprint can help provide
further explanation of your work in funding applications.

3. Potential pitfalls of posting preprints in certain disciplines
Valid concerns about posting preprints have been voiced in some disciplines morethan others. Let’s look at some potential pitfalls of posting a preprint that authors
should avoid.
•Speed: In biomedical sciences especially, there is concern that postingfindings early in a preprint (i.e., before they have been formally peer reviewed
to assess their integrity) may lead to actual harm. For example, if a study
reaches incorrect conclusions about the safety or efficacy of a drug, patients
could be harmed. In fact, there is a warning for readers (researchers, themedia, and the public) about the misuse and misinterpretation of preprints
posted in the health sciences on medRxiv. This is one of the concerns being
debated about the ethics of preprints across all scholarly disciplines.

•Visibility and impact: Some journals will not publish work that was madepublic in a preprint, and this may affect which journal you later publish in andthus your work’s visibility and impact.

•Priority: Some people have argued that preprints give away ideas to otherresearchers, potentially allowing them to “scoop” the work by creating andsubmitting a journal paper on the work before you do. While this could
conceivably happen, it seems unlikely that someone could replicate your work

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Page 4 of 9well enough and quickly enough—also, many preprints are time-stamped,
which actually establishes your priority.
In some disciplines such as mathematics and physics, posting a preprint isstandard practice and there may be few, if any, pitfalls to consider. However,in other disciplines such as in medicine and healthcare, authors should always
check that their target journal allows preprints before posting one.

4. Examples of preprint platforms
Lists of preprint platforms (or preprint servers) are available online. You can find aserver targeted to your field on this sortable list or in this article, although you
should then always check the suitability of the publicly available platform,
repository, or website carefully yourself.
Another option is to host your preprint on a regional server, such as AfricArxiv orindiaRxiv, which may be a good choice for work involving those regions or local
languages. However, some regional preprint servers have recently had funding
difficulties, with the Indonesian preprint repository INA-Rxiv recently closing.

Preprintserver

Quick facts

FieldsaRxiv• Hosts 1.6 million
preprints• Uses aRxiv ID forcitations

Physics, astronomy, mathematics,
electronic and electrical engineering,
computer science, quantitative biology,
statistics, mathematical finance, andeconomics

bioRxiv• 37,648 preprints
posted its first 5years• Uses DOI for
citations

Animal behavior and cognition,
biochemistry, bioengineering,bioinformatics, biophysics, cancer biology,
cell biology, developmental biology,
ecology, evolutionary biology, genetics,
genomics, immunology, microbiology,
molecular biology, neuroscience,
paleontology, pathology, pharmacology
and toxicology, physiology, plant biology,
scientific communication and education,
synthetic biology, systems biology, zoology

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PsyArXiv• Launched in Dec
2016• Uses DOI forcitations

Clinical psychology, cognitive psychology,
developmental psychology, educationalpsychology, linguistics, neuroscience,quantitative/psychometric methods, socialand personality psychology

SocArxiv• Hosts 4,848
preprints as ofFeb 2020
• Launched in 2016
• Uses DOI forcitations

Arts and humanities, education, law, social
and behavioral sciences

medRxiv• Launched 2019
• Uses DOI forcitations• Offers directtransfer tovarious journals,
including BMJ
Open and PLOS
Medicine

Addiction medicine, allergy andimmunology, anesthesia, cardiovascular
medicine, dentistry and oral medicine,dermatology, emergency medicine,endocrinology, epidemiology, forensic
medicine, gastroenterology, genetic andgenomic medicine, geriatric medicine,
health economics, health informatics,
health policy, health systems and qualityimprovement, hematology, HIV/AIDS,
infectious diseases, intensive care andcritical care medicine, medical education,
medical ethics, nephrology, neurology,nursing, nutrition, obstetrics andgynecology, occupational andenvironmental health, oncology,
ophthalmology, orthopedics,
otolaryngology, pain medicine, palliative
medicine, pathology, pediatrics,
pharmacology and therapeutics, primarycare research, psychiatry and clinicalpsychology, public and global health,radiology and imaging, rehabilitation
medicine and physical therapy, respiratory
medicine, rheumatology, sexual andreproductive health, sports medicine,surgery, toxicology, transplantation,urology

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SportRxiv• Launched Aug2017• Uses DOI for
citationSport, exercise, and rehabilitation sciences

ChemRxiv• Collaboratively
operated by theAmerican
ChemicalSociety, Chinese
ChemicalSociety, Chemical
Society ofJapan, German
Chemical Society,and the Royal
Society ofChemistry• Uses DOI forcitations• Launched 2017

Agricultural and food chemistry; analyticalchemistry; biological and medicinalchemistry; catalysis; chemical education;
chemical engineering/industrial chemistry;earth, space, and environmental chemistry;
energy; inorganic chemistry; materials
science; nanoscience; organic chemistry;organometallic chemistry; physicalchemistry; polymer science; theoretical andcomputational chemistry

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5. Checklist of considerations for posting a preprint
1

What benefits will you gain from posting a preprint (e.g., establishing priority;
getting a DOI that makes your preprint a permanent part of the scholarly
record and easily citable; getting feedback from the community to develop
the work further before formal peer review for a journal)?

2

Does your first-choice journal allow preprints?

3

Do your other shortlisted target journals allow preprints (in case your firstchoice journal rejects your submitted paper)?

4

What is the most suitable place to post your preprint (e.g., a preprint server,
another public repository, your team’s website or webpage)?

5

Do you want your posted preprint to be time-stamped to establish authority?

6

Do your coauthors all agree to posting the preprint?

7

Does your preprint follow best publication practices (i.e., meets ethics
requirements for informed consent, participant anonymity, no plagiarism, notext overlap, permissions for use of previously published images, etc.)?

8

What type of license best meets your needs (e.g., Creative Commons CC0 orCC BY)?

9What type of identifier will be used by people citing your preprint (e.g., DOI,arXiv ID, URL)?

10Is a version control system available?

11

Which preprint format is needed (usually PDF) and what is the file size limit?

12

Can you directly transfer the final version of your preprint to your target
journal, if you want to do this? (Some journals allow you to opt-in to this extra
functionality when first posting your preprint.)

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Page 8 of 9Summary
The place of preprints in scholarly publishing is changing rapidly, and the option topost preprints is becoming more widely available. Preprints provide the latest, often
early, results of research, similar to hearing about preliminary results at aconference, and so can provide insights and inspiration about the current directionof the field. Also, many platforms allow commenting, which can contribute to thedevelopment of the preprint, similarly to what happens to a journal paper during
peer review. Readers should bear in mind that preprints have not been formally peer
reviewed, and authors who want to cite preprints should bear in mind that somejournals discourage excessive citation of preprints in published articles and require
preprints to be cited in a particular way (e.g., Nucleic Acids Research).
If you decide to post a preprint, you need to consider more than just whether there
is a suitable preprint server available in your discipline; for example, should also
consider the license used (e.g., Creative Commons CC0 or CC BY), the identifier
used for citing your preprint (e.g., DOI, arXiv ID, or URL), the extra functionality thatmight be available (e.g., version control and direct transfer for journal submission),and publication ethics.
If you would like to delve more deeply into the topic of preprints and publication
ethics, you can read some discussion papers on handling preprints issued by theCommittee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and a comprehensive report on thetransformative role of preprints published by Knowledge Exchange in September
2019. You can also watch a video of a 2019 panel discussion posted on the COPE
website that includes “a lively discussion with the panel and the audience, spanning
the range of views on preprint ethics”.
And if you have any questions about preprints, our team is here to help!
Read the article online for the most recent version

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