About Preprint Servers
Preprint servers are online platforms where researchers can share early versions of their scholarly or scientific manuscripts - commonly known as preprints - prior to formal peer review and journal publication.
Most disciplines have built online repositories where scholars can share their preprints. These preprint servers differ from institutional repositories like University of Houston's Institutional Repository (UHIR) in that they accept deposits from scholars at any institution.
It’s important to distinguish nonprofit preprint servers from commercial academic networking sites like ResearchGate and Academia.edu. While nonprofit servers are designed to support open scholarly communication and community benefit, platforms like ResearchGate operate with commercial interests, often monetizing user data. For more insight, see “A Social Networking Site Is Not an Open Access Repository” by the University of California.
Sharing Your Work on a Preprint Server
Why share your manuscript before formal publication?
- Increased Visibility: Manuscripts posted to preprint servers are indexed by Google Scholar, Google, and a broad range of academic search engines and indexing services, offering authors wide web accessibility to their works
- Early Feedback: Preprint servers encourage early peer review on new work, allowing authors to receive valuable feedback from others in their field and, in turn, increasing the possibility for future collaborations
- Attract Editor Attention: Journal editors often monitor preprint servers to identify promising research and recruit submissions (e.g., PLOS journals).
- Protection and Credit: All posted manuscripts to a preprint server are time stamped and receive a DOI before it might get published. These safeguard authors' works from "scooping" and plagiarism while allowing them to showcase their work online, on their CVs, in grant applications, etc.
- Free and Accessible: Unlike some open access journals that charge Article Processing Charges (APCs), posting to a preprint server is typically free and still provides significant reach.
- Version Control: Manuscripts posted to a preprint server are open to modifications by the author and versions are tracked
- Research Lifecycle Transparency: Preprint servers will display a link to the final published version of a posted manuscript, allowing greater transparency and representation of the complete evolution of a piece of research
- Usage Statistics: Preprint servers track the number of times a manuscript has been viewed, downloaded, and cited (yes, preprints are increasingly viewed as citable resources!), and often employ altmetrics for a broader understanding of how a work has been used by others
- Safety: Many preprint servers run automatic plagiarism scans and virus scans
- Flexibility: Authors can upload software, data sets, images, and other supplemental materials along with their manuscript
While there’s no comprehensive directory of preprint servers, the following well-established platforms can help you get started:
- arxiv.org is the largest and oldest preprint server, offering discrete platforms for a broad range of disciplines and sub-fields, including physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology, quantitative finance, statistics, electrical engineering, and economics
- bioRxiv.org is the preprint server for biologists
- medRxiv.org is the preprint server for health scientists and clinicians
- chemrxiv.org is the preprint server for chemists
- Knowledge Commons serves as a sort of preprint server or sharing network for humanities scholars
- Preprints.org is a popular general preprint server that covers a wide range of subject areas (supported by MDPI Publishers)
For help finding an appropriate preprint server, or to ask any questions about these platforms, please contact Xiao Zeng, the Open Publishing Librarian.
