Authors looking to get their scholarly work out into the world have many options available to them, making dissemination of research a varied practice and sometimes difficult to navigate, especially for early career researchers. Yet there are routes that authors looking to take advantage of significant benefits in open access publishing can take. One of these routes is posting a preprint.
In this article, we’ll explain what a preprint is, the benefits of authors for posting one, and the workflow involved in posting a preprint online.
What is a preprint and how do preprint servers work?
A preprint is an “in-progress” version of a scholarly article. Preliminary findings are posted online, where others are free to leave early feedback and help shape the research before it undergoes peer review.
Preprints are posted to online servers like Preprints.org. These preprint servers act as repositories for research that is constantly progressing at a fast pace, helping track research progress and accelerate scientific discovery.
Preprints are not peer reviewed, but this does not mean they are not checked before posting. The posting of a preprint is subject to the manuscript passing a screening process, which involves basic ethical checks and preliminary editorial checks to ensure that submissions comply with the platform’s policies.
Benefits of posting a preprint for authors
Preprints are increasingly popular amongst researchers looking for alternative ways to disseminate their work globally. And preprints are of rising importance for open access funders, with The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation no longer supporting article processing charges as of 2025, instead requiring its grantees to publish preprints of their work. Furthermore, ‘publish, then review’ models are being promoted by the likes of the Federation of American Scientists.
So, if preprints are increasingly more suitable for authors in the current scholarly landscape, particularly in countries like the US, just why should authors put their faith in this type of manuscript?
Because preprints do not go through traditional peer review, this means that dissemination of research is not limited by lengthy evaluation workflows. Couple that with open access licensing and fast posting turnaround, and preprints offer many benefits for authors, including:
- Priority of discoveries and ideas;
- Quick dissemination;
- Increased visibility and citations;
- Opportunity to receive early feedback;
- No article processing charges (APCs) to publish;
- Increased career productivity;
- Postings can be added to CV and grant applications;
- Increased flow of scientific information.
Not only do authors benefit from speed, visibility, and career progression, but they also retain complete control over their work. Preprints are posted on Preprints.org under an open access Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license. Consequently, the work can be freely downloaded, distributed, and reused, provided that the author and preprint are cited in any reuse. As a result, authors gain maximum visibility whilst receiving the recognition they deserve.
Check out more information on open access and licensing in relation to preprints posting.
How to post a preprint
After completing your research, you want to find a preprint server that aligns with your discipline. Multidisciplinary preprint servers like Preprints.org ensure that your research is suitable for dissemination, no matter what the subject area is.
Posting a preprint is designed to be a much smoother, quicker process than that for traditionally peer-reviewed articles. In order to understand why this is so, let’s take a closer look at the preprints posting workflow.
Creating an account and preparing your submission
First, you need an account to access the Preprints.org submission platform. If you already have an account for another MDPI platform, you can use that. If not, you will need to register and create an account before you are able to submit your preprint.
Once you have done that, you will need to provide the following:
- Manuscript title;
- Abstract;
- Keywords;
- Names, affiliations, and email addresses;
- Manuscript;
- Supplementary materials;
- Copyright holder permission;
- Additional documents.
After completing your research article, log in to your MDPI or Preprints.org account, click ‘Submit’ to provide basic details about your paper, and upload your file to make a submission. Authors should familiarise themselves with the Instructions for Authors section before submitting.
Screening
As briefly mentioned, all preprints must complete a screening process before posting. The Preprints.org screening process takes less than one business day in most cases.
Screening includes validation of basic scientific content, author background, and compliance with ethical standards. It is carried out by staff with the support of active researchers and an advisory board.
Post online
After passing the screening process, preprints are posted online as open access. Once online, manuscripts can be downloaded, shared, commented on, and cited.
Updating and versioning
Once posted online, preprints can be updated at any time to reflect new data or insights as research evolves, a process known as versioning.
Also, each preprint is assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). This is a unique, permanent string of characters that identifies any digital “object” and is used to distinguish between different manuscript versions.
When a preprint is updated, it is posted online as a new version and assigned a new DOI.
Want more information on the posting process? Read our article on how to submit a preprint. To learn more about how preprints compare to other types of research manuscripts, see our article on the differences between preprints vs postprints vs version of record.
