We seem to be at a crossroads in scientific publishing. The principles of open access, a movement that has been growing over the last two decades, are being tested against the limitations embedded into the scholarly infrastructure that was established to sustain open access in the first place. These limitations are perhaps most evident for researchers looking to disseminate their work as open access. Researchers face significant barriers on the road to open access dissemination, leaving many to seek alternative ways to share their work. In this difficult, congested publishing landscape, one of the most popular ways currently used by researchers looking to effectively share their work is preprinting.
But how does the current research environment favour preprints? What are the benefits of posting a preprint for researchers, including early career researchers (ECRs)? And what are the tools available for sharing preprints with peers after posting?
The current research environment —and how it favours preprints
It would appear, slowly but surely, that the scholarly publishing landscape is shifting in favour of preprints. The desire of researchers to get their work out into the world as quickly as possible, growing dissatisfaction with long peer review cycles, and the maturation of preprint servers has arguably made preprints more useful to researchers than at any point in the last decade.
But it’s not just the needs of researchers or scholarly platform trends that are generating this change. Official mandates are also recognising the importance of preprints.
The Gates Foundation’s 2025 Open Access Policy requires that the research of grantees be promptly shared in the form of a preprint before or at the time of journal submission. The purpose of the policy is to maintain the principles of open access whilst broadening the reach and impact of vital research and improving the livelihoods of vulnerable populations across the globe.
Elsewhere, ‘publish, then review’ models are being promoted by the likes of the Federation of American Scientists, further strengthening the preprinting pathway.
Benefits of posting for researchers
Posting a preprint brings an array of benefits for researchers, and these play a big part in this manuscript type’s growing appeal.
One of the most appealing aspects of preprinting for researchers is that they do not have to go through lengthy peer review processes. Research can be disseminated at a pace closer to the needs of researchers. Couple that with open access licensing, and the benefits continue to grow. Here are some of the most useful to researchers:
- 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.
Preprints are posted on Preprints.org under an open access Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, meaning the work is immediately free for global readers. Whereas journal article authors or institutions would have to pay high article processing charges to publish, the posting of a preprint is completely free for researchers.
Importantly, researchers also retain creative control over their work. Preprints can be freely downloaded, distributed, and reused, provided that the author and work are cited in any reuse. As a result, authors gain maximum visibility whilst receiving the recognition they deserve.
| Journal article | Preprint | |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | Publication typically in 1-3 months after submission. | Posting typically 1-2 days after submission. |
| Visibility | Global audience via open access publishing. | Global audience via open access publishing. |
| Peer review | May require serveral rounds of peer review, based on external reviewer opinion. | No peer review, but subject to an initial screening. |
| DOI | Assinged a DOI upon publication. If research existed beforehand as a preprint, it is assiged a new DOI, which may be linked to the previous preprint DOI. | Assigned a DOI upon posting. |
| Cost | High article processing charges must be covered by the author or their insitution. | No cost to authors. |
Why early career researchers are embracing preprints
Journal article publishing is a long-established model with certain principles and protocols. Early career researchers entering this publishing landscape may face many barriers at the beginning of their publishing career. These challenges include:
- Perceived lack of credibility;
- Lengthy and complex peer review experiences;
- High article processing charges (APCs);
- Methodological bias.
Many of these challenges for ECRs can be overcome with the help of preprinting. As a result, more and more ECRs are embracing preprints.
ECRs can feel obstructed by the peer review process at the beginning. Long publisher response times, resubmission cycles of rejected manuscripts, several rounds of external review. These protracted elements of traditional journal publishing hinder ECRs seeking funding grants, career opportunities, or improvements to publishing credentials. Posting a preprint can help ECRs build credibility quickly and avoid reviewing obstructions.
As with any researchers, high APCs are a significant barrier to research dissemination. With ECRs, however, these charges may be even more difficult to cover, given that they lack institutional experience and may therefore find funding harder to acquire. With preprint posting, ECRs don’t have to worry about meeting any steep costs.
Biases in journal article publishing also set back ECRs. Journal editors typically prioritise research that demonstrates positive or statistically significant results (though dedicated outlets for negative or null findings do exist). This means that the work of ECRs, which may be less definitive but still useful to academic communities, is often bypassed. Preprints are a viable method of sharing research with peers and wider the scientific community.
Tools for sharing with peers
As we have already touched upon, preprints facilitate widespread dissemination of research through fast submission turnaround times and open access licensing. To support this research dissemination, there are various tools that actively complement and support the preprinting process. Some of the most important tools for sharing preprint research with peers are:
- Preprint servers such as Preprints.org;
- Collaborative review and feedback platforms such as PREreview;
- ORCID profile;
- Academic social networks and media.
Preprint servers such as Preprint.org are the first point of preprint research dissemination. The Creative Commons licensing and Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) attributed to preprints posted online on Preprints.org allow for maximum visibility, PDF downloading, community feedback, citeability, and reusability.
Collaborative review and feedback platforms such as PREreview allow researchers to collaboratively evaluate scientific preprints, with each review being assigned its own DOI, making it easily searchable and citeable. Researchers posting a preprint on Preprints.org can click “PREreview Request” to be notified of any feedback received.
An ORCID iD is a persistent identification number that allows readers, peers, and institutions to easily track your research outputs. Linking preprints to an ORCID iD ensures all outputs are attributed and discoverable on a single researcher profile.
Academic social networks such as ResearchGate and Academia.edu allow you to upload preprints, build profile pages, share work with peers, and track engagement analytics. Other social media often used by academics, such as LinkedIn, Twitter/X, and BlueSky are useful for appealing more directly to the wider academic community or engaging in real-time academic discourse.
Getting started on your preprint journey with Preprints.org
For researchers looking to benefit from preprinting, Preprints.org serves as the natural home for your research. Preprints.org is multidisciplinary, offers screening before posting, issues reliable and impactful DOIs, and ensures research is free for both readers and authors alike.
To get started, here is a checklist:
- Create an account with MDPI or Preprints.org to submit your preprint;
- Add your ORCID iD during submission. Once your preprint has been accepted, screened, and posted, it will automatically be linked to your ORCID record;
- Share your preprint DOI on 2–3 academic social network and media channels, making sure to take advantage of hashtags and topical academic discourse;
- Track the attention your preprint received using dedicated tools such as Altmetric.com.
For more information on preprints and preprint posting workflows, see our guide for researchers on preprints.
