For 10 years, Preprints.org has provided a platform for researchers and academics to share their work freely and transparently. Preprinting had been around for a few decades prior, though. What started as a way to discuss and share findings among a small community has turned into something much bigger than anticipated. Research went from being sent by mail to sent via the network. With preprinting platforms, academics from all over the world have been able to publish their in-progress work online for thousands to see. Throughout the last decade, Preprints.org has seen our member and readership numbers soar. Preprints.org was established in May 2016, and by August, it had published 100 papers. Now, over 120,000 manuscripts have been released and read by our 430,000 contributors and counting.
As we celebrate the Preprints.org 10th anniversary, let’s take a look at the beginning, middle, and future of our platform. With so much already accomplished and much more still to do, preprinting has covered a lot of ground. It’s important to reflect on the accomplishments of our platform and community and continue to pave the way for early academics to break into their respective fields.
After more than 60 years of preprints and a decade of Preprints.org, we’re only just getting started.
Back to the basics: how preprints work
Unlike traditionally published manuscripts, preprints are essentially first looks at research before formal review. They are complete research papers that are in progress and have not been peer-reviewed. They’re uploaded to open access (OA) archives, where they can be found, reproduced, and cited. The author(s) maintain the copyright to the material. They’re also able to update their research as more work is completed and proven. On top of that, because preprints are available to the public, community members can leave comments. Whether that means making suggestions, adding information, or asking questions, the discourse is transparent and free for all to participate in.
There’s a need within the scientific community to disseminate research quickly. Sometimes, that means posting research openly and in online spaces rather than waiting months or years for publication in a traditional journal. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, information had to be shared across the globe overnight. Scientists from all walks of life had to collaborate in order to find solutions.
From their computer to your screen
We know what preprints are, and we’ve started to scrape the surface as to why they’re useful. But, a speed run of the preprinting process is still needed. So, as a brief overview:
- An academic completes a full research manuscript and decides to share it publicly before review;
- They submit it to a preprint platform, where their paper is screened for basic scientific soundness, ethics, and plagiarism;
- Once approved and posted online, the preprint receives a digital object identifier (DOI), making it instantly searchable and citable;
- Users can read, share, and comment on the preprint;
- The preprint remains permanently available, and the information can be updated and shared as necessary.
Now that we’ve addressed how preprints work, it’s important to know a little history behind them.
Why did we start preprints?
Surprisingly, preprints didn’t come about due to a single event. They were something the scientific community had been itching for for a while: a way to talk to each other without having to jump through so many hoops. While professionally published work is undoubtedly useful, so are the processes of brainstorming and revising. In the 1960s, groups began to crop up, supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as a means of distributing informal biological works. With the popularity of such research dissemination, and as technology improved, scientists from all disciplines began their own systems for knowledge sharing.
Jumping on the movement, MDPI, heavy hitters in open access initiatives, began thinking about their own preprints platform. And in 2016, Preprints.org was the result of that. Sharing a broad range of subjects, from STEM to the humanities, Preprints.org supports various types of written content. Through our growth as a platform, we have worked with Crossref as they tested DOIs, assigning them to our public materials. We’ve also gained enough respect in the industry to be valuable to scholars on applications for grants and jobs, as well as being an indication of their output and productivity.
As champions of free access to knowledge and reduced barriers for novice and underfunded academics, Preprints.org has staked their claim in the publishing industry.
The impact of preprints
Preprints have positively influenced the scholars who contribute to and create them, as well as society at large. It sounds like a grandiose statement, but platforms that level the research playing field and allow scientists to collaborate are necessary for progress.
Introducing the community
Preprints.org is home to over 400,000 researchers across the globe. This number encompasses a community of authors, board members, and readers, all of whom share the same goal. Collaboration, accessibility, and transparency in the research lifecycle are all important to our members. These pillars have also contributed to the validation of preprints as a genuine and needed arm of the publishing industry. Through sharing and commenting on each other’s work, the purpose of preprints is made visible.
In addition to authors and readers, at the time of writing, we have a board of over 300 members. They help maintain the legitimacy of the platform by supporting editorial processes and engagement from the community and promoting open science. With 11 different subject areas represented by our board members, several branches of the scientific community are able to have their specific needs addressed. Additionally, the variety of countries and disciplines represented means we receive a massive range of research. This also highlights many scientists’ desire for open access initiatives and publishing practices.
How Preprints.org has shaped knowledge sharing
Thanks to documents such as the Bethesda Statement and the Budapest Open Access Initiative, preprints have been widely encouraged and supported. These statements were drafted by scientific community members who saw the value in sharing research without borders. Additionally, movements were already happening informally and would’ve continued to expand with or without help from the establishment. As OA publications and preprints continue to grow in popularity, rather than fighting this, new agreements and processes are developed in order to ensure the research produced is legitimate. Traditional publishing will always have a place in research, but preprints are being embraced for good reason.
As mentioned previously, the value of preprints was undeniable during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across the world, and especially on Preprints.org, scientists were sharing and reading research at a rapid pace that couldn’t have been achieved through standard means. The community banded together, because the practice of preprinting allows scientists to disseminate time-sensitive research. In the event of another global crisis, preprints will be able to aid researchers once again.
The future of preprints
With an increasing population, new issues to solve, and more academics entering the field, Preprints.org will continue to grow. We will maintain our commitment to open access initiatives and making research available and citable indefinitely. While it’s hard to predict what changes may need to be made in the future, so long as our community can share their work and collaborate, we will continue to be leaders in the academic sphere. Our researchers and board members are ready for anything thanks to their ability to stay informed.
Celebrating our 10th anniversary
Science is a group effort. We firmly believe in the power of community and hope to support our authors, readers, and members as they make new discoveries by giving them a platform to showcase those ideas. Without our contributors, we wouldn’t have made it 10 whole years. But there are many years still to be had, and many decades to experience as a community. We’ve already accomplished a lot, and we should all be proud of the progress we’ve made. As technology evolves, as new scientific discoveries are made, and as more researchers enter the field, we’ll be there to share all of it. The possibilities of scientific outreach are endless when we come together to propel it, and ourselves, into the future.
Here’s to another 10 years, and many more, at Preprints.org.
If you’re an academic who wants to contribute to the OA mission, send your proposal to us at info@preprints.org. This call is for anyone, whether they be at the beginning of their career or well into it. There is value in scientific knowledge at any stage of development.
