Peer review can be intimidating, whether you are a junior or a more experienced scholar. But, with a bit of knowledge and experience, you can learn how to best navigate the process.
Posting a preprint can be a first step towards formal peer review and, ultimately, publication. Receiving community feedback through preprints can support and strengthen the peer review process.
This article will explore the relationship between preprints and peer review, and how they work together.
It also identifies three pathways for preprints to empower authors to pursue peer review. The first is preprints acting as a “pre-review” to formal peer review. Next is leveraging the “wisdom of the crowd” and diverse perspectives. Finally, preprints can create a “trial-and-error” buffer to provide space for refinement before entering formal review.
The relationship between preprints and peer review
So, how do preprints pave the way for peer review?
They can act as a “preview” of the peer review and publishing process. Or, as a “practice” round before submitting a manuscript for publication.
Preprints are considered to be work that is “in progress.” Not every preprint becomes a published article. However, many manuscripts do go through peer review and then on to publication.
Once a preprint has been posted, the work can be improved based on community comments received. This allows authors to identify any major flaws in the research or methodology prior to journal submission.
With a preprint, more people may view the work at its earlier stages. So, authors can preemptively identify and address some of the gaps in their work. This helps scholars to improve their manuscripts and hopefully reduce submission rejections.
Preprints empower peer review
Preprints and peer review are complementary, rather than opposing, forces. Alongside published work, preprints help to facilitate easy accessibility and wide dissemination of research.
It’s no secret that publishing can be a lengthy and at times frustrating process. Submission numbers are high, often without enough qualified reviewers to take on the work. There can also be a lack of transparency. However, it’s also true that formal peer review can improve the final product.
Preprints can alleviate or preempt some of these concerns. It empowers scholars to share early-stage work and receive community feedback. This can lead to a better manuscript and increase the chances of publication.
Authors of a 2024 article identify preprints as a way to address some of the shortcomings of traditional publishing models. As they suggest, this includes rethinking the idea of “peer review”:
“Preprints are enabling new forms of peer review that have the potential to be more thorough, inclusive, and collegial than traditional journal peer review, and to thus fundamentally shift the culture of peer review toward constructive collaboration.”
In this sense, preprints are the first step of a broader and more inclusive form of peer review, or “review by peers.”
Preprint feedback
Preprint evaluation exists on a spectrum. Today, there are around 20 services dedicated to reviewing or commenting on preprints, each taking a different approach, from informal public discussion to structured, journal-like assessment.
Comments on preprint servers
This includes comments from a public audience left for the author(s) on the posted preprint. There are no set requirements for this feedback. Anyone with a Preprints.org account can access the preprint and leave a comment.
These commenters can bring a fresh pair of eyes to research. They may catch obvious errors. Or, they may spot an area that is confusing or underdeveloped.
Those leaving feedback could be fellow scholars and interested researchers. Or, they could be members of the public with an interest in scientific research. Either way, this is informal feedback only. There is no confirmation of a commentator’s position or expertise.
There is no set standard for leaving feedback on a preprint. However, Preprints.org recommends the “FAST” principles for feedback etiquette. This framework emphasizes that comments should be focused, appropriate, specific, and transparent.
Minimalist or freeform comments
Platforms such as PubPeer enable public discussion of preprints. Similarly, preLights features volunteer-written summaries of selected biology preprints, encouraging community discussion around highlighted research.
Community-driven feedback
Initiatives like PREreview support community feedback requested by authors or initiated by the community. Peer Community In (PCI) provides organized peer review and formal recommendations for preprints, with review reports and editorial decisions made publicly available.
Journal-like assessment
In these cases, those scholars who would like to give a more in-depth response can do so. Some formal procedures are typically enforced. This includes identifying affiliation and expertise, and disclosing any conflicts of interest.
This may be done through a specific institution, platform, or publication. For example, eLife publishes peer review reports, author responses, and editorial assessments alongside reviewed preprints, combining transparency with traditional editorial oversight.
Together, these models illustrate that preprint review is not a single process but a diverse and evolving ecosystem of scholarly evaluation.
Paving the way—pathways to peer review
Rather than thinking about them as two different processes, preprints can be an important step to formal publication. Though the path of preprints and that of publications may not always converge, they can inform and build on each other to make a better final product. In other words, it can help to “pave the way” to peer review.
The following pathways from preprints to peer review are good places to start. Each of these should make the actual publication process go more smoothly.
The first is preprints acting as a “pre-review” to formal peer review. Next is leveraging community and diverse perspectives. And, finally, preprints help to strengthen a manuscript before journal submission.
Pre-review
The chance to get feedback before a formal evaluation by a journal can be invaluable. Preprints can act as a “pre-review” mechanism—the review before the review—to identify key issues in advance.
It gives the author a sense of where their work is from the reader’s perspective. For more experienced scholars, preprints are an opportunity to hear from others in your field of expertise. Junior scholars, in particular, can get some experience and practice at this stage.
Wisdom of the crowd
Authors can use preprints to leverage the “wisdom of the crowd.” While not every preprint receives comments, open posting allows for conversations within academic communities and the public at large.
In addition to getting a general sense of the commonalities of “the crowd”, preprints encourage a diversity of perspectives.
With peer review, a few experts selected by the journal provide an assessment of the work. But preprints are open to all, and there are no requirements to comment. Those people who might otherwise not be represented within academia can participate at the same level.
Trial-and-error buffer
Preprints also offer a kind of “trial-and-error buffer,” where authors can try out their work. This provides space for refinement before entering formal review.
Depending on the author, peer review may be the first time their work is being read by another person. In some cases, then, it is more likely that reviewers will find errors that may have otherwise been caught by a preprint reader.
This is important because manuscript submissions continue to increase across the board. But, some of that work does not meet the required standard or has obvious problems. Preprints help authors identify issues earlier, potentially strengthening manuscripts prior to journal submission.
Indeed, preprints are a space to engage in community discussions in a more open and inclusive way. This “democratization” of knowledge is a much-needed shift for the publishing landscape.
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