Feature


Pandemic brings preprints into the spotlight


From rapid disease information to a way to promote and share regional knowledge in multiple languages, preprints have come into their own in recent years. Siân Harris finds out more


In July 2021, the open-access biomedical and life sciences publisher, eLife, began a new approach to article submissions: now it will only review manuscripts that have already been published as preprints. Alongside this, the focus of the publisher’s editorial process has shifted to producing public reviews that are posted alongside the preprints. Such a move is an indication of how


preprints – the versions of papers before they have been externally peer reviewed or edited – have become more central to the whole scholarly communication process over the past few years. As Damian Pattinson, executive director


of eLife, explained: ‘[Preprints] play a very central role in our entire review process and we’re keen to make them more central. To us, they are an amazing opportunity to


10 Research Information Spring 2022


change the system and to bring the way in which research is communicated into a fully digital age. The role that we see eLife playing in the long term is one where we essentially are just a reviewing organisation for already published research.’ Researchers in many mathematics,


computer science and physics fields have enjoyed a close relationship with preprints for several decades and processes like eLife has recently adopted are not new to them (see box for some reflections from Australia-based astrophysicist, Richard de Grijs). However, it has been recent public health crises that have really propelled the practice of preprint sharing into the mainstream across other disciplines. Making scientific research findings


available quickly enables other scientists to build on these findings. It also means


@researchinfo | www.researchinformation.info


Catarina Williams≠≠≠/Shutterstock.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40