Tag Archives: preprints

NIH Preprint Pilot to Include Preprints Reporting On All NIH-funded Research Starting In Early 2023

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Launched 35 years ago in August 1997, PubMed reached the remarkable milestone of adding its 35 millionth citation on December 12th, 2022. Contributing to that content since June 2020 have been the “more than 3,300 preprints reporting NIH-supported COVID-19 research discoverable in PubMed Central (PMC) and PubMed”.

The good news for authors is that the number preprints added to PubMed will continue to grow since:

“The success of the pilot has encouraged NLM to extend the pilot in a second phase to launch in early 2023 that will encompass all preprints reporting on NIH-funded research. For preprints that are authored by NIH-funded researchers and voluntarily posted to eligible preprint servers on or after January 1, 2023, NLM will automatically include the full text of the preprint (as license terms allow) and associated citation information available in PMC and PubMed, respectively.”

For more detailed information from the NIH/NLM – see:

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New Preprint-related Developments at eLife

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Since the COVID pandemic, preprint servers have become increasingly accepted within the publishing landscape, with even literature databases (like PubMed and Scopus) taking on the task of selectively indexing some of this new type of “not-yet-confirmed by peer-review” content. No doubt, since preprint servers are outlets for “the distribution of preprints that are complete but unpublished manuscripts describing health research”, this has been a big step for scholarly research database providers.

The increased popularity of preprints has also inspired both scholarly publishers and other research stakeholders to start re-imagining how the scientific research peer-reviewed publishing process in general might be improved now that preprints are often in the mix. For example, the publishers of the open access journal eLife, who have been actively trying to bring on the evolution of publishing by experimenting with new publishing processes/models since their inception 10 years ago, have made some noteworthy changes related to preprints over the last two years that are worth paying attention to.

In a rather radical move, in July 2021, eLife began ONLY reviewing manuscripts that had already been posted as preprints (on bioRxiv or medRxiv), deciding to “focus its editorial process on producing public reviews to be posted alongside the preprints”. Fast-forward 18 months, and starting in January 2023, the eLife editorial process will altogether “eliminate accept/reject decisions after peer review and instead provide readers with richer and more nuanced assessments of articles”, which they will call “eLife assessments”. In short, every preprint that is sent out for review by eLife editors will be published as a “Reviewed Preprint”, after which the authors may choose to undertake revisions and will be involved in deciding which manuscript version will become the final version of record (ie. the final published version that will be indexed in scholarly databases).

Note: These are just the “headline” highlights – to learn more in-depth details about eLife’s new publishing process, be sure to read:

Questions? Ask Us at the MSK Library!

medRxiv – Preprint Server for Health Sciences

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First launched only about a year and a half ago in June 2019, preprint server medRxiv has enjoyed a super-sharp uptick in the number of manuscripts posted since February 2020, largely due to COVID-19 related submissions. medRxiv is not a journal publication or journal publisher – rather it is a preprint server or outlet for “the distribution of preprints that are complete but unpublished manuscripts describing health research”.

The pandemic has certainly put preprints on the fast-track to acceptance by the clinical research community, despite the fact that they are “preliminary reports of work that have not been certified by peer review”. As part of their COVID-19 response, the National Library of Medicine took the lead among database service providers and made the rather significant decision to index COVID-19 related preprints from specific preprint servers in PubMed, thereby enhancing their discoverability (and potential citations in new research) further.

That said – the debate about the benefits/challenges of preprints in the health sciences is still ongoing. However, it is becoming clear that preprints can no longer be ignored.

For a nice overview of where things stand with medRxiv (and other preprint servers) and where they may headed, be sure to check out the November 10, 2020 issue of JAMA, which includes these noteworthy papers:

Krumholz HM, Bloom T, Sever R, Rawlinson C, Inglis JR, Ross JS. Submissions and Downloads of Preprints in the First Year of medRxiv. JAMA. 2020;324(18):1903–1905. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.17529 

Flanagin A, Fontanarosa PB, Bauchner H. Preprints Involving Medical Research—Do the Benefits Outweigh the Challenges? JAMA. 2020;324(18):1840–1843. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.20674

Malički M, Jerončić A, ter Riet G, et al. Preprint Servers’ Policies, Submission Requirements, and Transparency in Reporting and Research Integrity Recommendations. JAMA. 2020;324(18):1901–1903. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.17195 

For more information on preprints – be sure to Ask Us at the MSK Library!