Abstract
Preprints are manuscripts posted on a public server that do not yet have formal certification of peer review from a scholarly journal. The increasingly prominent online repositories for these preprints provide a means of rapidly making scientific results accessible to all with an Internet connection. We here describe the catalysis and subsequent development of a successful new process to solicit preprints for consideration for publication in Proceedings B. We present preliminary comparisons between the focal topics and geographic origin of submitting authors of papers submitted in the traditional (non-solicited) route versus solicited preprints. This analysis suggests that the solicitation process seems to be achieving one of the primary goals of the preprint solicitation endeavour: broadening the scope of the papers featured in Proceedings B. We also use an informal survey of the early-career scientists that are or have been involved with the Preprint Editorial Team to find that these scientists view their participation positively with respect to career development and knowledge in their field. The inclusion of early-career researchers from across the world in the preprint solicitation process could also translate into social justice benefits by providing a career-building opportunity and a window into the publishing process for young scientists.
Highlights
Preprints are manuscripts posted on a public server that do not yet—and might never [1]—have the formal certification of peer review from a scholarly journal
Our model has been successful enough to be adopted by other journals (e.g. Open Biology), who are using a virtually identical approach to identify and solicit promising preprints for submission
We used comparisons of the focal topics of papers submitted via the traditional route versus papers solicited via our preprint team to provide a preliminary indication that we might be succeeding in terms of increasing the topical diversity of papers submitted to Proceedings B
Summary
Preprints are manuscripts posted on a public server that do not yet—and might never [1]—have the formal certification of peer review from a scholarly journal. Preprints allow scholars to make research findings freely and immediately available to a global audience, providing a partial solution to ongoing challenges associated with peer review such as delays in publication [2] and reviewer bias ([3,4]; reviewed in [5,6,7]). The widespread acceptance of preprints required global availability of the Internet, the concomitant maturation of information technology, and willingness of journals to accept papers originally posted as preprints (reviewed in [6,10]). Some researchers even publish preprints as a ‘final product’, with no intention to submit for formal peer review and publication [1]
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