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Last updated
Sciety is a web platform, created by eLife, where research is evaluated and curated by communities. It brings together public evaluations of preprints from many groups, so readers can find preprints that experts have already assessed. It is closely tied to the Publish, Review, Curate (PRC) publishing model, and most of its subject matter sits in biology and the life sciences.
What it is
Sciety is a discovery layer that sits beside preprint servers rather than replacing them. It does not host manuscripts. Instead it collects evaluations of preprints from participating groups, which its own description characterises as societies, journals and other groups of scientists that review preprints, and shows them next to the preprint they concern.
Its stated aim is “where research is evaluated and curated by the communities you trust.” Readers can search for preprints, browse the groups that publish evaluations, and share evaluated preprints. Because evaluations are attached to a preprint rather than to a journal decision, a reader can see what a given community thought of a manuscript without waiting for journal publication.
Who runs it and what it covers
Sciety was created by eLife, and the site carries a copyright notice for eLife Sciences Publications Ltd. The source code is public on GitHub at github.com/sciety/sciety under the MIT licence, and the repository describes a remote-first team that develops and maintains the platform.
On the groups page, Sciety lists 27 groups at the time of checking. They include:
- eLife, which evaluates preprints under its reviewed-preprint approach.
- Review Commons, a journal-independent peer review service.
- PREreview, a community-led open review group.
- Peer Community in groups, such as Evolutionary Biology, Ecology, Neuroscience and Zoology.
- Biophysics Colab, which curates biophysics preprints.
- preLights, PeerJ, GigaScience, ASAPbio crowd review and The Unjournal.
Many of these groups work in biology and medicine, but the list also includes groups in areas such as archaeology and paleontology. Check the live groups page for the current list, as groups are added over time.
How to search or use it
Sciety’s navigation includes Home, Search, Groups and Explore, with a Log In link in the header. The features described on the site are:
- Search: use the search function to look for preprints.
- Groups: open the Groups page to see every evaluating group and the preprints each has evaluated.
- Explore: use the Explore section to browse evaluated preprints.
- Share: Sciety is built so that scientists can share evaluated preprints with colleagues.
- Stay informed: the site offers a newsletter and a blog.
The sign-in option is the Log In link in the site header. For more detail, see the official About page.
Strengths and limits
- Strength, many communities in one place: evaluations from different groups can be found through a single site.
- Strength, open code: the platform’s source code is public under the MIT licence.
- Strength, attribution: each evaluation is presented under the group that produced it.
- Limit, scope: the platform shows evaluations only for preprints that a participating group has chosen to evaluate, so many preprints have none.
- Limit, not a repository: manuscripts stay on the preprint servers.
Alternatives
| Option | What it is | Difference from Sciety |
|---|---|---|
| Sciety | Platform created by eLife that collects evaluations from many groups | Aggregates across groups |
| Review Commons | Journal-independent peer review service; also appears on Sciety as a group | A review service, not an aggregator |
| PREreview | Community-led open review of preprints; also a Sciety group | Produces reviews rather than collecting them from other groups |
| Peer Community in | Communities that evaluate preprints; several are Sciety groups | Each community runs its own editorial process |
For related background, see the guide to systems biology, a field where preprints are common, and the Crossref DOI entry for how persistent identifiers work.
FAQ
What is Sciety?
A platform created by eLife where research is evaluated and curated by communities, bringing together evaluations of preprints from many groups.
Does Sciety host preprints?
No. It points to evaluated preprints and shows the evaluations from participating groups; the manuscripts stay on their preprint servers.
Is Sciety open source?
Yes. The code is public on GitHub under the MIT licence.
Which groups publish evaluations on Sciety?
Sciety lists 27 groups, including eLife, Review Commons, PREreview, several Peer Community in groups and Biophysics Colab. See the live groups page for the current list.
Sources
- Sciety, About: https://sciety.org/about (checked 2026-11-07)
- Sciety, Groups: https://sciety.org/groups (checked 2026-11-07)
- Sciety source repository: https://github.com/sciety/sciety (checked 2026-11-07)
