Preprints & Publication Formats
This cluster covers publication formats that sit outside or alongside the traditional peer-reviewed, version-of-record journal article. The largest of these is the preprint: a manuscript posted to a public server before or during peer review, allowing rapid dissemination ahead of formal publication. It also covers structured alternatives to the standard article format, most notably Registered Reports, in which study design and analysis plans are peer-reviewed and provisionally accepted before data collection or results are known. ASAPbio, a scientist-driven initiative focused on preprints and open communication in the life sciences, produces best-practice guidance on how preprints should be posted, screened, versioned, and linked to their eventual published form — guidance that many journals and funders now reference in their own preprint policies. The Center for Open Science maintains the Registered Reports framework and works with participating journals to implement it, aiming to reduce publication bias by evaluating research questions and methods independently of results. For a research administrator, this cluster addresses practical questions that don't arise with conventional articles: how preprints are screened for basic quality without full peer review, how they should be cited and credited, how funder and journal policies treat prior preprint posting, and what infrastructure (screening, versioning, licensing) preprint servers use. It also covers how Registered Reports and similar formats change the review timeline and the editorial decision points involved. This connects to peer-review content on review models, and to open-access content on the licensing terms under which preprints and alternative formats are typically shared.
Guides
What Is medRxiv? The Clinical and Health Sciences Preprint Server Explained
medRxiv is a free, open-access preprint server for clinical and health research, launched in June 2019 by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Yale School of Medicine, and BMJ, and operated by the independent non-profit openRxiv since March 2025. This guide covers its stricter screening requirements, licensing, DOI/versioning, and how it relates to journal publication.
What Is ChemRxiv? The Chemistry Preprint Server Explained
ChemRxiv is chemistry’s dedicated preprint server: free to post, DOI-assigning, screened but not peer-reviewed, and governed jointly by ACS, RSC, GDCh, CCS, and CSJ on Cambridge’s Open Engage platform.
What Is bioRxiv? The Life Sciences Preprint Server Explained
bioRxiv is a free, open-access preprint server for the life sciences, founded at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in 2013 and operated by the independent non-profit openRxiv since March 2025. This guide covers its screening process, licensing, DOI/versioning, and how it relates to journal publication.
What Is EarthArXiv? The Earth Science Preprint Server Explained
EarthArXiv is a free, community-run preprint repository for the earth sciences. Founded in 2017, it moved off OSF in 2020 and now runs on the Janeway platform hosted by the California Digital Library.
Towards Responsible Publishing: cOAlition S’s Proposal, Explained
cOAlition S’s Towards Responsible Publishing proposal envisions researchers posting work openly first, with peer review happening after. Here’s what it actually proposes, what the community consultation found, and its current (non-mandatory) status.
Publish, Review, Curate (PRC): ASAPbio’s Framework for Preprint-First Publishing
PRC is ASAPbio’s term for publishing models where research is posted openly first, reviewed publicly afterward, and then curated — used to describe initiatives like eLife’s Reviewed Preprints and Peer Community In.
Preprint Version Numbers (v1, v2, v3): Citation and Tracking Across Servers
How arXiv, bioRxiv, medRxiv, SSRN, and Preprints.org number preprint versions, whether each version gets its own DOI, and how to cite the exact version you read rather than whichever version happens to be current.
Peer Community In (PCI): How Free, Recommendation-Based Preprint Review Works
Peer Community In (PCI) is a free, nonprofit network of scientist-run communities that peer reviews preprints and issues citable, DOI-bearing recommendations — independent of any single journal, with an optional diamond-OA journal (PCJ) for authors who want a journal publication too.
Preprint Servers Explained: What They Are, Why Researchers Use Them, and How They Work
What a preprint server is, why researchers use one, how submission and screening actually work (and how that differs from peer review), how major servers like arXiv, bioRxiv, and SSRN compare, how DOIs/versioning work, and how a preprint links to its eventual published version.
5 Disadvantages of Preprints Every Author Should Weigh
Preprints offer speed and an early priority date, but they carry real trade-offs. Here are five genuine disadvantages authors should weigh — scooping risk, no peer review at posting, citation/version confusion, journal policy variance, and media misinterpretation — with primary-source guidance on managing each.
Handling Material Previously Posted to a Preprint Server: COPE’s Position for Editors
How COPE’s position guidance directs journal editors to evaluate, disclose, and manage manuscripts that were previously posted to a preprint server.
Preprint Server Policies: Avoiding a “Prior Publication” Conflict Before Journal Submission
What actually counts as prior publication when a preprint is already posted, how ICMJE and major publishers (Springer Nature, Elsevier, PLOS) treat it, and a checklist to verify your target journal’s policy before submitting.
Registered Reports: How Preregistered Study Plans Get Accepted Before Data Collection
A guide to the Registered Reports publishing format: Stage 1 protocol review, in-principle acceptance, Stage 2 results review, which journals offer it, and how it differs from plain preregistration.
How to Cite a Preprint: APA, MLA, Chicago, and Vancouver Format
A preprint citation needs elements a journal-article citation doesn’t: the preprint server as source, a non-peer-review marker, and a version/date. Here’s the correct format in APA, MLA, Chicago, and Vancouver style, plus what ICMJE requires.
How to Submit to bioRxiv or medRxiv: A Submission Walkthrough
What bioRxiv is, plus a step-by-step walkthrough for submitting a manuscript to bioRxiv or medRxiv: screening, license choices, and how a posted preprint connects to journal submission.
Preregistration of a Study Protocol: What It Is and How to Do It
How preregistration works: locking hypotheses, methods, and an analysis plan before data collection, the major platforms (OSF Registries, AsPredicted, ClinicalTrials.gov), how it relates to Registered Reports, and why funders and journals increasingly require or reward it.
How to Choose a Preprint Server: Criteria for Authors and Research Offices
Selecting a preprint server is a different question from defining a preprint. This guide covers the operational criteria that matter: ICMJE’s platform standards, licensing, and how preprint DOIs and ORCID metadata connect to a research office’s CRIS as a paper moves toward its published version.
