The most common cause of a bioRxiv login failure is entering an email address that does not match the one bioRxiv holds on file — not a broken account. If the manuscript-processing system rejects your credentials, a password reset, an ORCID sign-in, or a check of your institutional single sign-on session will resolve the great majority of cases within minutes, without needing to contact support.
bioRxiv is a free preprint server for the biological sciences, operated by openRxiv, a non-profit organisation founded by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Author access runs through a separate manuscript-processing system at submit.biorxiv.org, which is where most bioRxiv login problems, submission timeouts, and search-visibility questions actually originate.
- Why does bioRxiv login fail?
- Which bioRxiv access route should I use?
- How do I fix a bioRxiv submission-portal timeout?
- Why doesn’t my preprint show up in bioRxiv search yet?
- Answer-first: common bioRxiv author questions
- What this means for authors and institutions
Why does bioRxiv login fail?
A bioRxiv login failure is almost always a credentials mismatch, not a system fault. The manuscript-processing system checks the email address against the one associated with your account correspondence, and a single character difference — a typo, an old institutional address, or a personal address used instead of a work one — is enough to block entry.
- Wrong email address: use the exact address that received your original bioRxiv correspondence, not any address you happen to check first.
- Forgotten password: use the “I have forgotten my password” link on the login page at submit.biorxiv.org rather than guessing repeatedly, which can trigger a temporary lockout.
- Browser cache or cookies: a stale session cookie can cause a silent redirect loop; clearing cache or trying a private browsing window isolates the problem quickly.
- No account yet: first-time submitters must register a new account before any login attempt will succeed.
bioRxiv does not require an institutional email address for registration or submission. A personal address works equally well, though correspondence sent to an old institutional inbox after a job move is one of the most frequent hidden causes of “my account doesn’t exist” reports.
Which bioRxiv access route should I use?
bioRxiv supports three distinct sign-in routes, and mixing them up is a common source of confusion. Choosing the wrong route for your situation, rather than a genuine outage, explains most repeat login failures.
| Access route | Best for | What it requires | Common failure point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Email + password | Standard authors registered directly at submit.biorxiv.org | Registered account email matching correspondence records | Using an unregistered or outdated email address |
| ORCID iD sign-in | Authors who linked an ORCID identifier to their bioRxiv profile | An active, authorised ORCID connection | ORCID authorisation revoked or never completed |
| Institutional Shibboleth (SSO) | Authors at participating institutions | A live campus single sign-on session | Expired SSO session or cached campus login |
| Password reset link | Anyone who has forgotten credentials | Access to the registered email inbox | Reset email filtered into spam or a promotions folder |
If one route fails repeatedly, switching to a different route — for example, trying ORCID sign-in instead of retyping a forgotten password — often resolves access faster than repeated retries on the same method.
How do I fix a bioRxiv submission-portal timeout?
Submission-portal timeouts usually occur during file upload, not during login itself. Large manuscript files, unstable connections, or an incomplete prior submission left “in progress” in the Author Area can all cause the portal to stall or reject a new attempt.
- Check for an unfinished submission first. An incomplete draft sitting in the Author Area can block new actions until it is completed or withdrawn.
- Convert TeX and LaTeX files to PDF before upload; bioRxiv requires PDF, Word, or WordPerfect files for text, since raw TeX source is not accepted.
- Split very large supplementary files where possible, since upload timeouts scale with file size and connection stability.
- Retry from a wired connection or a different network if a university VPN or proxy is interrupting the upload session.
There is no fee to submit a manuscript to bioRxiv, so a stalled upload is a technical issue, not a payment or access-tier problem. Screened preprints typically post within 72 hours of a completed submission, though screening can take longer over a weekend, a holiday, or when a submission requires extra scrutiny.
Why doesn’t my preprint show up in bioRxiv search yet?
A newly posted preprint appears on bioRxiv as a PDF first. Full-text HTML and XML versions — the formats used for text mining and some search indexing — typically take 24 to 48 hours longer to generate after the PDF itself has posted. This conversion lag is the single most overlooked explanation for “my paper isn’t searchable yet” reports, and it is distinct from any login or account fault.
External indexing adds a second, separate delay layer on top of bioRxiv’s own site search:
- Google, Google Scholar, and Crossref index preprints on their own crawl schedules, independent of bioRxiv’s internal posting time.
- Semantic Scholar, Europe PMC, and the Preprint Citation Index (linked to Web of Science) each run separate ingestion pipelines.
- PubMed indexing applies only to preprints reporting NIH-funded research, and follows NIH’s own timetable, not bioRxiv’s.
Authors searching for their own preprint immediately after posting should check the direct DOI link or the bioRxiv site search first, since third-party search engines can lag by days rather than hours.
Answer-first: common bioRxiv author questions
How do I submit on bioRxiv?
Authors register a free account at submit.biorxiv.org, then use the Author Area to upload a manuscript as a single PDF or as separate text and figure files for automated conversion. There is no submission fee. All submissions pass through a screening step before posting, which normally completes within 72 hours.
Why is bioRxiv taking so long?
Most preprints post within 72 hours of submission, but screening can take longer over a weekend or public holiday, or when a manuscript needs extra scrutiny for content, scope, or plagiarism checks. A submission stuck well beyond this window usually indicates a screening flag rather than a technical fault.
Can I withdraw a bioRxiv preprint?
Authors cannot delete a posted preprint because it carries a permanent, citable DOI. Instead, authors submit a withdrawal statement through “Submit a Revision” in the Author Area; bioRxiv then posts a withdrawal notice and adds a “Withdrawn” watermark while keeping the original version accessible via the article’s Info/History tab.
Who owns bioRxiv?
bioRxiv is operated by openRxiv, a non-profit organisation founded by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and funded by a consortium including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and several universities. This non-profit, multi-institutional governance is a distinct fact worth noting when assessing bioRxiv’s independence as scholarly infrastructure.
What this means for authors and institutions
Most reported bioRxiv access problems are configuration issues rather than platform outages: mismatched email addresses, expired institutional SSO sessions, unlinked ORCID connections, or misunderstood conversion timelines. Research administrators supporting first-time submitters can prevent most support tickets by confirming, before submission day, which email address a researcher registered with and which sign-in route their institution actually supports.
As preprint screening and indexing pipelines add further automated checks, the gap between “posted” and “fully searchable everywhere” is likely to persist. Authors and institutional research offices should treat the 24-to-48-hour full-text conversion window and the separate, slower third-party indexing timelines as expected behaviour, not a fault to escalate. Understanding author responsibilities for posted content, including accuracy and originality obligations, remains part of good authorship practice throughout the submission and revision process.