Preprints : Their Evolving Role in Science Communication

This briefing discusses the history and role of preprints in the biological sciences within the evolving open science landscape. The focus is on the explosive growth of preprints as a publishing model and the associated challenges of maintaining technical infrastructure and establishing sustainable business models. A preprint is a scholarly manuscript posted by the author(s) to a repository or platform to facilitate open and broad sharing of early work without any limitations to access. Currently there are more than 60 preprint servers representing different subject and geographical domains, each one evolving at a different based on adoption patterns and disciplinary ethos. This briefing will offer invaluable help to those who wish to understand this rapidly evolving publishing model.

Iratxe Puebla is Associate Director at ASAPbio, where she coordinates projects and community work in support of a productive use of preprints in the life sciences. Prior to ASAPbio, Iratxe worked in publishing for 16 years, where she developed a strong interest for open research and innovation in peer review.

Jessica Polka is Executive Director of ASAPbio, where she works to promote open and transparent research communication. Jessica performed postdoctoral research in the department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School following a PhD in Biochemistry from UCSF.

Oya Y. Rieger is a senior strategist on Ithaka S+R’s Libraries, Scholarly Communication, and Museums team where she spearheads projects that reexamine the curation and preservation missions of cultural heritage organizations and explore sustainability models for open scholarship. Prior to Ithaka S+R, Oya served as Associate University Librarian at Cornell University Library overseeing digital scholarship and scholarly communication programs, including the oversight of arXiv.org.