{"id":3680,"date":"2016-11-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pl-asapbio.local\/10-ways\/"},"modified":"2025-03-28T21:38:25","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T21:38:25","slug":"10-ways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asapbio.org\/10-ways\/","title":{"rendered":"10 ways to support preprints (besides posting one)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Preprinting<\/a> in biology is gaining steam<\/a>, but the process is still far from normal: the upload rate to all preprint servers is about 1% that of PubMed<\/a>. The most obvious way for individual scientists to help turn the tide is, of course, to preprint their own work. But given that it now takes longer to accumulate data for a paper<\/a>, this opportunity might not come up as often as we\u2019d like.<\/p>\n

So, what else can we do to promote the productive use of preprints in biology?<\/p>\n

1. Cite preprints<\/h2>\n

Many biologists, especially early career researchers, are concerned that their preprints won\u2019t be properly acknowledged.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to see some anecdata, here\u2019s a word cloud generated by digitally polling the audience at the 2016 EMBO Long Term (postdoctoral) Fellowship retreat in November, 2016 (39 devices responded). The prompt was, \u201cWhat is your biggest concern about preprints?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"embo-fellows-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While we have yet to hear an example of a preprint author getting scooped, the concern remains very real. To counter this fear, we need to set an expectation that work disclosed in preprints will be cited fairly when relevant to other preprints and journal articles. A commitment to fairly cite relevant preprints was included in a draft statement<\/a> from our first meeting<\/a>, and it was widely endorsed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2. Comment on a preprint<\/h2>\n

One of the greatest opportunities preprinting presents is the chance to receive more feedback on a paper. For example, Nikolai Slavov<\/a> describes how thoughtful, constructive feedback helped his paper improve:<\/p>\n