Life scientists’ experience with posting preprints during the Covid-19 pandemic
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21441942 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kristin Biesenbender (0000-0003-2497-5411, ZBW – Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft), Ralf Toepfer (0000-0002-2308-3676, ZBW – Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft), Isabella Peters (0000-0001-5840-0806, ZBW – Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 129 |
| Issue | 10 |
| Pages | 6407-6434 |
| Publication date | 2024-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Scientometrics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0138-9130 • E-ISSN: 1588-2861 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11192-024-04982-9 |
| OpenAlex | W4393987105 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 34 |
In the COVID-19 pandemic, it was much more critical for many life science researchers to rapidly disseminate research results—so they used preprints as upstream publication opportunities. This was rather new to the life sciences where preprint servers had only appeared as early as 2013. With a mixed-methods-study we examined this development and investigated whether preprint posting is a temporary phenomenon or the beginning of a cultural shift in publishing behavior in the life sciences. First, we conducted a survey of researchers who have posted COVID-19 related preprints. We investigated experiences with posting preprints during the COVID-19 pandemic, motivations for and concerns about posting preprints, the role of research institutions or funders, and the future of preprint publishing. Answers were grouped to compare differences between respondents’ gender, career stage, region of origin (global south or global north) and experience with posting preprints before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We further analyzed eight popular preprint repositories regarding the number of posted preprints and preprint characteristics, such as the number of authors and citations. Interestingly, survey and preprint server analysis have presented different, if not contradicting results: While the majority of surveyed researchers was willing to continue posting preprints, the numbers of preprints published, especially on servers for the life sciences, have stagnated or declined. Also, while certain preprints garnered substantial citations during the COVID-19 pandemic, this has not resulted in a significant shift in researchers’ publishing behavior, and the posting of preprints has not become a routine. We concluded that the sustainability of preprint publishing practices is more strongly influenced by disciplinary norms and practices than by external shocks as the COVID-19 pandemic
2019-20 coronavirus outbreak · Biology · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) · Data science · Infectious disease (medical specialty) · Library science · Pandemic · Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) · World Wide Web · Academic Publishing and Open Access · Computer Science · Medicine · scientometrics and bibliometrics research · Social Media in Health Education · Virology
The evolving role of preprints in the dissemination of Covid-19 research and their impact on the science communication landscape
Publishing of Covid-19 preprints in peer-reviewed journals, preprinting trends, public discussion and quality issues
The relationship between bioRxiv preprints, citations and altmetrics
Unequal effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on scientists
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |