PrePrints FAQs

Have unanswered questions about preprints?
 
 
» What is a PrePrint?
» What constitutes a PrePrint and when should I submit my work as a PrePrint?
» Why do people use PrePrints? What is their value?
» Why should I post my research as a PrePrint?
» Do funders/job search committees give credit for PrePrints?
» Why publish a paper if the work is already a PrePrint?
» How does Syllaba Press International Inc. preprint posting process work?
» Can I revise my PrePrint?
» What if I want to update my PrePrint?
» Can a PrePrint be removed?
» Can PrePrints be cited in a journal publication?
» Why are PrePrints posted by Syllaba Press International Inc. under a CC BY license?
» Will posting a PrePrint lead to my research being scooped?
» Can I submit my research to another journal if my PrePrinted manuscript is rejected by a Syllaba Press International Inc. journal?
» What happens to my preprint when my manuscript is published?
» What is the embargo policy for PrePrints?
» If my PrePrint receives feedback will this be seen by Syllaba Press International Inc.?

What is a PrePrint?
  A PrePrint is a complete scientific manuscript that is uploaded by the authors to a public server. The PrePrint contains complete data and methodologies; it is often the same manuscript being submitted to a journal. After a brief quality-control inspection to ensure that the work is scientific in nature, the author’s manuscript is posted within a day or so on the Web without peer review and can be viewed without charge by anyone in the world. Based upon feedback and/or new data, new versions of your PrePrint can be submitted; however, prior PrePrint versions are also retained and cannot be removed. PrePprints allow scientists to directly control the dissemination of their work to the world-wide scientific community.

In most cases, the same work posted as PrePrint also is submitted for peer review at a journal. Thus, PrePrints (rapid, but not validated through peer-review) and journal publication (slow, but providing validation using peer-review) work in parallel as a communication system for scientific research.
 

What constitutes a PrePrint and when should I submit my work as a PrePrint?
  A PrePrint is usually the same manuscript that is submitted to a journal, although other types of information that are currently difficult to publish (e.g. negative results) could be transmitted.
 

Why do people use preprints? What is their value?
  Because journal publication is slow and the peer review process unpredictable, PrePrints provide a mechanism for rapidly communicating research with the scientific community. This is good for science overall, since disseminating new knowledge or techniques leads to new discoveries. However, there are tangible benefits to the scientist who uses PrePrints, a subset of which are described below. Many of these points are also articulated in a commentary in Science Magazine (May 20, 2016).
  • Evidence of productivity and accomplishment. A PrePrint provides funding agencies and promotion and hiring committees with public evidence of your most recent accomplishments, which is pertinent for their decision-making.
  • Visibility of work. Promotes invitation to meetings (meeting organizers are often looking for recent work not published in journals).
  • Feedback on your work. You can send the link of your public PrePrint to fellow scientists and ask for comments. Sometimes scientists might contact you through email or through commentary on the server. These type of interactions and feedback can help you to improve your final journal publication beyond the two or three anonymous scientists who review your paper for a journal.
  • Establishing priority of discoveries and ideas. PrePrints are the main mechanism for disseminating work and establishing priority in the science.
  • Potential for developing new collaborations earlier. Once your technique or results are in the public domain, new interactions can occur which can advance your work.
  • Open Access of your work across the globe. Your research is made available to all scientists without requirement of subscription or other journal-imposed pay wall.
 

Why should I post my research as a PrePrint?
  There are a number of reasons to post work as a PrePrint including (but not limited to):
  • PrePrints allow rapid communication of research to the scientific community.
  • Comments from the wider community can improve a manuscript prior to submitting to a journal, or while making revisions.
  • Authors can stake primacy and intellectual claim to methods, results and ideas contained within a paper.
  • PrePrints are citable and can accrue citations while the research simultaneously goes through the peer review process.
 

Do funders/job search committees give credit for PrePrints?
  We are tracking the policies of both funders (including NIH, HHMI, Wellcome, MRC, HFSP, CZI, CIHR, Simons, EMBO, Helmsley, Cancer Research UK, & BBSRC) and universities that have considered PrePrints in assessment processes (including UC Davis, NYU, UCSC, UT Austin, and the Rockefeller University).
 

Why publish a paper if the work is already a PrePrint?

  In the present day reward system, journal publications play a major role in funding and promotions. For such reasons, the vast majority of research-paper PrePrints (ie, not meeting proceedings, reviews, etc) are also submitted to journals, even though work is one’s field is generally always seen and discussed first as a PrePrint.

However, journals provide many services for improving and validating work, which are labor-intensive:
  • Journals provide an infrastructure for peer review and quality control. Journal-based peer review remains the present-day gold standard of validation, despite its shortcomings.
  • Visibility of work is promoted by broad journal readership or added journal features (highlights, perspectives, etc).
  • A paper can improve through revisions and editorial corrections.
  • A journal can provide assurance that the authors have complied with standards of the field for database depositions, conflict of interest disclosures, and other issues.
 

How does Syllaba Press International Inc. PrePrint posting process work?
  When submitting research to Syllaba Press International Inc., authors are offered the opportunity to “opt in” to having Syllaba Press International Inc. post their manuscript and figures to our local preprints servers. Syllaba Press International Inc. will then screen these according to posting criteria and those that pass screening, are sent directly to our local preprints servers and will be publicly available as a preprint in a few days.

Syllaba Press International Inc. are only able to post preprints at the point of initial submission to a Syllaba Press International Inc. journals. Unfortunately, we are unable to send revised manuscripts or transferred submissions to others preprints servers.
 

Can I revise my PrePrint?
  Yes, you are encouraged to update your PrePrint with the most up-to-date version as your manuscript evolves and improves.
 

What if I want to update my PrePrint?
  Most PrePrint servers allow new versions of the manuscript to be uploaded. Thus, you can update your paper based upon new input received from the community or through a journal-based peer review process. However, the original and all subsequent versions of the paper are retained and can be viewed. Most journals will not allow the final copy edited, journal-approved version to be uploaded. Please check the exact policy of the journal to which you submitted your work.
 

Can a PrePrint be removed?
  Once a PrePrint is publicly available it becomes a permanent part of the scientific record and cannot be removed. However, it is possible to revise the manuscript with the most recent version at any time prior to publication in a journal. When the final article is published the two versions are linked, providing insight into the evolution of your manuscript.
 

Can PrePrints be cited in a journal publication?
  Yes, preprints are a citable part of the scientific record. All preprints are given a Persistent Identifier of Uniforms Resources (Cirex-iD), which should be used when adding to the reference list of a manuscript. Please see the individual journal Submission Guidelines pages for details on how to format preprints as references.
 

Why are PrePrints posted by Syllaba Press International Inc. under a CC BY license?
  Syllaba Press International Inc. applies a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license to all our published articles, and preprints posted through Syllaba Press International Inc. are no different. Creative Commons licenses and legal tools help break down the barriers to sharing by communicating rights and permissions up front. A permissive license such as CC BY allows innovative reuse of content and signals early intent regarding how much a researcher wants to share their work.

This simple, 1-page infographic can be helpful in explaining at a glance he differences in licensing choices for preprints.
 

Will posting a PrePrint lead to my research being scooped?
  Being scooped due to preprinting your research is unlikely, and indeed there is likely be to greater protection and overall fairness in establishing credit for work by submitting both to a preprint server (for fair and timely disclosure) and to a journal (for validation by peer review), as discussed below.
 

Can I submit my research to another journal if my PrePrinted manuscript is rejected by a Syllaba Press International Inc. journal?
  The vast majority of journals accept submissions that have already been posted on a preprint server, however there are a few that do not. There is a list of academic journals by preprint policy available on Wikipedia, but please note that we cannot guarantee the accuracy of this page.
 

What happens to my PrePrint when my manuscript is published?
  Once your article has been published, the preprint will automatically display a link to published version at the journal where is was accepted. Manuscripts published by Syllaba Press International Inc. will also have a link back to the preprint so it is possible to view previous iterations of the work.
 
What is the embargo policy for PrePrints?
  Syllaba Press International Inc. does not embargo work that has been made available as a PrePrint. For more information, please see Syllaba Press International Inc. embargo policy page. We advise authors and institutions against seeking publicity and press coverage at the preprint stage, and recommend that press releases are distributed at or after the time of publication of the article.
 

If my PrePrint receives feedback will this be seen by Syllaba Press International Inc.?
  If the feedback is relevant to the scientific content of the manuscript, and the manuscript is under consideration at Syllaba Press International Inc. journals, we will pass the comments to the editor handling peer review, who may wish to use them when making their decision.

If you have any other questions regarding to PrePrints of Syllaba Press International Inc., please email us at <preprints@syllabapress.us> or visit <http://preprints.syllabapress.us
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