A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
The promise of community-driven preprints in ecology and evolution
Authors: Noble, Daniel W. A.; Xirocostas, Zoe A.; Wu, Nicholas C.; Martinig, April Robin; Almeida, Rafaela A.; Bairos-Novak, Kevin R.; Balti, Heikel; Bertram, Michael G.; Bliard, Louis; Brand, Jack A.; Byrne, Ilha; Chan, Ying-Chi; Clink, Dena Jane; Corbel, Quentin; Correia, Ricardo A.; Crawford-Ash, Jordann; Culina, Antica; D'Bastiani, Elvira; Deme, Gideon G.; de Souza Leite, Melina; Dhellemmes, Felicie; Dimri, Shreya; Drobniak, Szymek M.; Elsy, Alexander D.; Everingham, Susan E.; Gascoigne, Samuel J. L.; Grainger, Matthew J.; Hossack, Gavin C.; Hovstad, Knut Anders; Ivimey-Cook, Edward R.; Jones, Matt Lloyd; Kacergyte, Ineta; Kuestner, Georg; Leibold, Dalton C.; Mair, Magdalena M.; Martin, Jake; Mizuno, Ayumi; Moodie, Iain R.; Moreau, David; O'Dea, Rose E.; Orr, James A.; Paquet, Matthieu; Parajuli, Rabindra; Pick, Joel L.; Pottier, Patrice; Purgar, Marija; Recio, Pablo; Roche, Dominique G.; Royaute, Raphael; Shafiei Sabet, Saeed; Segovia, Julio M. G.; Silva, Ines; Sanchez-Tojar, Alfredo; Soares, Bruno E.; Szabo, Birgit; Takola, Elina; Thore, Eli S. J.; Timilsina, Bishnu; van Dis, Natalie E.; Verberk, Wilco C. E. P.; Vriend, Stefan J. G.; Wild, Kristoffer H.; Williams, Coralie; Yang, Yefeng; Nakagawa, Shinichi; Lagisz, Malgorzata
Publisher: The Royal Society
Publishing place: LONDON
Publication year: 2025
Journal: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Journal name in source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Journal acronym: P ROY SOC B-BIOL SCI
Article number: 20241487
Volume: 292
Issue: 2039
Number of pages: 9
ISSN: 0962-8452
eISSN: 1471-2954
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.1487(external)
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.1487(external)
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/485131243(external)
Publishing preprints is quickly becoming commonplace in ecology and evolutionary biology. Preprints can facilitate the rapid sharing of scientific knowledge establishing precedence and enabling feedback from the research community before peer review. Yet, significant barriers to preprint use exist, including language barriers, a lack of understanding about the benefits of preprints and a lack of diversity in the types of research outputs accepted (e.g. reports). Community-driven preprint initiatives can allow a research community to come together to break down these barriers to improve equity and coverage of global knowledge. Here, we explore the first preprints uploaded to EcoEvoRxiv (n = 1216), a community-driven preprint server for ecologists and evolutionary biologists, to characterize preprint use in ecology, evolution and conservation. Our perspective piece highlights some of the unique initiatives that EcoEvoRxiv has taken to break down barriers to scientific publishing by exploring the composition of articles, how gender and career stage influence preprint use, whether preprints are associated with greater open science practices (e.g. code and data sharing) and tracking preprint publication outcomes. Our analysis identifies areas that we still need to improve upon but highlights how community-driven initiatives, such as EcoEvoRxiv, can play a crucial role in shaping publishing practices in biology.
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Funding information in the publication:
DWAN would also like to thank the Australian Research Council for a Future Fellowship (FT220100276). SN and ML are supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project Grants (DP210100812 and DP230101248). ARM is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (RGPIN-2019-05520 and RN513790-510021).
