Get involved!
There are many ways of engaging with preprints, from communities you can join to direct actions you can take.
We’ll explore some of the best options here.
- Post a preprint
- Cite preprints
- Read preprints
- Review prepints
- Discuss preprints on social media or locally
- Join a preprint community
- Create a preprint review club
Preprint communities we (enthusiastically) recommend
PREreview is possibly the best platform for community (& equity) focussed preprint peer reviewing. Join as an individual or group. Better still, the PREreview slack is the place for preprint discussions, information and news.
preLights, an initiative from the Company of Biologists, offers a great route into preprinting, particularly for ECRs. This is a preprint highlighting service that also enables you to develop and demonstrate non-academic writing skills.
Easy actions to take
Review preprints
Convert journal clubs or create a preprint review club
Other actions
Discuss preprints on social media
Add a line to your email signature
Add a slide to your talks
Advocate for preprint recognition
Educate & learn more
Join training courses to learn more
Incorporate preprints into your teaching
Create courses about publishing that include preprints
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I include preprints in my teaching?
You could include them simply by mentioning preprints or have slides about academic publishing and where preprints fit in. Some courses use preprint peer review as an assessment step to help teach students the full publishing process.
Do you provide resources for including preprinting in teaching?
Yes. We have many available already but are always working on more resources to get preprinting embedded into teaching
How do you choose which communities to recommend?
We only recommend communities that align with our values and have a track record of adhering to their values and putting people-first. We have first hand experience with the communities we recommend and are not paid or otherwise encouraged to recommend any community. If we do not recommend a community this is because, in our professional opinion, those communities do not adhere to their values or behave appropriately.
These recommended communities are specific to preprints, although there are many other great groups in the wider open science space.
Are there any training courses you’d recommend joining?
We’re currently working on producing our own training courses for preprints and more. However, for an excellent external course on preprint peer review, we recommend the PREreview Champions program, which runs yearly. Check their website for more information.
Are there communities you don’t recommend?
Yes. The preprint landscape does have actors who do not adhere to their stated values, are working for the minimal possible change and are not working in the best interests of researchers. We’re happy to discuss privately for now but may also update this publicly in the future.
How would I benefit from advocating for preprints?
By getting involved with preprints you receive training, expand your network and increase your own profile and visibility. You also advance science, work towards making academia a better place and benefit from a more efficient process. By posting preprints, you can gain more citations and attention than not posting preprints.
Rippling Ideas 