Adjusting the use of preprints to accommodate the ‘quality’ factor in response to COVID-19

Abstract

Preprints are typically crude precursors of peer-reviewed papers that are placed almost immediately, save for some superficial screening, on an open-access repository to allow the information to reach readers quickly, circumventing the long-drawn process typically associated with processing in peer-reviewed journals. For early-career researchers who might be enthusiastic about obtaining some recognition for their efforts, or wanting open and public input about their work, preprints are certainly a useful publication choice. However, if health-related data and information have not been carefully scrutinised, they may pose a risk and may even serve as a source of public health misinformation. Surging growth and competition among preprint servers, coupled with a massive volume of COVID-19-related preprints, mainly on bioRxiv and medRxiv , as well as select indexing now being tested on PubMed, suggests that preprints are being increasingly used in the biomedical sciences. Stronger and more robust ethical policies are needed to screen preprints before they are released to the public, and even if this implies a slight delay in publication, it may increase academics' trust in this form of scientific information and communication. Clear and stringent ethical policies need to be urgently introduced by ethics groups such as COPE and the ICMJE, whose many member journals allow preprints to be posted before traditional peer review. Stringent ethical guidelines that treat misconduct equally in preprints and peer-reviewed papers will boost the integrity of academic publishing.

The use and acceptability of preprints in health and social care settings: a scoping review

“…Although preprints have been established in some disciplines for more than 20 years, the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the rapid progress of preprints, both for their value and their shortcomings. (8,(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34) Preprints are considered to lack scientific integrity, credibility and quality, and there is still reservation among editors, publishers, journals and researchers about the role of preprints and their contribution to science. (6,30,(35)(36)(37)(38)(39) The evidence provided several process issues related to why preprints lack quality, screening, or quality checks during the submission of a manuscript to a preprint server.…”

“…(8,(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34) Preprints are considered to lack scientific integrity, credibility and quality, and there is still reservation among editors, publishers, journals and researchers about the role of preprints and their contribution to science. (6,30,(35)(36)(37)(38)(39) The evidence provided several process issues related to why preprints lack quality, screening, or quality checks during the submission of a manuscript to a preprint server. (28,40,41) It was reported that only three preprint servers (Research Square, bioRxiv and medRxiv) check if the content contains unfounded medical claims.…”

“…(27,44) The lack of understanding of the role of preprints in the research process could equate to potential harm and have immediate impact on medical and clinical practice, including patients. (8,21,27,28,30,41,43,(45)(46)(47) Policy decisions may also be based on research where flaws have not yet been corrected as they typically would be during the peer review process. (26,48) For researchers, the evidence suggested a high level of concern around the risks of intellectual 'scooping' (2,11,12,44,(49)(50)(51) and for some disciplines or fields of research, rapid dissemination of results should not be prioritised over quality or scrutiny.…”

Indian COVID-19 Preprints Submissions in bioRxiv and medRxiv Preprint Servers

“…Preprints were common in arXiv server populated by physics, mathematics, computer science, but COVID-19 pandemic has sped up the rate at which scholars from other disciplines deposit their contents into other servers before review process takes place(Majumder & Mandl, 2020). This is true despite preprints are regarded as the crude precursors of peer-reviewed papers , they need proper scrutiny and assurance of stringent adherence to ethical policies prior to releasing them to audience for public consumption (Teixeira da Silva, 2021). Careful scrutiny of the high increase of preprints in the domain of biomedicine, COVID-19 pandemic has consolidated the rise of using these information resources to better understand the pattern of progressing of the virus and need to develop a vaccine (Majumder & Mandl, 2020).…”

Bibliometric and Altmetric Analysis of Retracted Articles on COVID-19

“…Moreover, a lesser known concern is the preprint publication of false research that has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. 7 Preprints are typically unrefined pre-publications of peer-reviewed papers that are placed almost immediately after some superficial screening. This allows information to reach readers quickly while bypassing the long-drawn process required in officially publishing through peer-reviewed journals.…”