17 plus us 4
No one knows ASAPbio
Half the room know about preprints
Who are you?
4 PhD
8-10 postdocs
What are preprints?
- way to communicate science
- Get feedback
Are preprints the final article? An earlier stage?
Most of room have published a paper, 2 have posted a preprint
Benefits:
- gets work out quickly, more visibility sooner, get feedback before final publication
- You get citations too - they accumulate will paper is going through peer review (via the DOI)
Does it devalue novelty? Eg where you publish?
- Kenneth published nature neuroscience, two yrs after preprint, no problem. It was a method, lots of people were using it (how does the software actually work?)
- Explicit journal policies - at first Kenneth asked them but now not
How is a preprint structured? Is there a criteria for how it should be presented?
- depends on server
- NIH citing - has to be a complete manuscript (not an idea) but could be data paper or method as opposed to traditional
- Most people post as they submit
Funders have explicit policies now to allow citing preprints on applications
- not the same as publication but is for timing
- Implicit that not enough to say “in submission”
Is the understanding of the use of the preprint evolving?
- point when ready to publish
- Kenneth used it to communicate work that might not otherwise go to a journal (eg PhD student leaving, better than thesis)
Could it be a fake news problem?
- also happens in journal
- Scientific community works to rebut
- You should be sceptical regardless
- If you publish rubbish everyone sees it with your name on it
- Good to encourage skepticism, particularly if peer review isn’t working
- Craig venter paper lacking methods , Aviv regev paper lacking methods
Number of authors - suspicious if see one only.
- preprint servers have QCs and screening: “if we publish this, could it cause harm?” - we haven’t yet worked it out for clinical science. BioRXiv have scientists screening “is this science?”
- Similar situation to grad students going rogue
Clin sci - medrxiv just launched, expect a more stringent process, journals not yet ready for it
Is there a use of multiple servers?
- immaturity of situation, different features
- Depends on subject area
Can you publish negative findings?
- yes
- BioRXiv have section for contradictory findings and confirmatory findings as well as standard novel
Is there a standard for preprints? ASAPbio are trying to establish standard. Matters to funders as need to know directory of reputable preprint servers.
Cell press sneak peek preview - bad behaviour, a (free) subscription journal club on mendeley. Do funders want to know if preprints are open.
Advantage of preprints = rapid feedback but who reads them?
Word of mouth recommendations
There are subject lists by email
Twitter is huge
Impact of preprints - data of downloads as preprints versus impact of paper yet
PLoS genetics know have preprint editors, turns it into marketplace
You could tweet with a good video, etc versus asking others to tweet
- if you have a result you’re proud of, certainly shout about it
- If it’s less exciting, maybe choose to prioritise elsewhere
OA nature of preprints, why pay to publish OA?
- Researcher evaluation
- Publisher adds value with VOR
- Funder policy is that you need to pay for OA
- You should be asking for transparency in costs
- Wellcome open research is an alternative
- Do we need journals if future is that preprints + peer review - do we need a journal to put a stamp on it?
- Room seemed to like idea of preprint as marketplace for journals