The World of Academic Preprints: Promises and Pitfalls

Preprints have been a part of scholarly communication for more than 30 years now. This review looks at the origin, evolution, and future direction in the field of publishing research work in the form of preprints. A detailed electronic database of Medline (Via PubMed), Embase (via Ovid SP), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (for trials only), ctri.nic.in, clinicaltrials.gov, global health, and Google Scholar were searched using a Boolean search strategy: (preprints). Preprints have been linked with reduced time of turnover between completion of research work and being available to stakeholders across the globe. Current data suggest that visibility for peer-reviewed publications is significantly higher when they were previously posted as preprints, as measured by increased citations and altmetrics. Publishing in the form of preprints is not totally devoid of financial burden on the authors. Currently, a significant fraction of preprints do not get published in indexed journals following the standard peer-review process. The general community may have a limited understanding of the preprint publications. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses usually avoid including data from preprints in their analysis. A lot of heterogeneity among indexed journals with regard to the consideration of manuscripts for publication, which have already been published as preprints. Preprints are here to stay and will be increasingly used in the field of scholarly communication, science communication, and journalism. There remains an urgent need for standardized strategies for the publication of preprints and increasing awareness in society about the benefits as well as the limitations of preprints.