Research Square, known for their multidisciplinary preprint platform, reached 20,000 preprints just 18 months after its launch in 2018. Having recently celebrated 10,000 preprints in Dec. 2019, the platform doubled the number of preprints in the last 4 months and is effectively the world’s fastest growing preprint platform.
Research Square hosts preprints from all fields and is currently the #4 source of research on COVID-19 by volume of articles. Launched in Oct. 2018, the platform first began accepting submissions through In Review, a journal-integrated preprint service developed in partnership with Springer Nature. In that time, it’s seen a surge in the number of preprints largely due to a 35% opt in rate via in Review and a growing number of authors directly submitting to the platform.
The platform now hosts 360+ preprints related to SARS-CoV-2 and many authors are using Twitter and other forms of social media to discuss research findings. Reaching 20,000 preprints in such a short time is an important milestone and an indicator of researchers’ changing behavior around how they publish their findings. During an outbreak, preprints provide an alternative for researchers to rapidly share their results when the greatest number of people could benefit from their findings.
Amye Kenall, VP of Publishing and Product at Research Square, describes the changing preprint landscape.
“While preprinting is still not the norm among researchers, the current climate is creating a monumental shift in the way researchers share and build on their findings. In the past 3 months we have doubled the amount of preprints on the platform, and direct submissions to the platform have increased by more than 400%. We are excited to continue supporting researchers during this critical time.”
In addition to preprints, Research Square provides author services from AJE such as editing and formatting, as well as videos to help researchers better communicate their findings. Starting next month, preprint authors will be able to purchase badges to certify their preprint and demonstrate to readers that it meets established standards in scientific reporting.
For more information, please visit www.researchsquare.com.
