Nature Research authors the latest to benefit from free integrated preprint sharing service
In Review, the innovative service which integrates early sharing and increased transparency in peer review with the journal submission and peer review process, is being made available for the first time to authors submitting primary research to Nature Research titles. From today authors submitting to two Nature Research titles, Nature Communications and Nature Biomedical Engineering, will be able to utilise In Review to realise the benefits of early sharing.
As with the other In Review-enabled Springer Nature journals, authors submitting to these two titles will have the opportunity to opt-in to the integrated service. This will enable them to easily cite and share their work while it is still under review, as well as benefit from transparency into the peer review progress with real time updates on a private dashboard. If the paper is rejected after peer review, all information about imprint and peer review status will be removed with the preprint continuing to be available on the platform.
Under Consideration, introduced by Nature Communications in 2017 to provide visibility for preprints being considered by the journal, will be phased out. Given the multidisciplinary scope of the journal, In Review, by offering them the opportunity to automatically share their work as a preprint on submission, will provide better support to authors. Due to its integration with the journal’s peer review systems, In Review offers added functionality allowing greater transparency for authors into the progress of their manuscript’s peer review.
Alison Mitchell, Chief Journals Officer, said:
“Springer Nature receives more than one million submissions a year from authors all around the world, publishing well over 300,000 papers across a huge range of disciplines. We want to champion the needs of the research community by helping researchers improve their draft articles and see early sharing as an important way for this to happen.
“While we support the many community-led platforms which have grown up, Research Square’s multi-disciplinary platform provides every Springer Nature author regardless of academic discipline with a route, should they wish, to sharing their research as a preprint. I am delighted that this service is now available on Nature Communications with its focus on and heritage of transparency and openness, and look forward to it being available in the coming months on all Nature Research journals publishing primary research.”
Elisa De Ranieri, Editor in Chief of Nature Communications, said:
“With In Review, Nature Communications is able to build on our commitment to early sharing and early discovery by supporting our authors with a preprint sharing service. In addition, the transparency offered to authors by In Review builds on Nature Communications’ commitment to transparency in peer review.
“Being able to support our authors in this way helps them to gain from the many benefits of preprints including establishing priority of findings, citing a preprint in funding and other applications as evidence of progress, improving work through community input, gaining visibility and early citation. However, if authors wish to post their preprint on a different platform we will of course support them in doing this.”
Springer Nature has been a strong supporter of early sharing and actively encourages its authors to post their early manuscripts as preprints. In 2018 it launched an innovative new service, In Review, which integrated early sharing and increased transparency with its journal submission process. In Review, developed in partnership with Springer Nature by Research Square, of which Springer Nature is an investor, is currently available to Springer Nature authors submitting to 290 of its journals.
