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The promise of community-driven preprints in ecology and evolution

Noble, Daniel W. A. LU ; Xirocostas, Zoe A. ; Wu, Nicholas C. ; Martinig, April Robin ; Almeida, Rafaela A. ; Bairos-Novak, Kevin R. ; Balti, Heikel ; Bertram, Michael G. ; Bliard, Louis and Brand, Jack A. , et al. (2025) In Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 292(2039).
Abstract
Publishing preprints is quickly becoming commonplace in ecology and evolutionary biology. Preprints can facilitate the rapid sharing of scientific knowledge establishing precedence and enabling feedback from the research community before peer review. Yet, significant barriers to preprint use exist, including language barriers, a lack of understanding about the benefits of preprints and a lack of diversity in the types of research outputs accepted (e.g. reports). Community-driven preprint initiatives can allow a research community to come together to break down these barriers to improve equity and coverage of global knowledge. Here, we explore the first preprints uploaded to EcoEvoRxiv (n = 1216), a community-driven preprint... (More)
Publishing preprints is quickly becoming commonplace in ecology and evolutionary biology. Preprints can facilitate the rapid sharing of scientific knowledge establishing precedence and enabling feedback from the research community before peer review. Yet, significant barriers to preprint use exist, including language barriers, a lack of understanding about the benefits of preprints and a lack of diversity in the types of research outputs accepted (e.g. reports). Community-driven preprint initiatives can allow a research community to come together to break down these barriers to improve equity and coverage of global knowledge. Here, we explore the first preprints uploaded to EcoEvoRxiv (n = 1216), a community-driven preprint server for ecologists and evolutionary biologists, to characterize preprint use in ecology, evolution and conservation. Our perspective piece highlights some of the unique initiatives that EcoEvoRxiv has taken to break down barriers to scientific publishing by exploring the composition of articles, how gender and career stage influence preprint use, whether preprints are associated with greater open science practices (e.g. code and data sharing) and tracking preprint publication outcomes. Our analysis identifies areas that we still need to improve upon but highlights how community-driven initiatives, such as EcoEvoRxiv, can play a crucial role in shaping publishing practices in biology. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
preprints, ecology, evolution, EcoEvoRxiv, grey literature, scholarly publishing, publication
in
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
volume
292
issue
2039
pages
9 pages
publisher
Royal Society Publishing
external identifiers
  • pmid:39876721
  • scopus:85216963126
ISSN
1471-2954
DOI
10.1098/rspb.2024.1487
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e7e59407-e172-4dd7-a9f3-1cc088361c21
date added to LUP
2025-01-31 11:22:58
date last changed
2025-05-07 13:59:55
@article{e7e59407-e172-4dd7-a9f3-1cc088361c21,
  abstract     = {{Publishing preprints is quickly becoming commonplace in ecology and evolutionary biology. Preprints can facilitate the rapid sharing of scientific knowledge establishing precedence and enabling feedback from the research community before peer review. Yet, significant barriers to preprint use exist, including language barriers, a lack of understanding about the benefits of preprints and a lack of diversity in the types of research outputs accepted (e.g. reports). Community-driven preprint initiatives can allow a research community to come together to break down these barriers to improve equity and coverage of global knowledge. Here, we explore the first preprints uploaded to <i>EcoEvoRxiv</i> (<i>n = 1216</i>), a community-driven preprint server for ecologists and evolutionary biologists, to characterize preprint use in ecology, evolution and conservation. Our perspective piece highlights some of the unique initiatives that <i>EcoEvoRxiv</i> has taken to break down barriers to scientific publishing by exploring the composition of articles, how gender and career stage influence preprint use, whether preprints are associated with greater open science practices (e.g. code and data sharing) and tracking preprint publication outcomes. Our analysis identifies areas that we still need to improve upon but highlights how community-driven initiatives, such as <i>EcoEvoRxiv</i>, can play a crucial role in shaping publishing practices in biology.}},
  author       = {{Noble, Daniel W. A. and Xirocostas, Zoe A. and Wu, Nicholas C. and Martinig, April Robin and Almeida, Rafaela A. and Bairos-Novak, Kevin R. and Balti, Heikel and Bertram, Michael G. and Bliard, Louis and Brand, Jack A. and Byrne, Ilha and Chan, Ying-Chi and Clink, Dena Jane and Corbel, Quentin and Correia, Ricardo A. and Crawford-Ash, Jordann and Culina, Antica and D'Bastiani, Elvira and Deme, Gideon G. and de Souza Leite, Melina and Dhellemmes, Félicie and Dimri, Shreya and Drobniak, Szymek M. and Elsy, Alexander D. and Everingham, Susan E. and Gascoigne, Samuel J. L. and Grainger, Matthew J. and Hossack, Gavin C. and Hovstad, Knut Anders and Ivimey-Cook, Edward R. and Jones, Matt Lloyd and Kačergytė, Ineta and Küstner, Georg and Leibold, Dalton C. and Mair, Magdalena M. and Martin, Jake and Mizuno, Ayumi and Moodie, Iain R. and Moreau, David and O'Dea, Rose E. and Orr, James A. and Paquet, Matthieu and Parajuli, Rabindra and Pick, Joel L. and Pottier, Patrice and Purgar, Marija and Recio, Pablo and Roche, Dominique G. and Royauté, Raphaël and Shafiei Sabet, Saeed and Segovia, Julio M. G. and Silva, Inês and Sánchez-Tójar, Alfredo and Soares, Bruno E. and Szabo, Birgit and Takola, Elina and Thoré, Eli S. J. and Timilsina, Bishnu and van Dis, Natalie E. and Verberk, Wilco C. E. P. and Vriend, Stefan J. G. and Wild, Kristoffer H. and Williams, Coralie and Yang, Yefeng and Nakagawa, Shinichi and Lagisz, Malgorzata}},
  issn         = {{1471-2954}},
  keywords     = {{preprints; ecology; evolution; EcoEvoRxiv; grey literature; scholarly publishing; publication}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  number       = {{2039}},
  publisher    = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
  series       = {{Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}},
  title        = {{The promise of community-driven preprints in ecology and evolution}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.1487}},
  doi          = {{10.1098/rspb.2024.1487}},
  volume       = {{292}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}