Your browser doesn't support javascript.
Preprint manuscripts and servers in the era of coronavirus disease 2019.
Nabavi Nouri, Shayan; Cohen, Yosef A; Madhavan, Mahesh V; Slomka, Piotr J; Iskandrian, Ami E; Einstein, Andrew J.
  • Nabavi Nouri S; Seymour, Paul, and Gloria Milstein Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York, USA.
  • Cohen YA; Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
  • Madhavan MV; Seymour, Paul, and Gloria Milstein Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York, USA.
  • Slomka PJ; Departments of Biomedical Sciences and Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Los Angeles, California, USA.
  • Iskandrian AE; Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
  • Einstein AJ; Seymour, Paul, and Gloria Milstein Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York, USA.
J Eval Clin Pract ; 27(1): 16-21, 2021 02.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-889767
ABSTRACT
RATIONALE, AIMS, AND

OBJECTIVES:

To both examine the impact of preprint publishing on health sciences research and survey popular preprint servers amidst the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

METHODS:

The authors queried three biomedical databases (MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Google Scholar) and two preprint servers (MedRxiv and SSRN) to identify literature pertaining to preprints. Additionally, they evaluated 12 preprint servers featuring COVID-19 research through sample submission of six manuscripts.

RESULTS:

The realm of health sciences research has seen a dramatic increase in the presence and importance of preprint publications. By posting manuscripts on preprint servers, researchers are able to immediately communicate their findings, thereby facilitating prompt feedback and promoting collaboration. In doing so, they may also reduce publication bias and improve methodological transparency. However, by circumventing the peer-review process, academia incurs the risk of disseminating erroneous or misinterpreted data and suffering the downstream consequences. Never have these issues been better highlighted than during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers have flooded the literature with preprint publications as stopgaps to meet the desperate need for knowledge about the disease. These unreviewed articles initially outnumbered those published in conventional journals and helped steer the mainstream scientific community at the start of the pandemic. In surveying select preprint servers, the authors discovered varying usability, review practices, and acceptance polices.

CONCLUSION:

While vital in the rapid dispensation of science, preprint manuscripts promulgate their conclusions without peer review and possess the capacity to misinform. Undoubtedly part of the future of science, conscientious consumers will need to appreciate not only their utility, but also their limitations.
Subject(s)
Keywords

Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Periodicals as Topic / Information Dissemination / Preprints as Topic / COVID-19 Type of study: Experimental Studies / Observational study / Prognostic study / Reviews Limits: Humans Language: English Journal: J Eval Clin Pract Journal subject: Health Services Research Year: 2021 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Jep.13498

Similar

MEDLINE

...
LILACS

LIS


Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Periodicals as Topic / Information Dissemination / Preprints as Topic / COVID-19 Type of study: Experimental Studies / Observational study / Prognostic study / Reviews Limits: Humans Language: English Journal: J Eval Clin Pract Journal subject: Health Services Research Year: 2021 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Jep.13498