3 Frequently Asked Questions

3.1 What is a preprint?

A preprint is a manuscript published on a preprint server without peer review. Preprints can subsequently be submitted to a scholarly journal to undergo peer review.

3.2 What is a preprint server?

Preprint repositories (also known as preprint servers or preprint archives) are online archives of works which are not peer reviewed. The first preprint repository was arXiv which launched in 1991. Since then many different preprint repositories were created, both general and discipline-specific.

3.3 What types of preprints can be uploaded to EcoEvoRxiv preprint server?

EcoEvoRxiv hosts manuscripts in ecology, evolutionary biology, and related fields describing empirical, theoretical, and synthesis studies, as well as review papers and opinion pieces. We currently accept preprints in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French.

3.4 What are publishers’ policies on preprints?

Most journals accept manuscripts previously archived as preprints. You can check publisher copyright policies and self-archiving using Sherpa-Romeo.

3.5 Why use a preprint server?

• They’re quick! Preprints are a way of disseminating your findings before a long peer-reviewed process (median time from submission to acceptance 100 days, then from acceptance to online publication ~ 23 days. This means your work won’t be out of date by the time people read it. Depending on the server, you may be able to instantly upload. At most, it’s likely to take 48 hours.
  
• Open access. EcoEvoRxiv, and most other preprint servers, are open access. This means your work can reach researchers and others who do not have access to paywalled publications. So, even if you later publish the manuscript in a paywalled journal, your work is still available to everyone. This means greater reach for your work, which is good for you. This open access is also essential for the many potential readers of your work around the world who lack the financial and institutional support to access paywalled articles.
  
• Extra feedback, improved science. Once you’ve posted a preprint, other researchers may choose to offer feedback on it, via email, comment functions on the preprint site, or social media. And unlike with an article in a journal, you can revise and update your pre-print as often as you wish. Therefore, pre-prints can offer a chance to catch mistakes, improve clarity and grow, before the manuscript is committed to publication in a journal. It’s like having extra (informal) peer reviewers.
  
• Citations. Preprints can be cited, and can be used to establish precedence of your work.

3.6 When should I upload my preprint?

You can upload your preprint anytime you’re ready to share it with the community. You may wish to upload well before submitting to a journal, for instance if you hope to receive feedback to improve the manuscript prior to formal peer review. Or you may wish to upload at the same time you submit to a journal.

If you wait to upload until after the manuscript is accepted by a journal, this is technically no longer a ‘preprint’, and is instead known as a ‘postprint’. Some preprint servers do not accept postprints, but EcoEvoRxiv does. However, be aware that journals may limit public archiving of postprints, so check the journal policies. In addition, it is very important that authors check journal policies around postprints because fully copyedited manuscripts may not be allowed. If this is the case, the safest and most general option is to simply upload the last version of the manuscript prior to copyediting. Editors will check and not approve fully formatted postprints in their journal style if it is not allowed as this may violate copyright agreements.

3.7 So, why wouldn’t you?

Some journals, though very few these days, may not accept your article if it has been posted as a preprint. The number of journals in this category is small and decreasing. You can check your target journal’s policy here or here.

3.8 We already have preprint providers such as bioRxiv, why another one?

We started EcoEvoRxiv to encourage archiving of preprints in ecology and evolutionary biology whether that be in EcoEvoRxiv, or elsewhere. Despite the benefits of preprints, the proportion of researchers using them is still low.

Having said that, EcoEvoRxiv has some distinct advantages:

• EcoEvoRxiv accepts postprints. Some servers will not accept manuscripts that have already been accepted by a peer-reviewed journal. However, as we describe above, postprints are an important tool for increasing accessibility for people with limited financial resources.
• EcoEvoRxiv accepts reviews. Access to review papers is often vital, especially for early career scientists, and so EcoEvoRxiv welcomes these manuscripts.
• EcoEvoRxiv accepts hypothesis papers. EcoEvoRxiv will accept papers that introduce hypotheses in the absence of empirical tests or mathematical theory, as long as the paper is grounded in the fields of ecology or evolutionary biology.
• EcoEvoRxiv accepts opinion pieces. Debates about scientific ideas and discussions of scientific policy are welcome at EcoEvoRxiv.
• EcoEvoRxiv accepts white papers and reports. Organisations often produce important synthesis documents or reports based on new empirical information, and these documents can be of great interest to ecologists and evolutionary biologists. Unfortunately, these documents can also be difficult to locate, but we hope to improve access to these important resources by allowing them at EcoEvoRxiv.
• EcoEvoRxiv accepts English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Greek, Korean and Japanese preprints. EcoEvoRxiv is currently the only preprint server in biology to accept non-English language manuscripts. This is a deliberate move to break down language barriers to science.

3.9 How can I submit a manuscript in EcoEvoRxiv?

For step-by-step guidance on submitting a preprint, please watch our tutorial video.

3.10 My preprint is now accepted in a peer-reviewed journal. How can I connect the published DOI to my preprint on EcoEvoRxiv?

If your preprint has now been through peer review and been allocated a publication DOI you can easily update your preprint on EcoEvoRxiv to display the publication DOI.

To do this, log in to your EcoEvoRxiv submission page and head to your “Dashboard”. Click on the preprint of interest and click “Update Preprint” on the right side of the screen under your metrics. You will have three choices: 1) “New Version”, 2) “Correction” or 3) “Metadata Correction”. Any of these options will work, but if it’s just updating a DOI we suggest choosing option 3. On the first page you will be able to update meta-data. You will now see a “Published Article DOI” box. Insert your DOI in this box and clock “Submit Update”. Your preprint will now be updated with the DOI of your published article which will be displayed on the preprint page above the article once an Editor approves the update.

3.11 Can I post a preprint on EcoEvoRxiv and other preprint servers at the same time?

It is recommended that you only post your preprint on one server. Like other preprint servers, EcoEvoRxiv is inclined to reject submissions that are found to be posted on other platforms. Having the same preprint posted on multiple platforms, authors may find it difficult to keep the different versions on the different platforms updated; may cause issues with citations and other usage metrics, making it difficult to track downstream impacts of the preprint; and creates unnecessary redundancy in academic literature. Instead, we advise promoting the preprint via social media to effectively boost the exposure of your work.