As the COVID-19 pandemic escalated in the beginning of 2020, there was a need for the rapid dissemination of scientific information to understand everything from how the virus spreads, to how it affects the human body, to how the disease can be treated and prevented. Jessica Polka, Executive Director of ASAPbio, explains that, for this reason, the pandemic has inspired an increasing number of scientists to post their research papers on preprint servers. Publishing papers in traditional journals with formal peer review can take a lot of time. Posting manuscripts on preprint servers, on the other hand, can happen quite fast. But, considering that preprints do not undergo formal peer review before they are posted, is this prudent? Dr. Polka talks about how preprints experience their own crowd-sourced, informal peer review process through public commentary on social media and other venues by scientists and other experts, and this discourse can actually improve the quality of the paper over time. A major caveat of preprints is the potential for the media and the public, who may not be aware of the provisional nature of preprints, to disseminate erroneous or inaccurate information, and so, this requires proper education and training on what preprints are and how to interpret them.
View the full talk with additional resources on our website
Publishing in a Pandemic: The Preprint Revolution
Jessica Polka, Executive Director of ASAPbio, talks about how the COVID-19 pandemic has inspired a surge in the use of preprints to share research rapidly and how this is changing perceptions of peer review. (Talk recorded in April 2020)
- Part 1: Publishing in a Pandemic: The Preprint RevolutionAudience:
- Student
- Researcher
- Educators
- Educators of H. School / Intro Undergrad
- Educators of Adv. Undergrad / Grad
Duration: 00:08:35 - Part 2: Early Career Scientists and Preprints Q&AAudience:
- Student
- Researcher
- Educators
- Educators of H. School / Intro Undergrad
- Educators of Adv. Undergrad / Grad
Duration: 00:46:30