BioTechniques welcomes preprints

Now authors submitting preprints to bioRxiv will have the option to submit their work directly to BioTechniques.

Here at BioTechniques we believe that preprints are a vital step towards a more open and transparent science — a step that brings great benefits for both the broader scientific community and individual authors.

What are preprints?

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) define a preprint as:

“a scholarly manuscript posted by the author(s) in an openly accessible platform, usually before or in parallel with the peer review process”.

What is bioRxiv?

bioRxiv is an online archive and distribution service for preprints in the life sciences. It is operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (NY, USA), a not-for-profit research and educational institution.

An article can be deposited in bioRxiv in draft or final form, provided that it concerns a relevant scientific field, the content is unpublished at the time of submission and that all its authors have consented to its deposition. In order to deposit an article, authors must register on the site, which is free of charge. After an article is deposited in bioRxiv, the copyright remains with the author.

Authors of existing bioRxiv preprints can choose to submit their manuscript for consideration at BioTechniques through the Direct Transfer program. This means that authors submitting preprints to bioRxiv will have the option to transfer their work straight to us, by transmitting their manuscript files and metadata directly from bioRxiv, saving re-entering author information during the submission process.

What are the benefits of preprint servers?

Depositing a preprint to bioRxiv is not only beneficial to the scientific community but also to the authors themselves. Preprints accelerate progress by allowing rapid communication of research to the community which also encourages feedback that can improve a manuscript prior to, or during submission to a journal. Additionally, preprints are assigned a DOI, therefore can accumulate citations while the research simultaneously goes through the peer review process.

BioTechniques is happy to consider manuscripts that have previously been posted on preprint servers, as long at the manuscript is not being considered elsewhere, as per our standard policy. Authors are also welcome to post their article to a preprint server whilst it is under consideration by BioTechniques.

We encourage all authors to take advantage of the service and join the preprint community.

If you have any questions regarding your bioRxiv preprint or BioTechniques submission, please get in touch with Managing Editor, Joseph Martin.