The promise of community-driven preprints in ecology and evolution

Abstract

Publishing preprints is quickly becoming commonplace in ecology and evolutionary biology. Preprints can facilitate the rapidsharing of scientific knowledge establishing precedence and enabling feedback from the research community before peerreview. Yet, significant barriers to preprint use exist, including language barriers, a lack of understanding about the benefitsof preprints and a lack of diversity in the types of research outputs accepted (e.g. reports). Community-driven preprintinitiatives can allow a research community to come together to break down these barriers to improve equity and coverageof global knowledge. Here, we explore the first preprints uploaded to EcoEvoRxiv (n = 1216), a community-driven preprintserver for ecologists and evolutionary biologists, to characterize preprint use in ecology, evolution and conservation. Ourperspective piece highlights some of the unique initiatives that EcoEvoRxiv has taken to break down barriers to scientificpublishing by exploring the composition of articles, how gender and career stage influence preprint use, whether preprintsare 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.

Keywords

preprints; ecology; evolution; EcoEvoRxiv; grey literature; scholarly publishing; publication

Published in

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
2025, volume: 292, number: 2039, article number: 20241487

SLU Authors

• Bertram, Michael

  • Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Monash University
  • Stockholm University

• Brand, Jack

  • Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Martin, Jake

  • Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Deakin University
  • Monash University
  • Stockholm University

• Thoré, Eli

  • Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Kacergyté, Ineta

  • Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Ecology
Information Studies

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.1487

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/140417