Biorxiv is a preprint server - a place that you can upload finished manuscripts, before (or during) the process of submitting them to a journal for publication. There are many advantages of doing so, some good discussion on the issues can be found here:https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/16832/why-upload-to-academic-preprint-sites-like-arxiv

And a good FAQ on preprints is here:

http://asapbio.org/preprint-info/preprint-faq

The gist: Biorxiv allows you to get your work out faster, and allows you to have greater control over your work.

When you republish that work after peer review, any graphs or data that you publish are copyrighted by the publisher, and you have to get their permission to re-use it in another publications, especially if its with another publisher. By published in Biorxiv first, your data and graphs are published under a legal format where you have control of it, and then when the paper is officially published, the publisher doesn't have control of it, since they're merely republishing it. So you can reuse that information.

is that just for biology concern or other discipline?

But the problem is that such servers blur the line between peer-reviewed articles and fake news. Many authors and readers treat pre-publications just like peer-reviewed papers accepted by a journal, and so we read twitter messages about „evidence for xyz“ with a link to unreviewed papers with sometimes questionable methodology and conclusions, and laypeople (and I‘m afraid some researchers as well) take that as scientific evidence already. That has the potential to undermine the credibility of our science.

That's a good point. If peer-review functions as a sort of intellectual blood-brain barrier (expert-layperson barrier, ELB), it does so mainly with regard to the interpretive, not descriptive, aspect of research. The optimal way for archives such as Biorxiv to work constructively is if researchers refrain from speculation and excessive interpretation of their findings + an open comment section below each entry. Otherwise, our present ELBs remain the better option.

Considering how these preprints receive doi, what happens to them once they get accepted by the "real" journals?

Andrew W Corcoran Is it safe to show around and present these papers? They are officially registered preprints I know, but how do the journals watch that? How do they stand? If I put my registered preprint on researchgate and continue to search for a journal to publish, is that ok? It can take months before it gets officially published. is it ok to make it public during that time?

Thank you Andrew W Corcoran - this is the exact sort of resource I was looking for.

I don't think the journals I've published with would touch something that's been prepublished.

If you are interested to submit an article to a certain journals including PloS journals, they will recommend you during submission that allow them to upload that article to BioRxiv. Then the journal peer review process started. if your article is rejected then you left with no other option because BioRxiv will told you that now you cant remove your article.

I will termed the action of Biorxiv as a predatory database, and various publication groups including PloS etc have been involved in this mutual cheating. They fraudulently transfer the article submitted to PloS journals for consideration to BioRxiv and upon rejection the database refuse to take the article down

People can upload their finished articles before submission to a journal and get benefit from community feedback and possibly to expand the work or possibly to collaborate with other groups working in the same area.

bioRxiv (pronounced "bio-archive") is the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution. A place that you can upload finished manuscripts, before (or during) the process of submitting them to a journal for publication.

Amazing! I thought bioRxiv is a journal.I just wanted to know the impact factor, surprisingly, I just got well informed that it is a pre-print server for Biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution. A place that you can upload finished manuscripts, before (or during) the process of submitting them to a journal for publication. Knowledge is POWER!

So, is this safe to submit a manuscript to bioRxiv before we submit to journals and get accepted?

Before formal publication in a journal, there is a process called "Peer Review", which sometimes takes long period of time . Since this process can be prolonged, authors nowadays uses the bioRxiv service to make available their unpublished manuscripts as “preprints” before completing peer review. This permits other scientists to see, discuss, and comment on the findings quickly. But it should be keep in mind that articles on bioRxiv have not been finalized by authors, it might contain errors.

Uploading a preprint of MS (before acceptance) is not safe for authors.

There are certainly risks involved in submitting unpublished data to BioRxiv and its likes. However, this is to provide alternatives to the old-school peer-review system that also has its pitfalls. It probably has no merit-based values on your CV but it may get the attention from the media or even prestigious journals, such as this one, which was even mentioned in an article in NEJM https://psyarxiv.com/wc8ud

If this is the definition for BioRxiv, I am afraid it might not be safe to submit manuscript not yet published there.

I actually downloaded some papers and it wasn't well organized so I tried to check its impact factor only for me to see that it wasn't a real journal. 🤦‍♀️

bioRxiv is a free online archive and distribution service for unpublished preprints in the life sciences. It is operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a not-for-profit research and educational institution. By posting preprints on bioRxiv, authors are able to make their findings immediately available to the scientific community and receive feedback on draft manuscripts before they are submitted to journals.

BioRxiv is a repository that allows others to "review" your article before being submitted and properly reviewed. It might help in assessing the reception that the article might get once published. I think it could be useful if you have a mature manuscript reporting a complete study that it's going through the process of submission(s). Best.

Interesting question. The same to me: I don't understand exactly which benefits could rise a preprint more than problems with "steal ideas" (actually besides of).

In think, bioRxiv is also a way to claim priority in highly competitive fields. It shows who had the idea first - or at least who shared the idea first in public.

bioRxiv is a free online archive and distribution service for unpublished preprints in the life sciences.