The evolving role of preprints in the dissemination of COVID-19 research and their impact on the science communication landscape.
The world continues to face a life-threatening viral pandemic. The virus underlying the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has caused over 98 million confirmed cases and 2.2 million deaths since January 2020. Although the most recent re...
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2021-04-01
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| Series: | PLoS Biology |
| Online Access: | https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000959&type=printable |
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| author | Nicholas Fraser Liam Brierley Gautam Dey Jessica K Polka Máté Pálfy Federico Nanni Jonathon Alexis Coates |
| author_facet | Nicholas Fraser Liam Brierley Gautam Dey Jessica K Polka Máté Pálfy Federico Nanni Jonathon Alexis Coates |
| author_sort | Nicholas Fraser |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The world continues to face a life-threatening viral pandemic. The virus underlying the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has caused over 98 million confirmed cases and 2.2 million deaths since January 2020. Although the most recent respiratory viral pandemic swept the globe only a decade ago, the way science operates and responds to current events has experienced a cultural shift in the interim. The scientific community has responded rapidly to the COVID-19 pandemic, releasing over 125,000 COVID-19-related scientific articles within 10 months of the first confirmed case, of which more than 30,000 were hosted by preprint servers. We focused our analysis on bioRxiv and medRxiv, 2 growing preprint servers for biomedical research, investigating the attributes of COVID-19 preprints, their access and usage rates, as well as characteristics of their propagation on online platforms. Our data provide evidence for increased scientific and public engagement with preprints related to COVID-19 (COVID-19 preprints are accessed more, cited more, and shared more on various online platforms than non-COVID-19 preprints), as well as changes in the use of preprints by journalists and policymakers. We also find evidence for changes in preprinting and publishing behaviour: COVID-19 preprints are shorter and reviewed faster. Our results highlight the unprecedented role of preprints and preprint servers in the dissemination of COVID-19 science and the impact of the pandemic on the scientific communication landscape. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b11b8df5b716425680bdccb4cadde965 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1544-9173 1545-7885 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS Biology |
| spelling | doaj-art-b11b8df5b716425680bdccb4cadde9652025-08-20T03:44:40ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Biology1544-91731545-78852021-04-01194e300095910.1371/journal.pbio.3000959The evolving role of preprints in the dissemination of COVID-19 research and their impact on the science communication landscape.Nicholas FraserLiam BrierleyGautam DeyJessica K PolkaMáté PálfyFederico NanniJonathon Alexis CoatesThe world continues to face a life-threatening viral pandemic. The virus underlying the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has caused over 98 million confirmed cases and 2.2 million deaths since January 2020. Although the most recent respiratory viral pandemic swept the globe only a decade ago, the way science operates and responds to current events has experienced a cultural shift in the interim. The scientific community has responded rapidly to the COVID-19 pandemic, releasing over 125,000 COVID-19-related scientific articles within 10 months of the first confirmed case, of which more than 30,000 were hosted by preprint servers. We focused our analysis on bioRxiv and medRxiv, 2 growing preprint servers for biomedical research, investigating the attributes of COVID-19 preprints, their access and usage rates, as well as characteristics of their propagation on online platforms. Our data provide evidence for increased scientific and public engagement with preprints related to COVID-19 (COVID-19 preprints are accessed more, cited more, and shared more on various online platforms than non-COVID-19 preprints), as well as changes in the use of preprints by journalists and policymakers. We also find evidence for changes in preprinting and publishing behaviour: COVID-19 preprints are shorter and reviewed faster. Our results highlight the unprecedented role of preprints and preprint servers in the dissemination of COVID-19 science and the impact of the pandemic on the scientific communication landscape.https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000959&type=printable |
| spellingShingle | Nicholas Fraser Liam Brierley Gautam Dey Jessica K Polka Máté Pálfy Federico Nanni Jonathon Alexis Coates The evolving role of preprints in the dissemination of COVID-19 research and their impact on the science communication landscape. PLoS Biology |
| title | The evolving role of preprints in the dissemination of COVID-19 research and their impact on the science communication landscape. |
| title_full | The evolving role of preprints in the dissemination of COVID-19 research and their impact on the science communication landscape. |
| title_fullStr | The evolving role of preprints in the dissemination of COVID-19 research and their impact on the science communication landscape. |
| title_full_unstemmed | The evolving role of preprints in the dissemination of COVID-19 research and their impact on the science communication landscape. |
| title_short | The evolving role of preprints in the dissemination of COVID-19 research and their impact on the science communication landscape. |
| title_sort | evolving role of preprints in the dissemination of covid 19 research and their impact on the science communication landscape |
| url | https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000959&type=printable |
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