Search

With the increasing embrace of preprints by scientific and social science disciplines, the humanities have garnered comparatively less attention in their development. This study targeted 1,734 preprints uploaded on the SSRN Literature Research Network between 1997 and 2020. The findings reveal substantial preprint growth in both traditional and interdisciplinary literature categories since 2007. A total of 1,376 authors were identified as affiliated with 676 institutions across 75 countries and represented 25 disciplines. Only 6 authors shared preprints in both interdisciplinary and traditional literature, but they were productive, contributing 8-100 preprints. Law authors dominated interdisciplinary literature preprints because most preprints were related to law and literature. This differed in that language and literature authors predominantly shared preprints in traditional literature. Additionally, there is a slightly higher publication rate in interdisciplinary literature preprints than in traditional literature preprints (36.6% vs. 31.8%). Traditional literature preprints showed a significantly higher preference for publishing in the format of journal articles compared to interdisciplinary literature preprints (88.7% vs. 77.3%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preprints are a crucial vehicle for knowledge dissemination in modern times. The vigorous development of the preprint industry demonstrates the significance of open science and represents a significant change in the manner research results are disseminated. This study explores preprints through literature analysis. Specifically, publication ethics issues related to preprints and their role in knowledge dissemination during the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed. First, this study examines the history and characteristics of preprints, investigating their functions and features in academic research and knowledge dissemination. Further, three issues related to publication ethics resulting from the knowledge dissemination model of preprints are presented. The study also sheds light on preprints in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the quantity and quality of preprints. In addition, the positive impact of preprints on knowledge dissimilation during the COVID-19 pandemic and some latent problems are also discussed. Finally, the author of this study proposes suggestions for institutions and individuals serving different roles in the academic community regarding the aspects in which they can help promote the publication ethics and rightful knowledge dissemination of preprints.

The communication channels and information flow have been significantly changed in the past decades even though the essence of scholarly communication pretty much stays the same. For example, the application of e-preprint combined with its server system becomes a possible solution for scholars who trapped in the repetitious publication process and not ideal peer review mechanism. This paper addresses the features of e-preprint, differences between traditional preprint and e-preprint, and the role of e-preprint in scholarly communication. Furthermore, the influences on four major characters of scholarly communication by e-preprint were discussed. (Article content in Chinese with English abstract)

A preprint or an e-print is a research article made publicly available prior to formal publication in a peer-reviewed journal. It is a new form of scholarly communication. To understand how preprint and e-print are used, this paper examined their citation patterns. This research searched the cited ”work” field in the SciSearch database. The results showed that more than 657,713 preprints were cited from 1974 to 2003. As to e-print, 109,492 citations to 15 arXiv.org archives from 1991 to 2003 were found. Since 1991, the number of citations to preprints had been decreasing, while the e-prints cited had increased. The peak e-print citation rate of 3 years observed was comparable to that of print journals. (Article content in Chinese with English abstract)