The growing popularity of preprints and early stage research outputs is changing the way research is communicated. Loved by authors and supported by the research community, preprints provide a rapid and innovative avenue to open research, especially when integrated with publishing workflows.

In simple words, a preprint is an early draft of a manuscript, made available publicly and for free, ahead of formal peer review and publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Preprints have a unique DOI (Digital Object Identifier) which makes them easily accessible and citable. Preprints persist after a paper is published in a journal creating a platform for public dialogue between readers and authors.

Preprints, which started primarily in the physical sciences, are becoming more popular across all fields. Preprints are especially popular among Early Career Researchers: new generations of authors are using preprints in conjunction with social media to disseminate their research in a timely fashion. COVID-19 boosted the popularity of preprints even further. In the last three years, the majority of manuscripts published about COVID-19 were already submitted as preprints: announcing research results fast and wide is of value to the scientific community and the public. 

Wiley embraces preprinting and the early sharing of research through policy and through technology. On the policy front, virtually all Wiley journals now support authors posting a preprint of their manuscript submitted to a journal. On the technology side, Wiley promotes adoption of the Under Review service powered by Authorea.

As of September 2022, 55 Wiley journals are integrated with Under Review . Authors submitting to these journals have the option to make their manuscript available immediately as a preprint on Authorea while it is Under Review. All it takes is checking a box at manuscript submission and a preprint is prepared and posted for them with a DOI after it passes minimal screening (post submission checklist). If the manuscript is subsequently sent to review by the journal, it is included in the journal preprint collection  and a peer review timeline is added to it, showing where the preprint is in the review process . If and when a preprint is ultimately accepted and published in a journal, a link to the Version of Record is automatically added to the peer review timeline . Authorea currently hosts nearly 25,000 preprints  and the Under Review program is being expanded to a further 100 Wiley and Hindawi titles in the next six months.

One reason why we are excited about Authorea is that preprints offer a glimpse into the future of publishing, enabling richer and more interactive experiences for both authors and readers. Examples of preprints enhanced with interactive figures, computational notebooks, code, data, and visualizations can already be seen in a growing portfolio of Wiley journals which are supporting “smart” data and supplementary information in their titles via dedicated Authorea collections . We hope to pave the way to a future in which the publication and dissemination of scientific results is more open, transparent, dynamic and interactive. 

Learn more about Under Review here and contact your Journal Manager to sign your journal up to be a part of Under Review.