Preprints and COVID-19: Analysis of 2020 Pandemic-Related Works from a Single Institution

Preprints and COVID-19: Analysis of 2020 Pandemic-related Works from a Single Institution

Medical Library, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Konstantina Matsoukas, MLIS; Jeanine McSweeney, MLIS; Donna Gibson, MLS; Robin O’Hanlon, MIS; Marina Chilov, MLS; Johanna Goldberg, MSLIS; Lindsay Boyce, MLIS;

Fig 1. Preprint Server Choice Fig 5. Links between Preprint & Journal Article Objectives 1. Preprint record links to Journal Article DOI arXiv - 3.0%

The coronavirus pandemic accelerated the acceptance of preprints by Authorea - 6.1% the clinical research community, with the need to rapidly share new bioRxiv - 24.2% research findings even leading to the inclusion of COVID preprints in bioRxiv Bull World Health Organ. - 24.2% 3.0% PubMed/PMC. This occurred even though preprints are not properly chemRxiv - 3.0% medRxiv vetted, final published versions of works, but rather preliminary scientific 51.5% medRxiv - 51.5% research reports that have not yet been evaluated and certified by peer ResearchSquare - 3.0% review. To enhance our understanding of health science preprint server SSRN - 6.1% 2. PubMed Preprint record links to both posting adoption, we characterized/analyzed the 2020 research manuscripts related to COVID-19 posted to preprint servers by researchers at our institution. Fig 2. Preprint Indexing, Publication & Linking Methods 3. PMC Preprint record links to both Yes No

Thirty-three preprints meeting our inclusion criteria were identified via 54.6% 45.5% Indexed targeted searching. The preprint server, PubMed/PMC, and journal in 18/33 Pubmed publisher records were consulted to verify: manuscript posting, revision, 61.3% 38.7% and publication dates; author and affiliation information; linkage to the Published as 19/31 Journal final published versions on the preprint and PubMed/PMC Articles records. Altmetrics and Dimensions, both products of Digital Science, 57.9% 42.1% Server linked to 11/19 were used to capture online attention and any citations received by the Journal preprints and their subsequent peer-reviewed articles. Article 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 10 20 30 40 % of Preprints Results Fig 3. Time from Preprint 4. PMC Article record links to both Of the 33 preprints, two were duplicates: one a revised preprint version to Journal Article with title change, the second a submission of the same preprint to two 1 different servers. Eight different servers were used overall, with 51.5% 2 posted to medRxiv and 24.2% to bioRxiv. PubMed indexed 54.6% of the 3 Mean: 102.3 days 4 preprints, with 19/31 preprints eventually being published in a peer- 5 6 reviewed journal. 11/19 published papers were linked to from their 7 8 preprint server record and 79% were published in NPG, Elsevier, 9 10 Springer, or Wiley journals. Of the 31 unique preprints, 90% included co- 11 5. PubMed Article record links to both 12 authors from other institutions, with 14/31 involving international 13 14 collaborators. Of the 19 preprints published in journals, posting to a 15

Preprints Published as Journal Articles 16 server accelerated the release of the manuscript to the public record by 17 a mean of 102.3 days. Preprints indexed in PubMed (16/31) garnered a 18 19 6. Journal Article does not link to Preprint record mean of 2.8 times more citations than preprints not indexed in PubMed 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 # of Days (15/31), which approached statistical significance (t(29)=2.04; p=0.051).

Conclusions Fig 4. Citations to Preprints by PubMed Indexing During COVID times, it was assumed that the motivation for posting to a 10 preprint server was closely tied to a desire to get information out as References widely and as quickly as possible. Our findings suggest that posting a 8 7.43 Indexed In PubMed manuscript as a preprint was generally worth the effort in terms of Not Indexed in • NIH Preprint Pilot Update.NIH Preprint Pilot 6 PubMed accelerating research sharing and visibility. Future research exploring Update. NLM Tech Bull. 2021 Mar-Apr;(439):e2. whether authors who utilized preprint servers during the pandemic will 4 • New NIH Preprint Pilot Librarian Toolkit Available. continue to do so post-COVID will be interesting for establishing if this 2.64 NLM Tech Bull. 2020 Nov-Dec;(437):b6.

# of Citations to Preprints experience will have changed researcher behavior with regards to 2 • NLM Announces NIH Preprint Pilot to Provide preprints going forward. Early Access to COVID-19 Research. NLM Tech

0 Bull. 2020 May-June;(434):e3. *Dimensions citation scores collected 4/13/2021