Academic Publishing and Open Access

Preprints are research manuscripts shared publicly before undergoing formal peer review, and the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated their adoption dramatically as scientists raced to circulate findings faster than traditional journals allowed. Scholars in this space examine how that shift reshapes the flow of knowledge — who gets credit, how quickly errors propagate, and whether expedited dissemination improves or erodes public trust in science. A central tension remains unresolved: open, immediate access to preliminary findings can accelerate discovery and democratize knowledge, yet it also exposes non-specialist audiences to results that have not been independently verified. Active research is now probing how platforms, journals, and policy bodies might design lightweight but credible quality signals that preserve the speed benefits of preprints without sacrificing the accountability that peer review, however imperfect, has historically provided.

Works

229,994

Total citations

111,284

Keywords

PreprintsCOVID-19Science CommunicationPeer ReviewResearch DisseminationScientific Publishing