Accelerating Research Discovery in a Pandemic: Lessons from the NIH Preprint Pilot

Background: Preprints are complete drafts of scientific documents, not yet certified by peer review. Researchers use preprints to share findings quickly and widely with the research community and to gather feedback to improve the work. The COVID-19 public health emergency has spurred biomedical researchers to share preliminary research results as preprints at increasing rates and highlighted the benefits and challenges introduced by preprints into the scholarly communications landscape.

Description: The National Library of Medicine (NLM) launched the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Preprint Pilot project in June 2020. It built on guidance from NIH encouraging preprint posting to speed the dissemination of research and enhance the rigor of a work. In the first phase of the project, NLM made COVID-related preprints posted to eligible preprint servers and reporting research funded by NIH available via PubMed Central and, by extension, PubMed, to improve the discoverability of and maximize the impact of NIH research.

To assess its impact, NLM has monitored how and when preprints – and resulting journal publications -- are shared, discovered, and cited, and analyzed how public engagement with preprints may increase scientific rigor. Through user focus groups and surveys, the pilot is also investigating how views may be changing about the role of preprints in biomedical research.

Conclusion: To date, NLM has found that inclusion of preprints in PMC accelerates and expands access to NIH-supported research. Preprints in PMC have also provided a mechanism for increasing the transparency and openness of federally-funded research, though further engagement with NIH investigators is needed to increase rates of open licensing and data sharing. Engagement through different channels with various user groups during the first phase of the pilot has indicated that the discoverability of preprints is valued by the research community, while also identifying knowledge gaps among different user groups around preprints and other research products. Guidance from librarians about open research practices, what sources are appropriate for a particular purpose, and education on how to evaluate the quality of research have the potential to be of great value to many audiences as the role of preprints in scholarly communication expands.