Preprints: ethical hazard or academic liberation?

Teixeira da Silva, Jaime A. (2017) Preprints: ethical hazard or academic liberation? KOME: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PURE COMMUNICATION INQUIRY, 5 (2). pp. 73-80. ISSN 2063-7330

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Abstract

Preprints are one of publishing’s hottest talking topics. Having seen a strengthening of investment by several entities and publishers in 2016, both 2016 and 2017 have witnessed a tsunami of new preprint servers, as well as chatter about a centralized preprint service. However, while all this buzz is taking place, few are focusing on the possible ethical aspects of preprints. In January of 2017, Jeffrey Beall’s blog became extinct, and lists of journals and publishers that were harshly criticized for publishing poor research, not conducting peer review and for processing research instantly, formed part of what had been termed “predatory journals and publishers.” During this period, there has been a boom in preprint servers. Preprints are raw findings and data sets that have not been peer reviewed, scientifically vetted, or verified for potential errors, flaws, and even fraud, but that are in general superficially selected by an advisory board and released to the public within as little as 24 hours. Will this boom in preprints and preprint servers serve as an outlet for poor science and unscholarly work to enter mainstream literature? In other words, could preprints be a form of predatory publishing? Since not all preprints will reach the mainstream literature following regular peer review, and may represent the final state of that document, there is a real risk, given that different preprint servers have different regulatory bodies, that academically unsound and/or scientifically invalid work may flood preprint servers that are emerging at an unprecedented rate. Although preprints should be celebrated for bringing research faster to the public, and while preprint proponents are lauding preprints as one solution to the replication crisis, what is not being discussed is whether preprints pose any ethical or academic risks.

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