Features of Medical Preprints

Immediate Access:
Preprints make new discoveries available as
soon as authors are ready to share them.

Community Feedback:
Once posted, readers can often comment,
suggest improvements, or highlight potential
issues.

No Cost to Read or Post:
Reputable preprint servers do not charge
readers or authors for basic posting and access.

Not Yet Peer-Reviewed:
Preprints have not undergone the
peer-review process typical of journal
publications.

Preprints and NIH Funding in Medical Research

While NIH does not mandate preprinting, they encourage it, especially for publicly funded medical research. To ensure your NIH-funded preprint is indexed in PubMed Central:

• Apply a CC-BY license.
• Acknowledge NIH funding according to NIH Grants Policy.
• Clearly state the preprint has not been peer-reviewed.
• Declare any competing interests.

Submit to an NIH-recognized preprint server such as:

• bioRxiv (biological sciences)
• medRxiv (clinical and medical research)
• arXiv (computational medicine and biostatistics)
• Research Square (multidisciplinary research including medicine)