Authorea

What Authorea is

Authorea is an online writing tool and preprint hosting platform for researchers preparing and sharing open research. Users can begin with a blank document or upload Word, PDF, or LaTeX files, then collaborate with coauthors in real time. Writing formats include LaTeX and Markdown. Documents can include data, code, Jupyter Notebooks, videos, figures, and other uploaded files, with a file layer for figures and data. Authorea offers over 8,000 journal templates. Posting work as a preprint assigns it a DOI, making the work citable, shareable, and discoverable. Users can submit preprints to a number of refereed journals and participate in Wiley’s Under Review program at participating journals. Articles can be linked to GitHub repositories so online changes are reflected in the repository and offline changes pushed to GitHub update the online article. Bibliographies from Mendeley, EndNote, or Zotero can be imported by exporting a BibTeX file and uploading it to a document’s bibliography folder. Documents can be exported as PDF, Word, LaTeX when applicable, or ZIP. The Free plan costs nothing and includes online writing, preprint hosting, real-time collaboration, and LaTeX and Markdown support. Authorea is available on the web.

Who it suits

Authorea suits researchers who write with coauthors and want to share work as citable preprints. It is also a fit for authors preparing manuscripts with LaTeX or Markdown, journal templates, data, code, and figures.

Limits

Uploads are limited to 25 MB per file and 1 GB per document.

Getting started

1. Visit the Authorea website.
2. Start a document from scratch or upload a Word, PDF, or LaTeX file.
3. Add coauthors to collaborate in real time.
4. Write in LaTeX or Markdown and add supporting files as needed.
5. Post the work as a preprint to receive a DOI.

Verdict

Choose Authorea if you want a free online workspace for collaborative research writing and preprint hosting with DOI assignment. Its journal templates and export options support manuscript preparation. Check the upload caps if your documents or individual files are large.