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Scientists most often post preprints to share findings sooner and make their work easier to discover. They may also want feedback, free access for readers, a public record of when they shared a result, or greater visibility for their work. Those benefits come with trade-offs: a preprint has not passed peer review, and readers may mistake preliminary findings for established conclusions.
What is a preprint, and why post one early?
A preprint is a manuscript made publicly available before journal peer review. Posting it lets researchers circulate a draft while formal review and publication proceed; it does not mean the manuscript has been validated by peer review.
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The clearest evidence on authors’ stated reasons comes from a mixed-methods survey of 1,444 authors associated with bioRxiv, a biology preprint server. In that survey, speed and awareness ranked ahead of other reported motivations. These results describe that group’s responses, not every scientist’s reasons.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchWhat motivates researchers to post preprints?
Share findings sooner
Among bioRxiv survey respondents, 91.5% of corresponding-author responses and 82.7% of co-author responses agreed or strongly agreed that faster sharing motivated them to post. Fraser, Mayr and Peters identify quicker communication as the strongest reported motivation. A preprint can enter discussion before the journal process is complete, though posting does not guarantee that other researchers will notice or respond to it.
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Increase awareness and access
In the same survey, 86.9% of corresponding-author responses and 79.5% of co-author responses agreed or strongly agreed that increasing awareness motivated posting. A publicly accessible manuscript can be read without waiting for a journal’s publication schedule or reader-access arrangements.
A 2024 international survey found that about half of respondents rated free accessibility as a very beneficial feature of preprints, while nearly 40% rated faster research communication as very beneficial. These are respondents’ perceptions of benefits, not measurements showing that posting caused wider readership or faster progress.
Invite feedback and find collaborators
Some authors post to invite comments or bring their work to potential collaborators. Feedback was a motivation for a majority of respondents in the bioRxiv survey, but it ranked below speed and awareness. A public posting creates an opportunity for feedback; it does not ensure that anyone will provide substantive comments.
Create a dated public record
A preprint can document that a manuscript was publicly shared by a particular date. Some researchers see that record as useful in competitive fields, where establishing priority may matter. The motivation varies: the bioRxiv study found early-career researchers less motivated by priority claims than late-career researchers. Some authors described posting as protective, while others worried that disclosure could let competitors move faster.
Support open science and show research activity
Authors also cited making research openly accessible and, in free-text responses, demonstrating work output in job or grant applications. Those reports show why some researchers choose to post; they do not establish that employers or funders universally treat a preprint as equivalent to a peer-reviewed publication.
Do preprints increase citations?
The evidence does not establish a reliable citation boost. In the bioRxiv survey, 38.7% of corresponding-author responses agreed or strongly agreed that preprinting had a positive effect on citations, but the largest response group was neutral. Authors’ belief that preprints improve visibility is not the same as evidence that posting causes more citations.
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The survey authors’ conclusion was that the strongest motivations were “to increase awareness of research and share findings more quickly.” The findings do not support the claim that scientists generally post preprints to inflate citation counts, bypass review, or secure jobs.
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Publishing a manuscript before peer review can expose it to scrutiny while it is still provisional. In the international survey, concerns about reliability, credibility and premature media coverage were prominent, particularly among researchers in life and health sciences. In those fields, an unreviewed result may be reported or shared in ways that make it sound more conclusive than it is.
Other reported barriers include not knowing about preprints, not having a complete manuscript ready, concern about being scooped, and the effort required to prepare a submission. Authors may also be uncertain whether a particular journal accepts preprints. Journal rules can depend on the journal and article type, so researchers should check the current policy for their intended submission rather than assume a universal rule.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why do motivations differ across fields and researchers?
Preprint norms are not uniform. The international survey found posting more established in physics and astronomy, followed by mathematics and computer science, than in many other disciplines. Familiarity and adoption also differ by region. Meanwhile, credibility and media-coverage concerns carry particular weight in life and health research.
Career stage can shape the balance of motives: the bioRxiv survey found early-career researchers relatively more motivated by visibility and feedback, and late-career researchers relatively more motivated by priority. These are patterns in survey responses, not rules for individual scientists.
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How to interpret a preprint responsibly
- Check whether the manuscript is identified as a preprint and whether it has since been peer reviewed or published.
- Distinguish the authors’ findings from conclusions that have been independently reviewed or replicated.
- For health-related claims, be cautious about media coverage that presents preliminary results as settled advice.
- Do not infer that posting guarantees priority, feedback, wider readership or more citations.
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