Preprints

Direct Transfer Service to PLOS One

PLOS partners with openRxiv to make posting preprints in the life and health sciences seamless and convenient.

Authors posting preprints to the bioRxiv or medRxiv preprint servers can choose to concurrently submit their manuscripts to PLOS One or another relevant PLOS journal through the direct transfer service. Learn more about posting a preprint and the direct transfer service offered by bioRxiv and medRxiv.

Facilitated Preprint Posting from PLOS One

Authors submitting manuscripts in the life, health and earth sciences to PLOS One may opt-in to have PLOS forward their submission to bioRxiv, medRxiv or EarthArXiv, depending on the scope of the paper, for consideration for posting as a preprint.

Papers that pass an initial screening for suitability will be posted on bioRxiv, medRxiv or EarthArXiv, as a preprint, meaning that the manuscript files will be made publicly available and credited to the listed authors. If the article is later accepted for publication in PLOS One, the preprint and published article will link to each other when the article appears online.

Eligibility to post on bioRxiv, medRxiv or EarthArXiv, is independent from the editorial assessment and peer review process. Preprint checks do not impact the decision regarding suitability for publication in PLOS One. Read more about editorial selection at PLOS One.

Preparing preprint files for submission

Preprints appear on bioRxiv, medRxiv or EarthArXiv in PDF format. Authors can choose to supply their own preprint PDF or have PLOS One compile an automatically generated PDF.

If you supply a preprint PDF it will appear on the preprint server unchanged. Be sure to include title, authors, abstract, and the full text of the manuscript, along with any figures or tables and their captions. Each of these preprint servers limits PDF file size to 40 MB or less. PDF files must be compressed to meet this requirement.
Alternatively, PLOS One can automatically compile a preprint PDF suitable for bioRxiv, medRxiv or EarthArXiv from the manuscript file and figure files that are part of your journal submission. Supplementary information will not be included in auto-generated preprints, but may be uploaded directly to the preprint server after posting.

Note that some figure quality may be lost during the auto-conversion process. For best results, make sure that your submission materials meet journal formatting requirements, and that tables fit within the margins of the page. If you are concerned about figure resolution, consider supplying a preprint PDF alongside your other submission files.

Preprint checks

After authors have opted in to have their preprint posted by PLOS One, it is transferred to bioRxiv, medRxiv or EarthArXiv where researchers with relevant expertise screen preprint submissions for suitability.

More information on the screening process can be found on the bioRxiv, medRxiv and EarthArXiv sites.

Most submissions that pass the servers’ preprint checks will be posted within a few days of submission. Authors will receive a notification of successful preprint posting directly from the preprint server. Authors will also hear directly from the preprint server if issues arise or screening indicates that a manuscript is not eligible for posting. Once posted, a preprint cannot be removed except in rare cases.

Updates to preprints

To ensure that readers are always accessing the latest version of the manuscript, authors are encouraged to submit updates and revisions to the relevant preprint server directly. For example, authors have permission to post the peer review history of their manuscript alongside their preprint, which helps to signal to readers that the preprint has been peer reviewed.

Concerns

If a concern arises about a published PLOS article with a related preprint, PLOS will evaluate the concern according to our standard editorial processes, taking into account any relevant comments available on the preprint.