About

About ARPHA Preprints

ARPHA Preprints is designed to answer the growing need for faster dissemination of scientific research by posting preprints (not peer-reviewed, not copyedited and not typeset versions of manuscripts) submitted to journals hosted on the ARPHA Platform that have selected this service. Preprints are optional, therefore authors need to confirm during submission whether they want their manuscript to be posted as a preprint. 

ARPHA Preprints is not open for direct submission of preprints, but only through the submission systems of the participating ARPHA journals. 

The scope and the article type of preprints are determined by those of the journal.

Currently, the participating journals are: Acta Ichtyologica et Piscatoria, Atomic Layer Deposition, Biodiversity Data Journal, BioRisk, Biosystematics and Ecology, Herpetozoa, Italian Botanist, Metabarcoding and Metagenomics, Nature Conservation, NeoBiota, Neotropical Biology and Conservation, One Ecosystem, PhytoKeys, Plant Ecology and Evolution, Population and Economics, Research Ideas and Outcomes, Rethinking Ecology, ZooKeys.


Benefits of posting a preprint

Preprints are manuscript versions that are not yet peer-reviewed, accepted, copy edited, and typeset, hence results and conclusions need to be taken with caution until they are accepted by a credible source following peer review. Nonetheless, there are several good reasons to post a preprint of your work:

  • Rapid and early open access to research results in a citable format: the authors can share their findings in the form of a pre-review version of the manuscript quickly after submission, thus avoiding several weeks or months of waiting before their study is formally published in a scientific journal.

  • Zero extra efforts to submit and post a preprint: authors submitting to an ARPHA journal only need to check a box to indicate they wish to post a preprint. There is no need to make two separate submissions, one to an external preprint server and another to a journal.

  • Priority record: by sharing their work early on, researchers are better positioned to claim priority of work. 

  • Open to feedback & discussion: preprints will be open to both personal and private comments from readers, thus prompting feedback and contributions even before the paper sees the light of day. By opening them up to the scrutiny of the community, preprints may in fact be subjected to much more vigorous and rounded examination by a larger number of specialists. 

  • Dissemination and outreach: preprints can be easily posted on social networks via sharing tools, in addition to the default sharing on the ARPHA Preprints social accounts. The outreach of the preprints (i.e. views, downloads, citations and public mentions) is trackable via ARPHA platform and its integration with Altmetric and Dimensions. Users can also subscribe for news alerts via RSS, web services and automated email notifications.

  • Accessibility and discoverability: preprints are indexed by several appropriate indexing services (e.g. Google Scholar, OpenAIRE, ScienceOpen). On the ARPHA Preprints website, preprints can also be easily browsed using several filters.

  • Preprint-article link: once posted, a preprint will clearly indicate where the manuscript has been submitted to. When/if the manuscript is published in the ARPHA-hosted journal, the preprint will be linked to the formal publication via DOI.

Free: Posting a preprint does not incur additional charges to the authors or journals on ARPHA.

How it works

Thanks to ARPHA’s seamlessly integrated workflows, authors do not need to provide any files and metadata separately to ARPHA Preprints, or concern themselves with the policy of a journal about accepting manuscripts already published as preprints.

Upon filling in the submission form at any participating ARPHA-hosted journal, authors may opt to post a preprint on ARPHA Preprints, where it will be made available as soon as the submitted manuscript passes a basic screening meant to verify that it complies with the journal’s focus and scope, and does not contain offensive language, pseudoscience, plagiarism or any other unethical content. Manuscripts that are rejected prior to peer review will not be posted as preprints. 

As soon as the authors upload their submission files, ARPHA will automatically compile a PDF file, so they can confirm it. Alternatively, they are able to replace the file with their own PDF. 

Once posted, a preprint will clearly indicate the journal to which the manuscript has been submitted. As soon as the manuscript is published* in the ARPHA-hosted journal, the preprint will be linked to the formal publication via DOI.

Preprints are open to comments, both public and private, where readers can message authors directly. ARPHA will notify the author(s) whenever a comment is posted. Public comments will be screened for offensive language and irrelevant content before they are posted.

Upon publication, preprints are registered with CrossRef and assigned with their own DOI to ensure scientific record and permanent availability. To further ensure the preprints are findable and easy to cite, they are automatically indexed by some indexing services that cover preprints. 

Authors have access to several metrics to track their preprints’ viewership and engagement rates:

  • Views (total and unique);
  • Online mentions via Altmetric;
  • Citation counts via CrossRef and Dimensions.

All preprints will be posted on social media from ARPHA Preprints, whereas sharing tools will also be available to readers. Additionally, users can subscribe to ARPHA Preprints via RSS, web services and automated email alerts.

* Please note that posting a preprint on ARPHA Preprints does not guarantee that the associated manuscript will be accepted for publication by the journal where it has been submitted.


Preprint types

The preprint types follow the article types of the journal where the author is submitting. ARPHA Preprints does not restrict the acceptance of preprints based on their type, however, please note that some manuscripts (e.g. editorials, commentaries, obituaries, corrigenda) are normally not considered suitable to be posted as preprints, and can be rejected at the discretion of an editor.


Open Access

Similarly to all content published in ARPHA-hosted journals, all preprints are published under an open access Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license. Thus, a preprint can be freely downloaded, distributed and reused, as long as the author and the preprint are properly cited. 


FAQ

Can I submit a preprint directly to ARPHA Preprints?

No. Posting a preprint on ARPHA Preprints is part of the submission process of the participating ARPHA-hosted journals (see full journal list in About), meaning that it is only after submission of your manuscript to any of those journals that it will be considered to be posted as a preprint.

Is posting a preprint mandatory? 

No. Posting a preprint on ARPHA Preprints is not mandatory neither for the journals hosted on ARPHA, or for the authors submitting to the journal. Authors who want to post a preprint on ARPHA Preprints, have to (1) choose a journal that provides this service and (2) explicitly confirm that they want to post a preprint during the submission process. 

How do I prepare my preprint submission?

There is no need to do anything more than the regular submission to the journal. ARPHA Preprints does not require any additional submission files apart from those you should have already prepared while organising your manuscript submission to the journal. Using those files, ARPHA will automatically generate a preview of the ready-to-post PDF file, so you will only need to confirm that you are happy with it. Alternatively, at this step, you have the option to replace the PDF file with your own version.

How long does it take to post a preprint?

Normally, this should take from one to a few days. Before it is posted, your manuscript will undergo a basic screening by an editor to ensure it complies with the journal’s requirements, and does not contain offensive language, pseudoscience, plagiarism and other unethical content. As soon as it successfully completes the check and is forwarded to peer review, it will appear on ARPHA Preprints. You will be notified via email once the preprint is posted.

Will my manuscript be posted as a preprint in case of rejection prior to peer review? 

No. Your manuscript will be posted as a preprint only if and when it passes the initial basic check by the journal editors conducted prior to peer review. 

What happens to my preprint if the manuscript is rejected after peer review?

Your preprint will remain on ARPHA Preprints.

Is a preprint visible from the journal’s website?

No. Preprints are posted on ARPHA Preprints only and will not be linked to from the journal’s website. It is only after the associated manuscript is subsequently published in that journal that the preprint will be linking to the paper via DOI and the available citation information, but, even then, the paper will not be linking back to the preprint.

What does it cost to post a preprint on ARPHA Preprints?

Nothing. The publication of a preprint on ARPHA Preprints does not incur any additional charges.

What article types can I submit as preprints?

Preprint types follow the article types accepted in the journal. ARPHA Preprints does not restrict the acceptance of preprints based on their type, however, please note that some manuscripts (e.g. editorials, commentaries, obituaries, corrigenda etc.) are normally not suitable to post as preprints and can be rejected at the discretion of an editor.

What happens to my preprint when the manuscript is published in the journal?

Once the manuscript is published in the ARPHA-hosted journal, the status of your preprint will change to "Published in <the corresponding ARPHA-hosted journal>". Additionally, the citation details of the published paper will be made available along with those of the preprint, in order to prompt further citations of your paper rather than the preprint. ARPHA Preprints will link the DOIs of the two publications through CrossRef.

Can I resubmit my manuscript to another journal if I have already posted a preprint on ARPHA Preprints?

You can resubmit your manuscript to another journal (ARPHA-hosted or not) only after it is rejected at the journal where it has been submitted. Note that some journals may not consider manuscripts previously posted as preprints on any preprint server.

Can I update my preprint?

ARPHA Preprints does not allow revisions of preprints once they are posted online.

Can I withdraw my preprint from ARPHA Preprints?

Withdrawal of a preprint from ARPHA Preprints is only possible if there is a substantial reason to do so, i.e. major scientific errors, data fabrication, plagiarism or law infringement. Even so, once a preprint is posted on ARPHA Preprints, it cannot be removed completely, as it has already been registered on CrossRef, meaning some information about it (e.g. metadata, data deposited in external repositories) will remain. Reposts, citations and downloads of your preprints (allowed under Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license) cannot be reversed. 

Are comments allowed on ARPHA Preprints?

Commenting is possible for any preprint posted on ARPHA Preprints via the Comment tab in the right-hand side menu of the publication. Submitted comments can be made privately (via email) or publicly. In the latter case, they are subject to moderation to prevent offensive or irrelevant content from going public. Once a comment is posted, the author(s) will be notified via email.

How can I cite a preprint posted on ARPHA Preprints?

Citation details complete with the preprint’s DOI are available in the Citation tab located in the menu on the right-hand side of the publication. Once the associated manuscript is published in the corresponding journal, the citation details for the article will also become visible in the same tab, in order to prompt citation of the peer-reviewed paper, rather than the preprint.

Where are preprints on ARPHA Preprints indexed?

Preprints posted on ARPHA are indexed in several appropriate indexing services.

Are preprints effectively/validly published in the meaning of the biological Codes?

No. Preprints are preliminary versions of works accessible electronically in advance of publication of the final version. They are not issued for the purposes of botanical, mycological or zoological nomenclature and are not effectively/validly published in the meaning of the Codes. Therefore, nomenclatural novelties (new names) or other nomenclatural acts (designations of type, choices of priority between names, choices between orthographic variants, or choices of gender of names) should NOT be posted as preprints. 

The following provisions in the Codes of Nomenclature define their status:

  • International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICNafp) Article 30.2
    "An electronic publication is not effectively published if there is evidence within or associated with the publication that its content is merely preliminary and was, or is to be, replaced by content that the publisher considers final, in which case only the version with that final content is effectively published." In order to be validly published, a nomenclatural novelty must be effectively published (Art. 32.1(a)); in order to take effect, other nomenclatural acts must be effectively published (Art. 7.10, 11.5, 53.5, 61.3, and 62.3).
  • International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) ​Article: 21.8.3: 
    ​"​Some works are accessible online in preliminary versions before the publication date of the final version. Such advance electronic access does not advance the date of publication of a work, as preliminary versions are not published (Article 9.9)​"​.​

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Journal Info

 

Journal Name ARPHA Preprints
Journal URL https://preprints.arphahub.com/
ISSN (online) -
ISSN (print) -
Content Provider ARPHA
Publisher Pensoft Publishers
Journal Owner
Owner URL https://pensoft.net
Start Year 2020
Review Type single-blind
Publication Frequency
APC No publication charges
License Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0)

 


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