Analysis of single comments left for bioRxiv preprints till September 2019 |
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| Authors: | Mario Mali
ki Joseph Costello Juan Pablo Alperin Lauren A Maggio |
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| Institution: | 1.Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford (METRICS), Stanford University, San Francisco, USA;2.Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA;3.Scholarly Communications Lab, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada;4.School of Publishing, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
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| Abstract: | IntroductionWhile early commenting on studies is seen as one of the advantages of preprints, the type of such comments, and the people who post them, have not been systematically explored.Materials and methodsWe analysed comments posted between 21 May 2015 and 9 September 2019 for 1983 bioRxiv preprints that received only one comment on the bioRxiv website. The comment types were classified by three coders independently, with all differences resolved by consensus.ResultsOur analysis showed that 69% of comments were posted by non-authors (N = 1366), and 31% by the preprints’ authors themselves (N = 617). Twelve percent of non-author comments (N = 168) were full review reports traditionally found during journal review, while the rest most commonly contained praises (N = 577, 42%), suggestions (N = 399, 29%), or criticisms (N = 226, 17%). Authors’ comments most commonly contained publication status updates (N = 354, 57%), additional study information (N = 158, 26%), or solicited feedback for the preprints (N = 65, 11%).ConclusionsOur results indicate that comments posted for bioRxiv preprints may have potential benefits for both the public and the scholarly community. Further research is needed to measure the direct impact of these comments on comments made by journal peer reviewers, subsequent preprint versions or journal publications. |
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| Keywords: | preprint preprints as topic comment peer review scientific misconduct |
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