Publication rate and citation counts for preprints released during the COVID-19 pandemic: the good, the bad and the ugly.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Preprints are preliminary reports that have not been peer-reviewed. In December 2019, a novel coronavirus appeared in China, and since then, scientific production, including preprints, has drastically increased. In this study, we intend to evaluate how often preprints about COVID-19 were published in scholarly journals and cited.

Methods

We searched the iSearch COVID-19 portfolio to identify all preprints related to COVID-19 posted on bioRxiv, medRxiv, and Research Square from January 1, 2020, to May 31, 2020. We used a custom-designed program to obtain metadata using the Crossref public API. After that, we determined the publication rate and made comparisons based on citation counts using non-parametric methods. Also, we compared the publication rate, citation co

SUBMITTER: Anazco D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7936563 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature