The preprint wars

Crossref provides a succinct and accurate definition for a preprint: “original content which is intended for formal publication, including content that has been submitted, but has not yet been accepted for publication” (1). Preprints thus represent a precursor version of a document (scientific paper, project report, or other) that has not yet been peer reviewed, but that may, if corrected and submitted to a scholarly journal for peer review, have a similar content to the final published version. That very same news alert by Crossref just over one year ago was a game changer in the world of preprints because it basically shattered the Ingelfinger Rule, which was established almost 50 years ago to prevent the submission, or publication, of duplicate papers within the biomedical and scientific literature (2).