- How To Prepare Your Preprint
- Upload A Preprint
- Navigate To Your Preprints
How to Prepare Your Preprint
1. Choose a preprint service
Go to CoP Preprints Page
2. Get permission from all authors to share the preprint
Before posting a preprint, verify that you have permission from the original author and all co-author(s) to share the work. By sharing a preprint, you confirm that all authors agree with sharing it and that you have the right to share the preprint.
Gather Conflicts of interest from all co-authors to disclose the COI for the preprint. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include: financial involvement in any entity such as honoraria, grants, speaking fees, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, expert testimony, and patents or licenses.
3. Prepare your preprint file
You should have your preprint in an easily accessible file.
Preprints are part of the scholarly record. You should assume that your preprint will always be publicly available. Check that you’ve removed any information from your preprint that shouldn't be shared publicly.
4. Prepare supplemental materials
Author assertions about the availability of public data increase transparency for readers and make it easier for readers to find the data underlying your preprint. Gather DOIs or persistent links to any of the data used in the analyses in your preprint to provide along with the preprint.
If you have supplemental materials that you want to share along with your preprint -- code, protocols, surveys, data, etc.-- these files will be stored in an CoP project that will be connected to your preprint. You can add supplemental materials at any time, and they can always be removed.
5. Choose disciplines
Decide which discipline(s) best fit your preprint. It's required to add one top-level discipline, and you can get more specific by adding subdisciplines.
The disciplines and subdisciplines available will vary by preprint server. To see the disciplines offered by CoP Preprints and the community preprint servers, you can browse the subject areas on each preprint server's "Search" page. See our Search And Discover Preprints help guide for instructions.
If you don't see your discipline, you can tag your preprint with your specific subject area(s).
6. Decide how you want to license your preprint
It's important to choose the appropriate license to apply to your preprint in order to communicate how you want others to share your work. That said, it's not required to license your preprint.
The licenses available for CoP Preprints are CC-0 1.0 Universal and CC-By Attribution 4.0 International. These are open licenses. Additional licenses are available on some of the community preprint services.
Learn more about the different licenses at Creative Commons or Choosealicense.Com.
7. Write the abstract
Plan your abstract ahead of time, and make sure that it’s at least 20 characters long.
You can either type your abstract or copy and paste it into the textbox during the upload process. You can’t upload an abstract as a file.
8. Determine the authorship order
Communicate with your co-authors that you want to share your article as a preprint and determine the order in which the names should appear.
Upload A Preprints
Preprints offer a way to share your research quickly, receive feedback from the community, and gain a wider audience for your work. CoP Preprints and the community preprint services follow the same upload process. Read our Preprint FAQs to learn more about preprints.
All preprints receive a DOI and persistent URL to allow your preprint to be cited, and the option to add supplemental files, like data or analysis scripts
1. Add a preprint
First, navigate to CoP Preprints
Then click the Add a preprint button
2. File
Uploading PDFs is recommended. All file types are supported and most render in browser.
Next, upload your preprint file either from your computer or from one of your existing CoP projects.
a)Upload From Your Computer
Click the Upload from your computer button.
Either drag and drop your preprint file into the upload box, or click inside the upload box to select a file from a dialog box.
Enter a title for your preprint into the textbox that appears. Note: The preprint filename is permanent and cannot be changed or edited after the preprint has been submitted.
Then, click Save and continue.
b)Select From An Existing Cop Project
Is the file you want to upload already stored in a CoP project? Select this option to upload an existing file from one of your CoP projects.
Click the Select from an existing CoP project button.
Select the CoP project from the drop-down menu.
Files stored in the project's CoP Storage will appear.
Select the file from the file tree.
Next, enter a title for your preprint into the "Title" field.
Then click Save and continue.
4. Author Assertions
- Public Data
Author assertions about the availability of public data and preregistrations increase transparency for readers and make it easier for readers to find the data underlying your preprint.
Click to Select the author assertion for availability of public data. If any of the data used in the analyses in your preprint are publicly available, select Available to indicate this.
A box will appear for you to enter link(s) to your publicly available dataset(s). If your preprint involves multiple datasets posted at different urls, click the ‘plus’ icon to add more boxes. Only put one url per box.
If No is selected, the author asserts that data associated with analyses in the preprint are not publicly available. An optional text box will appear. Use this box to give more information about why data is not publicly posted, or how others might access the data if it is available under limited circumstances (e.g. after signing a data-sharing agreement).
If Not Applicable is selected, the author asserts that no analyses are reported in the preprint, and so there is no data that could potentially be made publicly available.
Then click Save and continue.
- Preregistrations
A box will also appear for you to enter link(s) to a preregistration. Click to select the author assertion for availability of your preregistration(s). If there is a publicly available preregistration associated with your preprint, select Available to indicate this.
If you have multiple preregistrations at different URLs, click the ‘plus’ icon to add more boxes. Only put one url per box. Specify whether your preregistration(s) reflect a Study Design, Analysis Plan, or Both.
If No is selected, the author asserts that preregistration associated with the preprint is not publicly available. An optional text box will appear. Use this box to give more information about why the preregistration is not publicly available.
If Not Applicable is selected, the author asserts that preregistration is not applicable because no data collection, extraction, or analysis is reported in the preprint.
Then click Save and continue.
5. Basics
Next, fill out the "Basics" section: select a license, enter a publication DOI (if applicable), include the original publication date (if applicable), add keywords, and provide an abstract.
Then click Save and continue.
6. Discipline
Adding disciplines to your preprint will enhance the discoverability of your work. The list of disciplines will vary by preprint service.
Select at least one discipline that corresponds to your preprint.
Then click Save and continue.
7. Authors
All co-authors are given read+write permissions by default. The different levels of permissions are:
- Read: The author can view the preprint but does not have permission to edit.
- Read + Write: The author can view the preprint but does not have permission to edit. The author can add supplemental files.
- Administrator: The author can view and edit the preprint, add supplemental files, and manage authors and permissions.
If a co-author does not have an account on the preprint service, they can be added as an unregistered user. If a co-author already has an account, they can be added as a registered user.
- Add An Unregistered Author
Use this option if your co-author doesn't have an account on the preprint service.
Type your co-author's name into the search box, then click the magnifying glass button.
Click the Add author by email address button below the search box.
Next, enter your co-author's name into the "Full Name" field and their email address into the "Email" field.
Then click Add.
Your co-author will be added.
Next, select their permissions and choose whether they should appear in citations by checking or unchecking the box in the "Citation" column.
- Add A Registered Author
Use this option if your co-author has an account on the preprint service.
Enter your co-author's name or CoP Profile Information (ORCiD ID, Twitter handle, GitHub username, etc.) into the search box, then click the magnifying glass button.
Find their name in the search results, then click the Add button next to their name.
Your co-author will be added.
Next, select their permissions and choose whether they should appear in citations by checking or unchecking the box in the "Citation" column.
Reorder Authors
The order in which your authors appear in the "Authors" list is the order in which they will appear in citations.
To reorder authors, click the icon with three bars, then drag and drop the authors into the correct order.
8. Disclose Conflicts of Interest
Conflict of interest (COI) disclosures increase transparency for readers. The COI assertion is made on behalf of all the authors listed for this preprint. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include: financial involvement in any entity such as honoraria, grants, speaking fees, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, expert testimony, and patents or licenses. COIs can also include non-financial interests such as personal or professional relationships or pre-existing beliefs in the subject matter or materials discussed in this preprint.
Do you have a Conflict of interest disclosure to assert for this preprint? Select Yes to disclose any conflicts of interest (COI).
A text field will appear. Include all relevant COIs in this section.
If No is selected, the authors assert that there are no COIs.
Then click Save and continue.
9. Add supplemental materials
Do you have supplemental materials that you want to add along with your preprint? Are the files already stored in a CoP project? Or do you want to upload the materials later? Select one of the workflows to add supplemental materials.
Next, you can add supplemental materials to your preprint by storing them in a CoP project that will be connected to your preprint.
- Connect An Existing CoP Project
Choose this option if your supplemental materials are already stored in an existing CoP project.
Click the Connect an existing CoP project button.
Then select a project from the drop-down menu, and click Save and continue.
- Create A New CoP Project
Click the Create a new CoP project button.
A default title will be given to the project. The title can be modified in the "Project title" field.
Then click Save and continue.
10. Create
Read the instructions at the bottom of the page, then click the Create preprint button.
A modal will appear asking you to confirm that you want to share the preprint.
Click the Create button in the modal.
Your preprint will be uploaded to the selected preprint service. You will receive a confirmation email upon sharing.
Your co-authors will receive an email notifying them that they have been added to the preprint.
A preprint service may use pre- or post-moderation, in which case a moderator will review and either accept or reject your preprint. Your preprint will have a "pending" status indicating that it's being moderated.
Navigate to Your Preprints
After submitting a preprint, your preprint submissions will be aggregated in a central location for ease of access and navigation.
First, sign in to CoP Preprints or a community preprint provider.
Then click the My Preprints tab in the navigation bar.
All of your preprint submissions will be listed.
Select a preprint from the list to navigate to its "Preprint Detail" page.