3 ways that preprints help researchers in agricultural and plant sciences

The use of preprints (pre-peer reviewed versions of scholarly papers) has accelerated in the last few years with many researchers now sharing their latest work with the scientific community before or in parallel to publication with a journal. After a slower start compared to other research fields, adoption of preprints in the plant sciences and agriculture is growing well.

As part of this growing trend, CABI relaunched agriRxiv (pronounced agri-archive and previously known as AgriXiv) in 2020 as a platform for posting preprints. agriRxiv makes preprints across agriculture and allied sciences available to researchers and gives those who wish to share their papers online an opportunity to gain valuable feedback before submitting a final version to a journal and formal peer-review.

No. 1: Get early feedback and visibility

This brings us to one of the main reasons why researchers working in agriculture and plant sciences post preprints: they gain early feedback to their research and can, therefore, make valuable edits and changes to their paper before submitting to a journal for peer review.

Platforms like agriRxiv provide an early forum for discussion and allow authors to get informal feedback on their article prior to submitting an improved version to a journal for peer review.

Preprints also allow researchers to share their results rapidly and gain increased visibility. In just a few days, they reach a global audience, generating interest in a paper before it has been submitted to a journal. Research shows that papers that started off as preprints gain higher numbers of citations and mentions.

No. 2: Join the open access community

By sharing preprints, authors are able to make their findings immediately available to their scientific colleagues. On agriRxiv, for example, there is no charge for authors or readers.

Open access and open science are important to CABI. When agriRxiv was launched, Dr Andy Robinson, Managing Director of Publishing at CABI, said:

“It’s part of our commitment to ‘open science’ in agriculture and complements our work with governments and research funders to develop open and FAIR data-sharing policies and practices.”

For agricultural researchers in low- to middle-income countries and early-stage researchers who may lack access to research budgets, there is a clear benefit to having free, open access research platforms that share research freely and globally.

No. 3: Connect with researchers

In March 2021, CABI and KEPHIS published new research confirming the discovery of the highly invasive apple snail, Pomacea canaliculata, in Kenya. The scientists, including lead author and Microbiology Research Leader at CABI, Dr Alan Buddie, published their findings in CABI Agriculture and Bioscience, but also as a preprint on agriRxiv several months earlier, which became one of the top 10 agriRxiv preprints of 2020.

Talking about the benefit of posting a preprint to agriRxiv, Dr Buddie said,

“A colleague suggested I use agriRxiv, which has proved useful. I’ve already been contacted by a researcher from Brazil after he saw a capture of the preprint in CAB Abstracts. He works on the apple snail in an area of natural control of invertebrate pests and is someone who I’d not normally encounter. So, I think this goes to show how helpful a preprint platform can be for connecting researchers globally.”

On global agricultural issues, such as the spread of invasive species like the apple snail, which damages rice crops, it is important that researchers be able to share their findings as quickly as possible.