How swamped preprint servers are blocking bad coronavirus research

"ArXiv, launched almost 30 years ago, was the first major preprint repository — but in recent years, discipline- and region-specific servers have mushroomed. Screening procedures vary, but an analysis of 44 servers posted last week on bioRxiv1 found that most have quality-control systems. Seventy-five per cent publicly provided information about their screening procedures, and 32% involved researchers in vetting articles for criteria such as relevance of content.

“I think there was perhaps a misconception that there are no screening checks that go on with preprint servers,” says Jamie Kirkham, a biostatistician at the University of Manchester, UK, and a co-author of the study. “We have actually found that most of them do.” 

BioRxiv and medRxiv have a two-tiered vetting process. In the first stage, papers are examined by in-house staff who check for issues such as plagiarism and incompleteness. Then manuscripts are examined by volunteer academics or subject specialists who scan for non-scientific content and health or biosecurity risks. BioRxiv mainly uses principal investigators; medRxiv uses health professionals. Occasionally, screeners flag papers for further examination by Sever and other members of the leadership team. On bioRxiv, this is usually completed within 48 hours. On medRxiv, papers are scrutinized more closely because they may be more directly relevant to human health, so the turnaround time is typically four to five days.

Sever emphasizes that the vetting process is mainly used to identify articles that might cause harm — for example, those claiming that vaccines cause autism or that smoking does not cause cancer — rather than to evaluate quality. For medical research, this also includes flagging papers that might contradict widely accepted public-health advice or inappropriately use causal language in reporting on a medical treatment.

But during the pandemic, screeners are watching for other types of content that need extra scrutiny — including papers that might fuel conspiracy theories. ..."