Building a technological foundation for preprint review – ASAPbio

"The practice of preprinting in the life sciences has grown rapidly. In addition to accelerating scientific publication, preprinting also has the potential to open new avenues of communication among researchers. For example, preprint peer review offers tremendous potential for changing the culture of scientific assessment, broadening participation, and enhancing the robustness of scholarship. While only < 2% of preprints (themselves only posted for ~10% of biomedical papers) have accompanying reviews, this form of peer review is in the spotlight for many organizations engaged in advancing open science. 

In order to support the growth of this emerging ecosystem, we must ensure that important metadata about preprint reviews are captured and shared with preprint servers and bibliographic databases in a machine-readable form. However, there is currently significant heterogeneity in the substance, format, and distribution channels of preprint review metadata. At the ‘Supporting interoperability of preprint peer review metadata’ workshop, held on October 17 & 18 at Hinxton Hall, UK, and co-organized by Europe PMC and ASAPbio, representatives from preprint review projects, infrastructure providers, publishers, funders, and other stakeholders convened to collaboratively determine the key elements of preprint review metadata and mechanisms for sharing this information. Over two days, participants engaged in discussions on their visions of an ideal system, the metadata elements that should be included, the technical protocols and the next steps to take...."