Some academic literature has not been through every step of the publishing process but could still be useful to your research. Explore this type of scholarly information here.
From preprint to published science
What is a preprint article?
In academic publishing, a preprint is the version of an article or paper that often is seen prior to its publication in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal. The preprint is usually available at no cost to the reader before and/or after the paper is published. Preprint articles are available for most academic disciplines.
What is a post-print article?
This is a later draft of the article, that includes all of an author’s revisions following the manuscript’s review by multiple experts in the field. Now the article is in the hands of the journal, who will polish it up for publication. A post-print is also called an accepted manuscript.
What is an ahead of print article?
This is an article that is available online on a journal’s website prior to being published in print form, and is also called an e-pub ahead of print. Often, this version will not include volume, issue, or page numbers, so if you are citing it for your own research, you will need to indicate in your citation that the version you are referencing is ahead-of-print.
Where to find preprint articles
- While preprints are scholarly articles, they have not yet been peer-reviewed. Some preprint servers may do a rudimentary check to ensure the submitted content is legitmate academic research, they do not check the reliability and accuracy of the information in the article.
- If your assignment requires you to use peer-reviewed articles you need to use the library catalog, OneSearch, EBSCO, or ProQuest.