Preprint articles are research manuscripts that have not been peer-reviewed or accepted for publication in a scientific journal. Scientists often publish in preprint services to make their work available to others as quickly as possible. Based on the citation data we have compiled for our customers, about 4% of citations are preprints (refer to our past report). The major preprints websites include bioRxiv, medRxiv, Research Square, and arxiv, etc..
We have seen a rapid growther of the number of preprints before 2020. However, the number of new articles published in biorxiv has started to decline since 2020.
It is possible that the decline in total scientific publications may be responsible for the observed decrease in preprint papers. In this regards, we plotted the number of publications in PubMed, but we did not find any sign of decline. This means other factors have contributed to the decline of preprint articles.
A preprint article is typically published in a “regular” journal within a few months, though sometimes it can take over a year. Our citation tracking service is able to track both. You have the option to not track preprints, and you can also choose to track both if you wish.