Open Platforms

Many repositories exist for archiving and providing public access to various research outputs, including writings, data, etc. Some repositories are broad in scope, while some are discipline-specific. Institutional repositories are typically indexed by Google and other search engines.

• Brigham Young University maintains a free Institutional repository for research performed at BYU: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/ (see also [link to ScholarsArchive page])
• Links to several discipline-specific data repositories can be found here: https://guides.lib.byu.edu/data_repositories
• The Open Science Framework (OSF) provides a free tool to help manage research outputs and promote collaboration: OSF

Preprint Servers

Preprint servers have become another important part of the publishing process in several disciplines. While the definition of “preprint” varies, it generally describes a pre-peer-reviewed version of a research paper that is posted on a public platform by the author. Some authors, for example in the medical community, wish to make results known quickly to promote the progress of research; others post preliminary results for the purpose of gaining community feedback or establishing notice that they are working in a specific area. The following are examples of preprint servers:

• OSF Preprints: https://osf.io/preprints
• arXiv: https://arxiv.org/
• Preprints.org: https://www.preprints.org/
• SSRN: https://www.ssrn.com/index.cfm/en/
• engrXiv: https://engrxiv.org/
• IEEE TechRxiv: https://www.techrxiv.org/
• Sage Advance: https://advance.sagepub.com/
• SAE MobilityRxiv: https://mobilityrxiv.sae.org/

Know the Version

It is important to consider what version of research output is represented in each platform or repository, so that you can judge how mature a particular representation of the research is. Often, publisher agreements allow the “author-accepted” version of a research paper to be placed in an institutional repository or on an author’s personal website, although this is not always the case. An author-accepted version has been through the peer review process and has been accepted for publication but lacks final formatting that will appear in the published journal version. Conversely, items found on preprint servers may not have been reviewed at all, other than passing through a moderation process to determine relevance, scholarly content, professional language, lack of plagiarism, and absence of harmful content. Thus, researchers using the latter should factor in the relative immaturity of the research outputs.

Some servers, such as OSF, have provisions for linking preprints to later research products. This can be helpful in determining what version of the research is most up-to-date.