By Shinichi Nakagawa | January 14, 2019
[This post has been originally posted on ecoevotransparency.org]
I am very excited to announce the launch of EcoEvoRxiv – a preprint server where ecologists and evolutionary biologists can upload their forthcoming papers. I am aware that many ecologists and evolutionary biologists already use the preprint service, bioRxiv and that’s great! I have used bioRxiv several times myself. EcoEvoRxiv is a more targeted server, and it is convenient because a preprint at EcoEvoRxiv can seamlessly integrate a project that makes use of the services at the Open Science Framework (OSF). My group (i-deel), like others, uses OSF for project management so this is a great feature of EcoEvoRxiv.
There are several reasons I have taken on the challenge of kickstarting and leading EcoEvoRxiv with my colleagues, others than the reasons I already mentioned.
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Having preprints online and citable is especially wonderful for my students and postdocs (and any other young scientists out there). This is because their potential employers can immediately read their work online. Last year, I did a reference for the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP), and they asked whether the candidate has preprints in addition to published papers (a very nice change).
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It is a part of Transparency in Ecology and Evolution (TEE) movement, so I’ve got a lot of support from Fiona and Tim (the co-founders of TEE). We believe that EvoEvoRxiv will not only raise the awareness of preprint servers (including bioRxiv) but also of other transparency activities as part of the credibility revolution.
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The biggest reason is probably that I just cannot say NO when I get asked by people (but in 2019, I will be saying a record number of NOs – I am making a tally chart so that I can report to my mother, who skypes me from Japan regularly, at the end of the year). Nonetheless I am very glad to say YES to EcoEvoRxiv.
We hope EcoEvoRxvi will encourage more ecologists and evolutionary biologists to put their preprints online. We have more information at a dedicated information website (ecoevorxiv.com). As you will find out, we have a wonderful team of committee members and ambassadors from 11 different countries, helping me to launch EcoEvoRixv. EcoEvoRxiv wants your preprints (and also postprints)!
Here I would like to acknowledge people from the Center of Open Science (COS; especially, Rusty, Rebecca, David and Matt – thank you) for their support in launching EcoEvoRxiv.
[The opinions expressed in this blog post are those of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by SORTEE.]