Using Preprints for Journal Clubs

Arturo Casadevall, Neil Gow

Research output: Contribution to journalEditorialpeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)
7 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Journal clubs are important mechanisms for teaching how to approach the scientific literature critically and for disseminating findings. Papers from high impact journals often dominate journal club selections, a practice that reinforces the unscientific emphasis of placing high value on publishing venue rather than scientific content and critical analysis of the publications. We suggest improving
journal clubs by including preprints rather than focusing completely on published papers. This change in practice could benefit the scientific enterprise in numerous ways including providing direct criticisms to preprint authors before publication, de-emphasizing publishing venue, teaching students the art of reviewing papers, and making journal clubs more current by discussing unpublished data.
Original languageEnglish
Article number00516-18
JournalmBio
Volume9
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 Apr 2018

Bibliographical note

N.G. thanks Sophien Kamoum for discussions on this topic, which helped shape his views.

Keywords

  • journal club
  • preprints
  • publishing

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