News Menu

New preprint server for the health sciences announced today

MedRxiv

image of HT magazine logo winter 2019 edition

A joint collaboration between 黑料吃瓜资源, Yale University, and BMJ

medRxiv aims to meet the unique preprint needs of the clinical research community with a free, non-profit service.

Cold Spring Harbor, NY, New Haven, CT, and London, UK — 黑料吃瓜资源 (CSHL), Yale University, and BMJ today announced the forthcoming launch of medRxiv (pronounced “med-archive”), a free online archive and distribution service for preprints in the medical and health sciences.

medRxiv is expected to begin accepting manuscripts on June 6th and will be overseen by the three organizations.

Preprints are preliminary versions of research articles that researchers share with each other before they are published in a journal, to enhance dissemination of study methods and findings among the scientific community and to solicit feedback to help improve the final published article.

medRxiv鈥檚 founding organizations are 黑料吃瓜资源, creator of the biological preprint server (launched in 2013); BMJ, publisher of leading peer-reviewed journals and global healthcare knowledge provider; and Yale University, renowned clinical research and teaching institution. medRxiv will host manuscripts from researchers around the world, regardless of their organizational affiliation, will be publisher-neutral, and will be guided in its mission by an international advisory board.

鈥渕edRxiv鈥檚 mission is to responsibly improve the openness and accessibility of scientific findings, enhance collaboration among researchers, document the provenance of ideas, and inform ongoing and planned research through more timely reporting of completed research鈥 said John Inglis, co-founder of medRxiv and 黑料吃瓜资源鈥檚 bioRxiv.

medRxiv will accept preprints of articles covering all aspects of research in the health sciences. A manuscript鈥檚 appearance in medRxiv does not imply endorsement of its methods, assumptions, conclusions, or scientific quality by BMJ, Yale, or CSHL. There will be prominent labels on all articles that designate them as pre-peer review content.

A manuscript may be posted prior to, or concurrently with, submission to a journal, but not if it has already been published. Most journals from a wide variety of publishers allow publication of journal articles that have appeared in early form on designated preprint servers.

鈥渕edRxiv aims to do for authors engaged in clinical research what bioRxiv and arXiv have been doing for biology and physics, respectively, for many years,鈥 said Harlan Krumholz, co-founder of medRxiv and Yale University Professor of Medicine and head of the Yale Open Data Access (YODA) Project. 鈥淕iven the special requirements of preprints in medical and health fields, medRxiv will also provide new processes to help ensure that we are mitigating any risks of early dissemination while promoting the value of faster communication among the scientific community.鈥

Once posted on medRxiv, manuscripts have a digital object identifier (DOI), so are discoverable, indexable, and citable. They may be withdrawn if authors no longer stand by the findings or conclusions, but cannot routinely be removed.

鈥淏MJ has recognized the value of preprints for more than 20 years. With the recent growth of preprints in the life sciences, we saw the time as ripe to reinvigorate the notion of preprints for the clinical sciences, and were delighted to work together with colleagues from CSHL and Yale who were thinking the same way. We have come together to provide a free, independent service for all health scientists,鈥 said Theodora Bloom, co-founder of medRxiv and Executive Editor, The BMJ.

鈥淒eveloped to support the scientific community and foster collaboration, we see medRxiv as a 鈥榯rusted intermediary鈥 to accelerate the sharing of clinical papers, results and data improve public health and healthcare,鈥 said Joseph S. Ross, co-founder of medRxiv and Associate Professor at Yale.

鈥淭he success of preprints in many other fields has highlighted the opportunity for the medical research community to create an appropriate platform for rapidly and responsibly sharing its latest research,鈥 said Claire Rawlinson, co-founder of medRxiv and Publisher, BMJ.

鈥淲e are already seeing many instances where early release of results on bioRxiv is significantly accelerating basic research. We anticipate medRxiv will do the same for clinical research,鈥 said Richard Sever, co-founder of medRxiv and bioRxiv, 黑料吃瓜资源.

Complete information about medRxiv, including author guidelines, is available at:

For further information, please contact:
Emma Dickinson
BMJ Media Relations
London, UK
Tel: +44 (0)203 655 5021
Email: [email protected]

John R. Inglis, Ph.D.
Co-founder, bioRxiv & medRxiv
黑料吃瓜资源, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA
Tel: +1 (516) 422-4005
Email: [email protected]

Karen Peart
Director, External Communications
Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
Tel: +1 (203) 432-1326
Email: [email protected]

Stay informed

Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest discoveries, upcoming events, videos, podcasts, and a news roundup delivered straight to your inbox every month.

  Newsletter Signup

About BMJ
BMJ is a healthcare knowledge provider with a vision of helping to create a healthier world. We share knowledge and expertise to improve experiences and outcomes worldwide. See our full list of products and resources at .

About Yale University and the Yale Open Data Access (YODA) Project
Since its founding in 1701, Yale University has been dedicated to expanding and sharing knowledge, inspiring innovation, and preserving cultural and scientific information for future generations. The Yale University Open Data Access (YODA) Project鈥檚 mission is to advocate for the responsible sharing of clinical research data, open science, and research transparency. The Project is committed to supporting research focused on improving the health of patients and informing science and public health. For more information, visit

About 黑料吃瓜资源

Founded in 1890, 黑料吃瓜资源 has shaped contemporary biomedical research and education with programs in cancer, neuroscience, plant biology and quantitative biology. Home to eight Nobel Prize winners, the private, not-for-profit Laboratory employs 1,000 people including 600 scientists, students and technicians. The Meetings & Courses Program annually hosts more than 12,000 scientists. The Laboratory鈥檚 education arm also includes an academic publishing house, a graduate school and the DNA Learning Center with programs for middle, high school, and undergraduate students and teachers. For more information, visit www.cshl.edu

One thought on “New preprint server for the health sciences announced today

  1. Pingback:

Comments are closed.