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Gray Literature: Preprints & E-prints

Grey Literature, Preprints, E-prints, Technical Reports

Preprints & E-prints

What are Scientific Preprints?

Preprints are early versions of journal articles before they have gone through the peer-review process and been officially published.  As the peer review process can take over a year, preprints are a good source of very current research but they have not gone through peer-review.  Thus you must evaluate each article more carefully before using.

What is Peer review?
Peer review is a process in which experts in the field analyze and evaluate a journal article or conference proceeding based on the research methods, research conducted, conclusions and overall quality of the article before it is accepted for publication.

What are E-prints?
E-prints are scientific or technical documents exchanged electronically to facilitate communication of new research among scientists and researchers.  E-prints include technical communications and scholarly papers that have been submitted for publication.  E-prints may or may not have gone through the peer-review process.  See also Gray Literature

Note: There may be multiple versions of an article including retractions, addendum, and comments.

 

Biology & Ecology

Chemistry

Mathematics

Physics

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