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Authors needs are changing.

Societies and publishers should evolve with them..

Many researchers want more control of how - and when - they share their research. How are your journals evolving to meet these changing needs and expectations? Through In Review, we can help you adapt while also enabling the success of your authors. ‍ Learn more below, then contact us to discuss integrating your journal.

In Review is a simple journal integration for publishers and academic societies. It allows authors to seamlessly post their manuscripts on the multidisciplinary preprint platform, Research Square, while simultaneously submitting those same manuscripts to journals for peer review. In Review includes a series of beneficial features for publishers and authors alike.

Nearly 500 journals are using In Review integration.

Authors are opting to join In Review 40% of the time.

Nearly 100,000 preprints have been posted on Research Square, covering hundreds of disciplines. ‍

For Publishers and Societies

In Review helps you quickly and seamlessly integrate preprinting into your manuscript submission process without the need to build or manage a separate preprint platform.

The value of In Review to Publishers and Societies

• Zero-cost implementation
• Seamless integration of In Review into your manuscript submission systems and journals
• Possible revenue sharing for Research Square's paid author services (research promotion services, editorial badges, etc.)
• Branding integration
• White label opportunities
• A peer-review timeline that provides varying levels of transparency for the publisher
• Integration with one of the largest, most robust multidisciplinary preprint servers in the world

For Authors

Using In Review, authors can publish their manuscripts as preprints on Research Square while submitting them to participating journals. If the manuscript is not accepted, the author may still submit to other journals, but their work will remain on the Research Square preprint platform.

The value of In Review to Authors

Immediately upon publication of the preprint, the primacy of their work is established. Authors can also track and immediately see status changes as their manuscripts advance through the peer-review process.

• A peer-review timeline with instant status updates as your manuscript moves through the peer-review process
• Established primacy of your findings upon publication of your preprint
• Access to your preliminary paper while readers await your peer-reviewed publication
• A citable DOI for your preprinted manuscript
• Access to our tools and services for manuscript improvement, like community comments, language assessment tools, and more
• A link from the preprint to the latest published version of record
• Full-text indexing for better search engine discoverability
• Attractive HTML formatting for all preprints. This allows better readability, image resizing, and figure downloads.

"I opted-in because I knew I should be submitting preprints, but I didn’t know where to start. In Review made it convenient."

In Review author, Johns Hopkins University

"Every publication should have a system like In Review , where everyone can see when and where you submitted."

Pritam Sukul, University Medicine Rostock

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a preprint? 

Preprints are defined as an author’s version of a research manuscript prior to formal peer review at a journal, which they deposit on a public server (as this article, “Preprints for the life sciences”,  Science  352, 899-901; 2016, describes). 

For more information about Springer Nature’s policies on preprint sharing please see  here . 

Many journals and publishers support sharing of preprints and do not consider preprints to be prior publication. You can find more information about journals’ policies  on this Wikipedia page.

What is  In Review ? 

In Review  is a free preprint service from Research Square (of which Springer Nature is an investor) developed in partnership with Springer Nature (since October 2018) providing journal-integrated preprint sharing (for direct submissions of primary research manuscripts)  and transparency into the peer review process for authors.  By depositing a citable preprint  on the Research Square platform,  In Review  allows authors to benefit from early sharing , including potential earlier citations, visibility and collaboration opportunities.  Authors can demonstrate research progress to funders and others, and engage the wider community for comment and collaboration all while their manuscript is being reviewed.  The wider research community will be able to discover new research with fully indexed search, comment on and help improve emerging science and gain insight into work currently under review at participating journals.

At BMC and Springer open access journals,  In Review  provides a public peer review timeline and supports public release of peer reviewed versions. For more information about what authors can expect if they opt-in at BMC and Springer open access journals, see   here .

In Review  at  Nature  journals provides journal-integrated preprint sharing on the Research Square preprint platform; for more information about  In Review  at Nature journals, see here ( https://www.nature.com/nature-research/for-authors/in-review .)

You can find the complete list of journals with  In Review  available here . We are constantly adding more journals so check back often.

What are the benefits of  In Review  to authors and the wider community?

Through  In Review  we aim to support early sharing of research through preprints for every Springer Nature author, to encourage community engagement and feedback and to give added visibility to potentially significant science that is being considered for publication.  The wider research community will be able to discover new research with fully indexed search, comment on and help improve emerging science and gain insight into work currently under review at participating journals.

Authors are also able to track peer review progress on their preprint under review through an author dashboard.

What do I need to know about opting in to  In Review ?

• You must ensure that your co-authors agree to post a preprint and participate in  In Review
• Whether you opt into  In Review  or not will have no effect on the editorial decisions and whether your manuscript is accepted.
• Your manuscript will also be posted after undergoing a set of quality control checks as a preprint to  In Review;  and will receive a DOI; it will now become a public and permanent part of the scholarly record. The community will be able to comment on, read, or cite your preprint.
• The peer review process including all editorial communications will continue through the peer review submission and manuscript tracking system.  
• All queries about your manuscript’s peer review process should be directed to the journal.You will receive real time updates on the progress of your manuscript through a private peer review timeline in the Author Dashboard feature of  In Review  (eg, number of reviewers invited, reviewers agreed, receipt of reports). 
• If your manuscript is published, the preprint will be updated with a link to the published version.
• If your manuscript is rejected, all information corresponding to journal and peer review status is removed from the preprint (see more information below).
• If your manuscript is rejected and transferred to another Springer Nature journal, opting into  In Review  is not currently available for transferred manuscripts.
• Springer Nature does not have a formal policy of incorporating comments received on preprints into a journal-mediated review process. Editors may, at their discretion, choose to take commenting through the Research Square platform into consideration. As with traditional peer review, they will rely on reviewers with field expertise in forming their decision.

How are preprints screened before being posted through the  In Review  service ?

All preprints that are posted through  In Review  undergo a set of quality control checks. These checks include affirming the presence of the following disclosures, where relevant. Authors should include the disclosures described below in their manuscript if they intend to opt-into In Review.

• Ethics approval for studies with human participants (consent to participate, and consent to publish)
• Ethics approval for animal studies
• Competing interest statements

In addition to these checks, our partner Research Square screens all preprints for pseudoscientific claims, biosecurity/dual use risk, unethical research practice, or other potential risks to human health, personal identifiers.

What will happen to my preprint on Research Square if my manuscript is rejected from the journal I submitted to?

If your article is rejected, all information corresponding to the journal and the peer review process (including journal name, public peer review timeline) will be removed from the preprint, leaving only the original preprint and if applicable, any peer reviewed versions that have been released during a journal peer review process. 

Many journal policies require declaration of posted preprints upon submission; you are free to send the link or share the DOI to the Research Square preprint of your manuscript to other journals as part of a future submission.

Is it possible to make peer reviewed versions of the article available through  In Review ? 

For open access journals, when authors have submitted a revision at the journal, they can ask Research Square to post this as the latest version of their preprint.

What license is applied to the preprint and who holds copyright?

Authors retain full copyright for their work. Preprints posted on the Research Square platform via  In Review  receive a CC-BY 4.0 license which means that readers can reuse with appropriate attribution. More information about CC licenses can be found in these resource documents developed by an  ASAPbio licensing taskforce .

Can I ask for my  In Review  preprint to be removed from the Research Square platform?

No, preprints cannot be removed.  By opting in to  In Review  an author agrees to their article being posted permanently and publicly as a preprint on the Research Square platform after submission.  Information about Research Square policies can be found  here .

Can I participate in  In Review  if I have already posted to a preprint server? 

Yes, you may participate if you have already posted to a preprint server. You should however be aware that having more than one version in different servers will fragment the usage counts and metrics provided on  In Review  and on other sites. It may also cause confusion for some readers about which version to use and cite.

How can I cite a preprint on the Research Square platform?

You may cite your preprint (or another researchers’ preprint), in a Springer Nature journal using the citation format specified in the Springer Nature’s preprint policy; see  here  for details. Once the preprint has been published in a journal, you may use the journal details in the citation.

For specific information about citing preprints posted on the Research Square platform, see Research Square policies  here .

Can I discuss an  In Review  preprint with the media?

Per Springer Nature’s preprint  policy , authors may provide clarification and context in response to inquiries from the media about their preprints, whether posted via  In Review  on the Research Square platform or on another platform.  We advise authors to emphasize in these communications that the study has not been peer reviewed, and that the findings are provisional and could change. We also recommend that reporters indicate that the study is a preprint that has not been peer reviewed. 

Are there any drawbacks to participating in  In Review ?

While we encourage deposition of preprints, please note that it may not be possible for us to undertake media promotion of your work at publication as it may not be possible for us to apply an embargo to your article. Further information on our pre-publicity policy is available  here . This may also affect your institution’s press office.  

For further information, please contact Research Square at [email protected] . 

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Quickly Share, Gain Feedback, and Improve Your Papers with Research Square

The HSLS Update has published numerous articles about preprints over the years. Here we introduce another iteration of the preprint movement — Research Square , a multidisciplinary platform that helps researchers share their work early, gather feedback, and improve their manuscripts prior to (or in parallel with) journal submission.

So what differentiates Research Square from other preprint servers? The focus is on “added value” features such as:

• Increased discoverability and readability due to indexed and machine-readable full text in HTML
• Commenting via a custom-built system or the hypothesis annotation tool
• Figure rendering with a lightbox, which allows for zooming and downloading
• Full metrics, including Altmetrics and Dimensions data
• Research Square Badges to indicate preprint quality
• Editing services to improve the manuscript prior to journal submission
• Video and infographic services to help communicate the research

In addition, Research Square collaborates with Springer Nature on a free preprint service that provides authors with the opportunity to have their manuscript posted online in conjunction with submission to select journals . This service, called In Review , gives authors and readers access to the manuscript status through a peer review timeline during the article review process by the selected journal.

Research Square accepts many types of submissions: research articles, systematic reviews, methods articles, short reports, case reports, and data notes. The latter type is particularly compelling, as it provides an opportunity to post a brief write-up of a single dataset ( Data Note example ). All submissions are encouraged to include a Data Availability Statement documenting where to locate the data . Unacceptable submission types are literature reviews, hypotheses, opinions, theories, and commentaries, but manuscripts reporting negative results are included.

Each posted preprint is published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 license and assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) issued through Crossref . The community-supported scholarly content preservation repository, Portico , permanently archives all content. In addition to preprints, Research Square posts protocols from Protocol Exchange , an open repository of community-contributed protocols sponsored by Nature Research. Explore the FAQ for additional information about the entire Research Square preprint platform.

~Carrie Iwema

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Editor's decision in Nature and under review in Research Square [duplicate]

I submitted a journal paper in scientific reports and I found something very weird. Two different status if I check via nature webpage with Editor's decision and through Research Square under review no updates from one month.

I have sent an email and the assistant has told me that they have received all reviews they need but I do not get any final answer and the research square does not change from under review to editor and it is not updated for one month. But the status changed from reviewer 3 received to reviewer 2 received but without changing dates. Only under the title of my paper not in the tracking itself.

I am afraid that the tracking is not correct so the editor does not know about the paper. As it is not consistent one tracking with the other.

I have sent one email about this issue to the assistant but she checked the nature systen only so I don't know what it is happening and why there is no further updates for one month and why they are different from research square.

Someone else had the same issue?

• publications
• paper-submission

• 1 I am not sure I understand your question. Research Square is where your pre-print is. Nature scientific reports is where your manuscript is. The Research Square page says " Journals can participate in In Review with varying levels of transparency into the peer review process " You seem to think Nature and Research Square should sync to each other. Is there any reason you think so? –  Nobody Commented Sep 29, 2022 at 8:53
• Research square should track the status of the paper for some journals but as I saw it cannot be trusted. –  zandarina Commented Sep 29, 2022 at 22:13

SHORT ANSWER

Research Square and Nature are two distinct publication venues. Nature might offer the option to send a submission to Research Square so that it is made public (and time stamped) while still in the review process, but the only system which matters for their reviewing process is that of Nature. The status of a submission on Research Square is probably updated only after some key points, for purely informational purpose.

LONGER ANSWER

The " In Review " service of Research Square ("a free journal-integrated preprint service offered to authors at participating journals. Authors can opt to have their manuscript automatically posted online in the form of a preprint with a DOI") might seem to you as an integrated part of the submission system of Nature , but it is actually a separate entity, with a distinct purpose:

• Nature's purpose is to publish peer-reviewed articles (with the seal of approval that such long peer-reviewing process provides), while
• Research Square's purpose is to 1) diffuse preprints without peer-review, and to 2) help writers to improve their draft before submission to venues with peer-reviewing processes.

My advice would be to trust Nature's editorial process (they have a long experience with it) and to use Research Square as an easy to use way to share a time stamped version of your article with colleagues while waiting for the official results of Nature's peer reviewed process.

Hope it helps!

• Thank you, you were right the research square was making errors only nature must be trusted. I got the response today when the research square was under review. –  zandarina Commented Sep 29, 2022 at 22:11

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged publications paper-submission .

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• Published: 15 June 2020

Evolving our support for early sharing

Nature Communications volume  11 , Article number:  2959 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

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Nature Communications encouraged rapid dissemination of results with the launch of Under Consideration in 2017. Today we take one more step by offering an integrated preprint deposition service to our authors as part of the submission process.

Early sharing of results in preprints has been a familiar practice for some research communities for decades—physicists will know that the arXiv is turning 30 next year —and has grown in popularity with many other communities in the past 5–10 years, perhaps catalysed by the launch of bioRxiv, which now serves a large community of researchers in the life sciences.

While the word ‘preprint’ might sound archaic in a digitally-led world, the need for early sharing and discovery of results has never been greater, particularly at a time when a pandemic is sweeping the globe. We strongly believe in the importance of this practice to increase transparency in the research process and to speed up the dissemination and re-use of scientific results, while maintaining that a rigorous peer-review (normally coordinated as part of the publication process in a journal) is needed to validate the findings.

From today, our authors have the option to take advantage of In Review, a free preprint deposition service integrated with the submission process to our journal.

Nature Research, the portfolio of our sister journals, has long supported preprint deposition of the originally submitted version of manuscripts, and actively encourages it since last year. In order to further promote the practice of preprinting, Nature Communications launched an initiative in 2017 that allowed authors to list the preprints of papers hosted on any platform, and undergoing peer review at our journal, on our Under Consideration web page. The link from our page to the preprint is available for the length of the peer review process, and removed once a final decision is made .

We have been offering this option to our authors for two and a half years, and we are very happy to report that 59% of the authors who opted in ended up depositing a preprint of their work as a result of our initiative. The overall uptake has grown from 3% in 2017 to 7% in 2019, and has varied significantly by discipline, with 22% of participating papers in the physical sciences, and 78% in the life and biological sciences. Perhaps this uneven breakdown is a reflection of the more recent adoption of preprints by the latter community, when compared with the more mature practice in the physical sciences. Authors working in neuroscience have been by far the most receptive to this initiative, contributing 18% of all participating papers.

Wishing to facilitate greater adoption of preprints across the multidisciplinary scope of our journal, we are retiring Under Consideration to support a new early sharing tool with added functionalities for our authors.

From today, our authors have the option to take advantage of In Review , a free preprint deposition service integrated with the submission process to our journal. The preprint of the author’s original submission will be posted (with a permanent DOI, under a CC-BY licence) on the multidisciplinary platform hosted by our partner Research Square at the same time as the submission is being considered by our editorial team.

For authors who opt-in, the posting will happen when our editors decide whether to send the manuscript for external review. If the manuscript is sent to reviewers, the preprint on Research Square will be displayed as being ‘under review at Nature Research’ for as long as the manuscript is being considered. Once the manuscript is published, the preprint will link to the published version. When the preprint is posted, a HTML version of the manuscript will be created and displayed when original figures are available, making it more machine-readable—and hence easier to be discovered by search engines—than a PDF.

As part of the service offered by In Review, authors will be able to track the status of their manuscript thanks to a private peer review timeline, showing main events such as the recruitment of a reviewer or the receipt of a reviewer report. More information about In Review for Nature Research journals, including the minimum disclosures required, can be found here . At present, the In Review opt-in is available for submissions received via the Nature Communications portal, but not to authors transferring their paper from another Nature Research journal.

In Review has been offered on almost 300 Springer Nature journals since October 2018. This integrated preprint deposition service will hopefully make it easier, and thus more likely, for our authors to share their results early. Moreover, we believe that In Review will be particularly useful in serving communities that do not yet have an established discipline-specific preprint server, as well as providing more visibility for multidisciplinary works.

We continue to encourage preprint deposition on any community-recognised preprint server—it is solely the author’s choice to decide if and where they are going to post their results before the conclusion of the peer review process.

We are excited about this new step we are taking in support of early sharing. We will monitor reception of this new service by our authors, and continue to evolve our offering to them in response to the needs of the community.

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Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .

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Evolving our support for early sharing. Nat Commun 11 , 2959 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16788-3

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