Scientific publishing is evolving rapidly, and one of the most significant shifts in recent years is the rise of preprints, research manuscripts shared publicly before formal peer review. For anatomists and biomedical scientists, understanding preprints is essential for maximizing research impact, fostering collaboration, and navigating the complexities of academic publishing. This blog explores what preprints are, their benefits and cautions, and how they fit into the broader landscape of scientific communication, with a focus on Wiley’s flagship anatomy journals.
What are Preprints?
Preprints are complete scientific manuscripts posted online before undergoing a journal specific peer review process. Researchers typically share the submitted author version on non-commercial servers such as bioRxiv or medRxiv, allowing the scientific community to read, comment on, and cite the work while formal evaluation proceeds elsewhere. The defining features of preprints are speed of sharing the work and openness as preprints are publicly accessible, time-stamped, and usually assigned a DOI, making them citable and discoverable. Importantly, posting a preprint does not preclude later submission to most journals including Wiley titles provided authors disclose the preprint during submission and link the posted version to the final published article.
What are the Benefits of Preprints?
- Rapid Sharing: Preprints enable immediate communication of results, accelerating the exchange of ideas and reducing delays between discovery and community awareness.
- Community Feedback: Peers can provide comments that strengthen study design, analysis, and clarity before journal review concludes.
- Visibility & Citations: Preprints are indexed and citable, supporting grant submissions and institutional reviews.
- Open Science: Preprints align with most funder policies on transparency and collaboration.
What are Cautions?
- Not Peer-Reviewed (Yet): Readers should interpret claims cautiously and authors should clearly communicate limitations.
- Journal Policies Vary: Always review the journal’s instructions for authors before submission.
- Licensing and Reuse: Use conservative licenses to avoid conflicts with publication agreements.
- Public Interpretation: Label preprints as 'not peer-reviewed' and consider a lay summary for clarity.
What are Wiley’s Current Policies on Preprints?
As of January 2026, Wiley’s three flagship anatomy journals, The Anatomical Record, Developmental Dynamics, and Anatomical Sciences Education, fully support the use of preprint servers. Authors may post their submitted (pre-peer review) manuscripts on recognized, non-commercial platforms such as bioRxiv or arXiv at any time. Doing so does not jeopardize eligibility for publication in these journals. Upon acceptance, Wiley encourages authors to update the preprint with a link to the final published version. Preprints should be disclosed during submission, and Wiley will assign a new DOI to the published article while maintaining a link to the preprint. For open access articles, the final version can be shared immediately after publication.
Journal-specific notes:
- The Anatomical Record: No additional restrictions beyond Wiley’s standard policy.
- Developmental Dynamics: No unique limitations beyond Wiley’s policy.
- Anatomical Sciences Education: Follows Wiley’s policy; as a hybrid Open Access journal, authors choosing open access may share the final version immediately after publication.
What are considerations for Career and Scholarly Reputation
Used carefully, preprints can document productivity, enhance research visibility, and highlight emerging work. Preprints with DOIs are citable and tracked by Altmetric tools, offering early indicators of reach and engagement which may be useful for grant reports, progress reviews, and promotion dossiers. If as an author you opt into Wiley’s Under Review, the preprint becomes part of a journal branded collection and can display a transparent peer review timeline. The caveat however is that reputational benefits depend on quality. As with any scholarly work insurance of robust methods and reproducible analyses in the preprint would not inhibit improvements made for the final article.
Key Takeaways
- Posting on preprint servers does not disqualify your manuscript from submission to Wiley’s anatomy journals.
- Always link the preprint to the final article once published.
- Disclose preprints during submission.
- Avoid restrictive licenses that could conflict with Wiley’s copyright agreements.
- Used responsibly, preprints can complement rigorous peer review and enhance your scholarly footprint.
Source
- Wiley Author Services: Preprints Policy; Self-Archiving Policy; Open Practices; Under Review https://authorservices.wiley.com/author-resources/Journal-Authors/licensing/self-archiving.html