Preprints & Conference Proceedings
On this page
Preprints
Nature Portfolio journals encourage posting of preprints of primary research manuscripts on preprint servers of the authors’ choice, authors’ or institutional websites, and open communications between researchers whether on community preprint servers or preprint commenting platforms.
Preprints are defined as an author’s version of a research manuscript prior to formal peer review at a journal, which is deposited on a public server (as described in Preprints for the life sciences. Science 352, 899–901; 2016); preprints may be posted at any time during the peer review process. Posting of preprints is not considered prior publication and will not jeopardize consideration at Nature Portfolio journals. Manuscripts posted on preprint servers will not be taken into account when determining the advance provided by a study under consideration at a Nature Portfolio journal.
Springer Nature has partnered with Research Square ( Springer Nature has a majority interest in Research Square) to provide In Review, a journal-integrated solution for preprint sharing, supporting authors across all the communities we serve to share their research early. Authors submitting to some Springer Nature journals are also able to publicly share information regarding their peer review through In Review. More information about application of In Review to Nature journals can be found here; general information about In Review at Springer Nature and the Research Square preprint platform can be found here and here.
Our policy on posting, licensing, citation of preprints and communications with the media about preprints of primary research manuscripts is summarized below.
Authors should disclose details of preprint posting, including DOI and licensing terms, upon submission of the manuscript or at any other point during consideration at a Nature Portfolio journal. Once the preprint is published, it is the author’s responsibility to ensure that the preprint record is updated with a publication reference, including the DOI and a URL link to the published version of the article on the journal website.
Authors may choose any license of their choice for the preprint including Creative Commons licenses. The type of CC-license chosen will affect how the preprint may be shared and reused. More information to help guide licensing choices can be found in these resource documents developed by an ASAPbio licensing taskforce.
Preprints may be cited in the reference list of articles under consideration at Nature Portfolio journals as shown below:
Babichev, S. A., Ries, J. & Lvovsky, A. I. Quantum scissors: teleportation of single-mode optical states by means of a nonlocal single photon. Preprint at http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0208066 (2002).
Authors posting preprints are asked to respect our policy on communications with the media. Researchers may respond to requests from the media in response to a preprint or conference presentation by providing explanation or clarification of the work, or information about its context. In these circumstances, media coverage will not hinder editorial handling of the submission. Researchers should be aware however that such coverage may reduce or pre-empt coverage by other media at the time of publication. We also advise that researchers approached by reporters in response to a preprint make it clear that the paper has not yet undergone peer review, that the findings are provisional and that the conclusions may change. More information to help guide responsible communication of research reported in preprints can be found in these resource documents developed by the ASAPbio Preprints in the Public Eye project.
Information about our self-archiving policies and release of Author’s Accepted Manuscript may be found here.
Conference proceedings
Publishing work in conference proceedings is common in some research communities. The Nature journals are happy to consider submissions containing material that has been published in a conference proceedings paper. However, the submission should provide a substantial extension of results, methodology, analysis, conclusions and/or implications over the conference proceedings paper; the final decision on what constitutes a substantial extension is made by the editors at each individual journal. Authors must provide details of the conference proceedings paper with their submission including relevant citation in the submitted manuscript. Authors must obtain all necessary permissions to re-use previously published material and attribute appropriately.
Nature Portfolio journals' editorials
- Nature Portfolio journals announce updates to their policy on preprints. Nature. Springer Nature journals unify their policy to encourage preprint sharing, May 2019