Read by QxMD now includes preprints … but not just any preprints
Preprints aren’t new, but the COVID-19 pandemic quickly thrust them into the publishing mainstream. In the first 10 months of the pandemic, approximately 25% of COVID-19 research was initially shared as a preprint, compared to just 3 or 4% of research from other topics pre-pandemic.¹ With this much key research being shared as preprints it was a clear progression for QxMD to integrate them into Read, but we wanted to do more than just that!
Listen to the recent discussion between WebMD’s Dr. John Whyte and Medscape’s Dr. Eric Topol on the emergence of preprints.
The key factor behind the rise of preprints is that it gets research into the public domain quickly, on average within 4 days of submission to a preprint server.²,³ This comes with a number of benefits, but importantly it gets the conversation started and allows relevant information to have an immediate impact, and influence policies and practice. For the pandemic this was crucial.
Many also view the mass public review as a positive, as Dr. Topol mentions in the video; “Immediately after a good one is posted, Twitter is all over it”. Twitter review lacks the formal structure of peer review, but as Dr. Whyte and Dr. Topol agree, in the absence of a dedicated system, platforms like Twitter allow experts across the globe to very quickly discuss results and reach a consensus, helping shape the literature at an early stage.
This is great, but it means even more for the average physician to read, analyze and critique. As Dr. Whyte says in the video: “We have all these journals, there are more and more journals involved, we have increased frequency, now we have preprints. How do you realistically keep up with it?”
Dr. Topol explains that he relies on his knowledge to be able to pick out the preprints worth looking at — “I can pretty well look at 10 preprint titles and authors and zoom in on one because I know these people or I know their work.”
As Dr. Whyte rightly comments, we don’t all have the expertise or the time to do this. This is where QxMD’s new offering is really exciting. QxMD isn’t just including preprints but is helping you with the initial vetting in a similar way that Dr. Topol does.
Through some exciting partnerships, including with Medscape’s First Look series, we are able to evaluate the authors, their publication history, the institutions at which they work and early commenting to help determine the preprints we think will most likely have a future impact on practice. We then only include these preprints in the Read database. Furthering QxMD as a tool to save you time and give you only the information you need.
Of course, preprints are not the perfect solution. We hope our additional screening will increase the quality of preprints included, but it’s important to remember that these haven’t received peer review and must be read with a critical eye. We will be encouraging discussion and critique through our in-app features to aid with this.
Preprints will now start appearing in your specialty feeds and search results. To begin with, we are only including preprints from Oncology, Cardiology, Neurology and Endocrinology. If successful we hope to roll this out to all indications. Please let us know what you think!
References
- https://read.qxmd.com/read/33798194/the-evolving-role-of-preprints-in-the-dissemination-of-covid-19-research-and-their-impact-on-the-science-communication-landscape
- https://www.medrxiv.org/about/FAQ
- https://www.techrxiv.org/f/faqs#faq-7
