How to Promote a Preprint Without Overselling It
A practical guide to promoting a preprint honestly: what to check before you post, how the main servers compare, and a one-week sharing plan. It also shows how to keep every mention clear that the work has not been peer reviewed yet.
Your preprint went live this morning. It has a public page, a stable link and a handful of views, most of them probably from your co-authors. The question now is how to get it in front of the people who would actually give useful feedback, without making it sound more settled than it is.
Promoting a preprint is not the same as promoting a published paper. You have speed on your side, and an open invitation for comments. You also have a responsibility the published version does not carry in the same way: making sure every reader knows the work has not been peer reviewed yet.
Before You Post: Three Checks
A preprint is hard to take back, so the checks come first.
- Your target journal's policy. bioRxiv's about page says most research journals allow posting on preprint servers prior to publication, and asks authors to consult policy lists before posting. SocArXiv's FAQ points to Open Policy Finder, a database of publisher copyright and self-archiving policies. Check your journal's own author guidelines too.
- The licence. Servers let you choose. bioRxiv authors retain copyright and choose from options including CC BY, CC BY-NC, CC BY-ND, CC BY-NC-ND, CC0 or no reuse. If the work is NIH funded, the NIH notice on interim research products strongly encourages a CC BY licence or a public domain dedication.
- Permanence. bioRxiv says posted articles are citable and therefore cannot be removed. SocArXiv says papers generally cannot be withdrawn once accepted, unless there is a legal obligation such as a substantiated copyright claim. You can post new versions, but the first one stays on the record.
Pick the Server Your Readers Actually Watch
The best server is the one your field already reads. Here is how four common options describe themselves, at the time of writing (October 2026).
| Server | Field | Screening before posting | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| arXiv | Physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology, quantitative finance, statistics, electrical engineering and systems science, economics | Moderation for topical, scholarly material; new users may need an endorsement | No fees for submission; submissions received by 14:00 US Eastern are generally made available at 20:00 Eastern |
| bioRxiv | Life sciences | Basic screening for offensive or non-scientific content and health risks, plus a plagiarism check | Citable by DOI; should not be posted once accepted by a journal; readers can leave moderated public comments |
| medRxiv | Medical, clinical and health sciences | Basic screening and plagiarism check, as for bioRxiv | Receives a DOI; will not post a manuscript already accepted, published or posted elsewhere |
| SocArXiv | Social sciences | Moderation it expects to take less than two days | Receives a DOI; Google Scholar ingests SocArXiv papers; download statistics are available |
If you work in the life or health sciences and plan to submit to PLOS One, its preprint page describes a direct transfer service from bioRxiv and medRxiv, and an opt-in route where PLOS forwards your submission for posting as a preprint.
Write the Preprint So It Travels
Most people will meet your preprint through its title, abstract and first figure. Treat those like you would for the final paper, because they are what gets shared.
Then add the lines that keep it honest. The NIH notice says that to claim a preprint as a product of an NIH award, authors are expected to acknowledge NIH funding, clearly state in the text that the work is not peer reviewed, and declare any competing interests. Even if NIH does not fund you, those three lines are a good habit.
A Week-One Plan for Sharing Your Preprint
- Day 0: Post, then wait for it to appear. Every server above screens or moderates before posting, so plan to share once the public page is live. On arXiv, the time you submit decides when the paper becomes available.
- Day 1: Share one link with a label. Use the DOI or the server's stable link, one clear finding in a sentence, and the words "preprint, not yet peer reviewed". Our LinkedIn post templates adapt well if you add that label.
- Day 2: Ask specific people for feedback. Email three to five researchers whose comments would improve the paper, and say what you would like them to look at. Feedback before journal submission is one of the reasons bioRxiv gives for posting.
- Day 3: Point readers to the comments. If the server supports public comments, as bioRxiv does, invite discussion there so useful critique stays attached to the paper.
- Day 4 to 5: Add it to your own pages. List it on your CV, lab site and profile pages, labelled as a preprint with its DOI.
- Day 7: Note what came back. Comments, emails and questions are input for the revision, and a record of early interest.
If your preprint is in machine learning, our guide to promoting an ML paper beyond arXiv covers the extra places that field watches.
Promote It Without Overclaiming
medRxiv's about page is blunt: preprints are preliminary reports that have not been certified by peer review, should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behaviour, and should not be reported in news media as established information.
That is the line to hold in every post, slide and conversation, especially for health research. Say "we found" and "in this preprint", not "research proves". If a journalist gets in touch, tell them it is a preprint before anything else. The NIH notice records that a few respondents to its consultation noted special risks for the general public, clinicians, patients and the media in accessing work that has not been peer reviewed.
When the Journal Version Arrives
bioRxiv says it will usually add a link to the published version automatically within several weeks of journal publication. PLOS One says that where it facilitated the preprint, the preprint and published article will link to each other. On arXiv, the submission guide asks authors to replace the original submission rather than make a new one for a corrected article.
On your side, swap the preprint link for the published version in your profile, lab page and pinned posts. From then on, use one link everywhere, so attention lands on the peer reviewed paper.
Where Amplify Fits
A preprint asks readers to do extra work: read a long draft, and keep in mind that it is not final. A shorter way in helps the right people decide quickly whether to read and comment.
Amplify works from the PDF you upload and nothing else, so it does not pad your paper with filler from the open web. From that one file it makes a video abstract, a vertical short, an audio brief and a one-page infographic, each carrying the title, the authors and a link back to the paper of record. Every format arrives as three variants you can edit line by line, so you can make sure each one says plainly what stage the work is at. A person reviews every format, and nothing publishes until you approve it.
The embeddable widget then sits beside the paper on your own page, and the analytics show reads, listens and questions asked, which is a useful signal of what people want to know before you revise.
Early, Honest, Then Final
A preprint is the first public version of your work, not the last. Share it early with the people who can improve it, label it honestly every time, and move everyone to the journal version when it lands.
Quick answers
Can I post a preprint if I plan to submit the paper to a journal?
Usually yes, but check first. bioRxiv says most research journals allow posting on preprint servers before publication and points authors to policy lists. Look up your target journal on its own website or in Open Policy Finder, a database of publisher copyright and self-archiving policies, before you post, because a preprint cannot normally be taken down later.
Can I delete a preprint after it is posted?
Generally no. bioRxiv says posted articles are citable and therefore cannot be removed, and SocArXiv says papers generally cannot be withdrawn once accepted, except in cases such as a legal obligation. You can post a revised version instead, so decide what you are comfortable making permanent before you press submit.
How should I describe a preprint when I share it on social media?
Say plainly that it is a preprint and has not been peer reviewed yet. medRxiv states that preprints have not been certified by peer review and should not be reported in news media as established information. Pair the label with one clear finding, the stable link, and an invitation for feedback, which bioRxiv gives as one of the reasons to post a preprint.
What happens to my preprint when the journal version is published?
Some servers do it for you. bioRxiv says it will usually add a link to the published version automatically within several weeks of journal publication. Once the journal version is out, update your profile, lab page and pinned posts so new readers land on the peer reviewed version, and keep using one link from then on.
