What are preprints?

Preprints are complete pieces of scientific work that have not yet undergone editorial peer reviewed. Preprints are often the same manuscripts that are submitted to a journal for peer review, but are stored on freely accessible public servers (repositories) such that they become available to the whole web community within 1-2 days from submission. Usually preprints are posted on preprint repositories (see below) either before or at the same time as submission to a journal. Most journals will accept manuscripts that have previously been submitted to a preprint repository. A list of copyright and self-archiving polices can be found on Wikipedia and SHERPA/RoMEO.