‘Preprints are the future but peer review is still king’

Lancet preprint editor Miriam Sabin says the format does have drawbacks

The “explosion of preprint” publications seen during the Covid-19 pandemic might signal a “paradigm shift” in science, but this way of communicating research findings cannot replace peer review, a leading journal editor has argued.

Miriam Sabin, the Lancet’s preprint editor, made the comments during a session of the World Conference on Research Integrity in Cape Town, South Africa, on 30 May. Preprints are papers published online in repositories without the peer review of traditional journals such as the Lancet.