Controversy over funder’s preprints stance shows how this publishing trend is changing the research landscape
When it emerged that the Australian Research Council disqualified 32 applicants for funding worth A$22 million earlier this year because they included ‘preprint’ papers in their documentation, the news was met with howls of outrage from the research community.
Hundreds of researchers signed petitions calling for the ARC to change its policy, saying it was out of touch with common research practice. Peak bodies such as the Australian Academy of Science and the Group of Eight research universities scrambled to get the ARC to reconsider.