Image: Pernillan [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Platform providing single point of access to facilitate text mining and data reuse
The Europe PMC online platform for accessing life-sciences research papers has begun offering access to the full text of Covid-19 preprints—papers that have not yet been peer-reviewed or accepted for full publication. It said it is the first portal to assemble these preprints in this way.
The move, which enables text mining of the preprints, is an attempt to help researchers find and access studies and associated data on coronavirus more efficiently, according to a 30 July statement from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory-European Bioinformatics Institute, which manages Europe PMC.
“There needs to be a shift towards more use of preprints and more transparent peer review processes,” said Jo McEntyre, associate director of EMBL-EBI and head of its literature services.
“Indexing full text preprints from multiple preprint servers, making them findable from a single search, and presenting them in a standard way for reading and text mining, is a significant step towards discoverability and reuse of preprints.”
The project is supported by the Wellcome Trust charitable research funder in partnership with the UK Medical Research Council and the Swiss National Science Foundation.