This presentation was provided by Angela Cochran of ASCE, during the NISO Event "Open Access: The Role and Impact of Preprint Servers," held November 14 - 15, 2019.

1. Preprints and Society
Publishers
Threats and Opportunities
Angela Cochran
Managing Director & Publisher
American Society of Civil Engineers
@acochran12733

2. Yikes…preprints!
• Breaks cultural norms
• “We will not publish anything that has previously seen the light of day…”
• “I don’t want anyone to see my work until it’s been peer reviewed”
• “Content that has not been subject to peer review requires a critical look”
• Threatens business models
• If the preprint is available, will people pay for the finished paper?
• Draws concerns
• Public health and safety issues abound

3. But…but…but…

4. We aren’t all physics
• Strong preprint sharing
culture
• Journals still thrive

5. How many
preprints are
there?
Source: https://asapbio.org/preprint-info/biology-preprints-over-time

6. Source:
https://public.tableau.com/profile/sarah.parks#!/vizhom
e/OApreprints/Dashboard1

7. Preprints

8. Three Options
Wait & See
Acquiesce
Get Out in Front

9. Wait & See
• Change nothing
• Hold firm to your policies regarding
prepublication
• Pros
• Watch models develop
• Invest elsewhere
• Protect subscription income
• Cons
• Appearance of being stodgy
• Leaves opportunities for others
• Must watch carefully for major groundshift

10. Wait & See
• Works if audience/membership not supportive of preprints
• Can demand exclusivity from authors
• Wait & See societies will move to Acquiesce when researcher behavior changes
• Civil Engineers
• Reluctant to share work that has not been reviewed
• Take responsibilities of public safety seriously
• Early results typically shared as conference papers or technical notes in journals
• Conference papers peer reviewed as well
• Small pockets of preprint adopters in sub-disciplines that overlap (e.g., engineering
mechanics and aerospace engineering with physics)

11. Acquiesce
• Allow preprint submissions to journals
• Pros
• Supportive of preprint culture
• Not re-inventing the wheel
• No investment
• Cons
• Ceding ground to others
• Abandoning exclusivity
• Potentially devalues peer review
• Puts income in some jeopardy

12. Acquiesce
• Some societies/journals genuinely uncomfortable with preprints
• See that they have no choice if their authors are participating
• Society publishers may flip from Acquiesce to Get Out in Front if they sense a
threat

13. Get Out in
Front
• Build your own preprint server
• Partner with a preprint server
• Pros
• Keep your authors under your umbrella
• Create pipe for new submissions
• Market capture
• Takes pressure off time to publication
• Cons
• Heavy investment
• Take on liability of non peer reviewed
content
• Potentially devalues peer review
• Puts income in some jeopardy

14. Get Out in Front
• If members demanding, societies may have no choice
• Opportunities to partner with other societies/funders
• Keep your authors in the “family” by leveraging journal submissions from the
preprint server

15. Case Studies

16. Case Studies

17. Case Studies

18. To Consider if
Building
Will there be any QC / sanity check on submissions?
Will post-prints be allowed?
Will authors be allowed to make changes once posted?
What is the article removal process?
What are the success metrics?
How will you pay for it?

19. In conclusion…
Preprint culture is
growing, but is still a
small sliver of activities
Not all disciplines are the
same
Conduct regular reviews
of preprints posted in
your subject area
Revenue ramifications
not yet known

20. For Discussion
• What are other societies thinking about when it
comes to preprints?
• Opportunities
• Concerns
• What do your communities think of preprints?
• Early adopters?
• Dabbling?
• Don’t get it?
Thank you!
Angela Cochran, Publisher
American Society of Civil Engineers
@acochran12733