Topic summary

About the Preprints category

Evidence › Preprints preprint risk of bias needs a source Pinned Wiki

This is a generated summary. It shows the 5 most-liked posts from a topic of 8, in their original order, with the accepted answer included where one exists. It is a reading aid and it will miss nuance — the full topic is the record.

dr_okonkwoTL4 Moderator2 Jan 2026#2

Staff post. Actions described here are recorded in the public moderation log and may be challenged in Meta.

Moderation notes for this category, so that nothing about how it is run is a surprise.

Topics get moved into and out of here regularly. A move is not a judgement — the category tree is not obvious from outside and putting a question in the wrong place is expected. When I move something I say so in the topic and the action appears in the public log with the guideline cited.

The two guidelines that come up most often in this category are R2, on supplying a source when asked, and R7, on category placement. Neither is used punitively.

25 likes 7mo

NHuddlestonTL1Member28 Jan 2026#3

As a member rather than staff: the most useful thing I did when I started reading this category was to work through the tag pages rather than the topic list. The topic list shows you what is recent. The tags show you what is settled.

12 likes 6mo

i.beaulieuTL2 Moderator20 Feb 2026#4

Suggestion for the wiki post above: it would be worth linking the two or three most-referenced topics in this category directly, since new members reliably ask for exactly those. Happy to make the edit myself if nobody objects, with a revision note.

4 likes 5mo

l.krastevTL2 Moderator21 Apr 2026#7

Worth separating two things that post #3 runs together.

Server repositories: medRxiv for medicine, bioRxiv for biology. Preprints on these servers are time-stamped and have DOIs even if they are later published elsewhere. Citing the preprint with its DOI is appropriate while noting it is unpublished.

17 likes 3mo

glossary_deskTL3Regular10 May 2026#8

post #7 is right about the mechanism and I think understates the practical bit.

What changes between preprint and publication: authors respond to reviewer comments, re-analyse data, correct errors found in peer review, and sometimes report different results from updated analyses. The published version is not the same as the preprint.

7 likes 3mo

Read the full topic (8 posts)

Suggested topics

Topic	Participants	Replies	Views	Activity
[2026 update] Conference abstracts as evidence: the weakest common citation Evidence › Preprints needs a source effect size preprint risk of bias Closed Conference abstracts as evidence: the weakest common citation — setting out what I have, and where I think it stops being reliable. Comparing STEP 4 ( JAMA , 2021) with SURMOUNT-4 ( JAMA , 2024) and finding…		2	48k	7mo
Conference abstracts as evidence: the weakest common citation Evidence › Preprints risk of bias effect size needs a source On the subject in the title: Conference abstracts as evidence: the weakest common citation Working notes rather than a conclusion. Session topic: SURMOUNT-1 ( N Engl J Med , 2022). Please read it before…	+1	5	2k	9mo
Coming back to: Why a preprint's supplementary material is often the best part Evidence › Preprints risk of bias effect size preprint Under review Why a preprint's supplementary material is often the best part — that is the question, and I have not found it answered plainly anywhere I have looked. Comparing SURPASS-2 ( N Engl J Med , 2021) with STEP 4 (…	+109	116	36k	2d
The "under review" status pill and when a moderator applies it Evidence › Preprints risk of bias effect size preprint Posting this under the heading it deserves: The "under review" status pill and when a moderator applies it Everything below is what sits behind that. Session topic: SURMOUNT-4 ( JAMA , 2024). Please read it…	+96	119	17k	3mo
Citing a preprint in a maintained document: our rule and its reasoning — does this still hold? Evidence › Preprints preprint needs a source effect size Solved Under review The question in the title: Citing a preprint in a maintained document: our rule and its reasoning — does this still hold? I will give what I have already checked below so nobody repeats it. I have seen LEADER…	+103	115	24k	10mo

Related topics — sharing the tags preprint, risk of bias, needs a source

Topic	Participants	Replies	Views	Activity
Why a preprint's supplementary material is often the best part Evidence › Preprints needs a source risk of bias preprint effect size Why a preprint's supplementary material is often the best part I have a specific reason for asking rather than idle curiosity, and the context is below. Session topic: SUSTAIN 6 ( N Engl J Med , 2016). Please…	+38	42	863	22mo
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Journal club: STEP 8 and the fairness of the comparator dose — a second dataset Evidence › Journal club risk of bias journal club effect size estimand Posting this under the heading it deserves: Journal club: STEP 8 and the fairness of the comparator dose — a second dataset Everything below is what sits behind that. Session topic: SURPASS-2 ( N Engl J Med ,…	+18	22	656	13h