Preprint Policy

Definitions

What Is a Preprint?

A preprint is a complete scientific manuscript that is made publicly available by its Author(s) before formal peer review and publication in a scholarly journal.

A preprint has not been formally peer reviewed, accepted, copyedited, typeset, or certified by a journal. Its findings may change following peer review and should not be presented as established scientific or clinical evidence.

What Is a Preprint Server?

A preprint server is an online platform that allows Author(s) to post, preserve, version, and publicly share preprints. A preprint server may assign a persistent identifier, such as a DOI, but it does not publish the journal’s peer-reviewed Version of Record.

Submission of Preprints to Brieflands Journals

Manuscripts previously posted on a preprint server may be submitted to any Brieflands journal. Posting a manuscript as a preprint is not considered prior or duplicate publication and does not, by itself, affect the manuscript’s eligibility for editorial evaluation and peer review.

A manuscript posted as a preprint must not be under simultaneous consideration by another peer-reviewed journal.

Disclosure Requirements

The corresponding author must disclose the existence of any preprint at the time of submission. The disclosure must be included in the cover letter and the relevant submission field.

The disclosure must include:

• The title of the preprint
• The name of the preprint server
• The preprint DOI or another persistent identifier
• The direct URL of the preprint
• The date and version of the preprint

Failure to disclose a preprint may result in a delay in editorial evaluation and may be handled according to the journal’s publication ethics policies.

Peer Review and Editorial Evaluation

Manuscripts previously posted as preprints will undergo the same editorial evaluation, plagiarism screening, ethical assessment, and peer review process as other submissions.

Posting a preprint may reveal the identities of the Author(s). Therefore, complete anonymity cannot be guaranteed when the manuscript is evaluated under a double-blind peer review process. The existence of a preprint will not, by itself, be grounds for rejection.

Author(s) should not publicly post confidential editor or reviewer comments or interim manuscript versions that incorporate confidential journal feedback without permission from the journal.

Copyright and Licensing

Author(s) retain copyright in their preprint and should not transfer copyright or grant exclusive publishing rights to a preprint server. Any license granted to the preprint server should be non-exclusive.

Brieflands recommends that preprints be posted under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Upon acceptance, the Author(s) grant Brieflands the non-exclusive right of first formal journal publication and the non-exclusive publishing rights required to produce, publish, distribute, preserve, archive, index, and promote the Version of Record.

The Author(s) continue to own copyright, and the Version of Record will be published under CC BY 4.0. Brieflands and the relevant journal will be identified as the original publisher of the Version of Record.

Preprint and Published Article DOIs

A preprint and the final published article are separate scholarly objects and must have separate persistent identifiers.

• The DOI assigned by the preprint server remains the DOI of the preprint.
• Brieflands assigns a separate DOI to the accepted and published Version of Record.
• A preprint DOI must not be reused or converted into the DOI of the journal article.
• Where technically possible, Brieflands will include the relationship between the preprint and the Version of Record in the article metadata.

Updating the Preprint After Publication

After publication, the corresponding author must update the preprint record as soon as reasonably possible to inform readers that a peer-reviewed Version of Record has been published.

The updated preprint record should include:

• The full citation of the published article
• The journal name
• The DOI of the Version of Record
• A direct link to the article on the Brieflands website
• A clear statement that the article has been formally published

The preprint should not be replaced with journal proofs or confidential interim versions created during peer review. The original preprint record should remain available and should direct readers to the Version of Record.

Revisions, Corrections, and Withdrawals

If the Author(s) revise a preprint before journal acceptance, each version should be clearly identified and dated. The corresponding author must notify the journal of substantial changes made to the preprint while the manuscript is under consideration.

If a serious error, ethical concern, or unreliable conclusion is identified in a preprint, the Author(s) must promptly notify both the preprint server and the journal. Any correction or withdrawal notice should remain transparent and publicly accessible.

Third-Party Material and Confidential Information

Author(s) are responsible for ensuring that they have permission to include and publicly post any third-party copyrighted material in a preprint. Material that cannot legally be shared must be removed or clearly excluded from the preprint’s license.

Preprints must not contain confidential information, identifiable patient information, personal data disclosed without appropriate consent, or material that violates ethical, legal, contractual, or intellectual property obligations.

Citation of Preprints

Preprints cited in submitted or published articles must be clearly identified as preprints. The citation should include the Author(s), title, preprint server, year, version where applicable, and DOI or persistent URL.

When a peer-reviewed Version of Record becomes available, it should be cited in preference to the preprint.