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Why has the adoption of preprints been slow in chemistry?

I've noticed that in physics and biology, preprint servers like arXiv and bioRxiv are standard, but our chemistry community seems more hesitant. I'm curious about the underlying reasons is it a concern over intellectual property, peer review culture, or something else that's slowing this shift toward open science.

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By Suresh Answered 1 year ago

Having seen the rapid adoption in other fields, I believe chemistry's hesitation is multifaceted. A major driver is the strong link to commercial applications and patent strategies; researchers and institutions are wary of public disclosure before patent filing. Furthermore, our peer-review culture traditionally places high value on the "seal of approval" from a journal. I would recommend that for preprints to gain traction, we need clear institutional policies on how they count toward assessment and greater reassurance on protecting priority and IP, which platforms like ChemRxiv are now working to address.

 

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