Benefits of using preprints

• speeding up discovery and communication
• increased visibility to policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and the public
• increased chances of early feedback and commentary from peers prior to formal peer review
• demonstrating openness and transparency 
• evidence of productivity and accomplishment to funders and employers
• preprints are citable
• preprints can serve as early evidence for grant applications.

What to consider before sharing your preprint

Before sharing your preprint ensure you:

• confirm with publishers of journals you will target whether or not they allow submitted manuscripts to be shared on preprint servers and accept the submission of manuscripts already available as preprints
• Check Open Policy Finder and individual journal websites for information about their policies on preprints
• choose a preprint server. Consider visibility, and features like preservation and indexing, which can be found on individual server websites, and check any funder recommendations or requirements for grant applications
• choose a Creative Commons reuse license
• discuss with co-authors and obtain their agreement
• deposit any code/data/reagents you want to share to appropriate repositories
• understand that uploading a preprint extends the publishing process
• are aware of the University of Canberra’s policy on Authorship, Publication and Dissemination of Research prefers that research findings are published in peer-reviewed journals.

For more information on the issues of using preprints see here