Purpose and Scope
This policy addresses manuscripts that have previously been made available as preprints or through other forms of legitimate prior dissemination. Its purpose is to distinguish responsible early sharing from redundant or misleading publication.
Journals may configure discipline-specific requirements, but authors should disclose relevant prior dissemination so editors can assess the relationship transparently.
Preprints
Posting a manuscript on a recognized preprint server does not necessarily constitute prior journal publication. Journals adopting this default may consider manuscripts that have appeared as preprints, subject to journal-specific scope, ethics, licensing, confidentiality, and reporting requirements.
Authors should identify the preprint and provide its persistent identifier or location where applicable.
Version Transparency
Authors should ensure that readers can distinguish a preprint from the peer-reviewed version of record. After journal publication, authors are encouraged, where the platform permits, to update the preprint record with a citation and link to the published article.
Journal publication should not be represented as having occurred at the date of preprint posting.
Conference Abstracts and Presentations
Prior presentation of preliminary findings at a scientific meeting, publication of an abstract, poster, or presentation materials may be compatible with later full journal publication when the relationship is transparent and the journal’s requirements are met.
Substantial conference proceedings or full papers require closer assessment because the degree of prior publication can vary considerably.
Theses, Dissertations and Institutional Repositories
Material contained in a thesis or dissertation, including work deposited in an institutional repository, may be considered according to journal policy when the manuscript provides an appropriate scholarly article and relevant prior availability is disclosed.
Authors remain responsible for any copyright, embargo, co-author, sponsor, or repository conditions affecting reuse.
Media, Public Communication and Embargoes
Public discussion of research can serve legitimate scientific and public interests, but authors should avoid presenting unreviewed findings in a way that misrepresents their evidentiary status. Journal-specific media or embargo arrangements, if any, should be stated clearly.
Public communication should not compromise participant privacy, trial integrity, confidentiality obligations, or legal restrictions.
Licensing and Rights
Authors should consider whether the license applied to a preprint or prior version is compatible with later journal publication and the rights they intend or are required to grant. Third-party material within a preprint may also have separate reuse restrictions.
Treata journals should not imply that a particular preprint license is universally required unless that journal has formally adopted such a requirement.
Citation and Scholarly Priority
Preprints may be cited where appropriate and where journal style permits, but readers should be able to recognize their non-peer-reviewed status. Claims of priority should not be used to bypass normal standards of attribution, evidence, or responsible reporting.
Editors should assess manuscripts on their scholarly merits rather than treating legitimate preprint posting as an adverse signal where the journal permits preprints.
Overlap and Redundant Publication
Prior dissemination becomes problematic when substantially the same work has already been formally published in a manner that creates an unexplained duplicate record or when authors conceal related publications that are material to editorial assessment.
Questions of substantial overlap should be assessed under the Plagiarism, Text Recycling & Redundant Publication policy.
Journal Implementation and Version Control
Preprint acceptance is a publisher default that may be configured by journal where disciplinary or legal reasons justify a different position. Each journal should state its position clearly rather than leaving authors to infer it.
Material changes should be versioned and preserved, especially where they affect manuscripts already publicly available before submission.
Version Control
Version 1.0. This page is the canonical publisher-level text for the current version. Material revisions should be versioned and dated, while superseded versions remain identifiable so historical applicability can be determined.