# BioRxiv
**bioRxiv** (pronounced "bio-archive") is a free, open-access preprint server for the life sciences, operated as a non-profit community service in which researchers post manuscripts online before peer review and formal journal publication. It was founded by [Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory](https://www.edgepedia.org/cold-spring-harbor-laboratory) (CSHL) and announced on 12 November 2013, and it is now stewarded by the independent non-profit openRxiv.[1](https://www.cshl.edu/cshl-launches-biorxiv-a-freely-accessible-citable-preprint-server-for-biology/) • [2](https://openrxiv.org/qa-governance-funding-future/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Founded | Launched by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, announced 12 November 2013; founded by John Inglis and Richard Sever of CSHL Press[1](https://www.cshl.edu/cshl-launches-biorxiv-a-freely-accessible-citable-preprint-server-for-biology/) • [3](https://openrxiv.org/about/) |
| Model | Modeled after arXiv, the physics preprint service run by Cornell University; manuscripts receive a citable DOI and are posted within hours of submission[1](https://www.cshl.edu/cshl-launches-biorxiv-a-freely-accessible-citable-preprint-server-for-biology/) |
| Peer review status | Articles are not peer-reviewed, edited, or typeset before posting; submissions are screened for scope and potential public harm but not for scientific quality[4](https://www.biorxiv.org/about-biorxiv) • [5](https://connect.biorxiv.org/news/2022/06/13/screening_procedures) |
| Publication outcomes | Of 18,841 preprints posted between 2013 and 2017, 67.7% (12,767) were subsequently published in peer-reviewed journals[6](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/673665v1.full) |
| Visibility effect | bioRxiv-deposited articles had, on average, 36% more citations and a 49% higher Altmetric Attention Score than non-deposited articles in matched comparisons[7](https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/bitstream/document/71641/1/ssoar-qss-2020-2-fraser_et_al-The_relationship_between_bioRxiv_preprints.pdf) |
| Scale | The server posted its 310,000th manuscript in 2026; monthly submissions run around 4,000 to 5,000[8](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/833400v2) • [9](https://api.biorxiv.org/reports/content_summary) |
| Governance | Since March 2025, bioRxiv and its sister server medRxiv are run by openRxiv, an independent non-profit created for their long-term sustainability[2](https://openrxiv.org/qa-governance-funding-future/) |
## Purpose and operation
bioRxiv exists to shorten the delay between completing research and making it available. The traditional journal process, with peer review and revision, can take many months; posting a preprint lets authors share findings immediately, establish priority, and receive community feedback while a manuscript is under review.[1](https://www.cshl.edu/cshl-launches-biorxiv-a-freely-accessible-citable-preprint-server-for-biology/) Each paper receives a citable digital object identifier (DOI) and is indexed by search engines, so preprints function as citable research objects in their own right.[1](https://www.cshl.edu/cshl-launches-biorxiv-a-freely-accessible-citable-preprint-server-for-biology/) Authors retain copyright and choose a license, commonly a [Creative Commons license](https://www.edgepedia.org/creative-commons-license) such as CC BY, and they consent to text mining of their work.[4](https://www.biorxiv.org/about-biorxiv) • [10](https://openrxiv.org/preprint-licensing-updates/)
**Screening, not review.** Every submission passes two screening steps before it goes live. In-house staff with scientific and editorial expertise check that submission details are complete, that the manuscript is a research article with new data (narrative reviews, commentaries, opinion pieces, and step-by-step protocols are not accepted as standalone types), and they run automated text analysis for plagiarism and previously published material. In a second stage, volunteer principal investigators known as bioRxiv Affiliates confirm that the manuscript presents biological research and assess whether posting it could cause public harm; submissions raising concerns are escalated for further discussion.[5](https://connect.biorxiv.org/news/2022/06/13/screening_procedures) Only a small minority of submissions are declined, and authors are told why and may appeal.[2](https://openrxiv.org/qa-governance-funding-future/)
**Versions and withdrawal.** Authors may post revised versions at any time before journal acceptance. A preprint can be withdrawn by its authors, or by the server if an author's institution reports unethical behavior or fraud; withdrawn articles remain online with a prominent "Withdrawn" label, a watermark on all PDF versions, and, since 1 August 2023, a "Withdrawn:" prefix in the title metadata, preserving a transparent record.[4](https://www.biorxiv.org/about-biorxiv) • [11](https://connect.biorxiv.org/news/2023/08/15/preprint_withdrawals)
## Growth and outcomes
Deposits grew exponentially from the server's first months, when roughly 60 to 80 papers arrived per month, to several thousand per month by the 2020s; the cumulative total passed 300,000 new papers in late 2025.[9](https://api.biorxiv.org/reports/content_summary) Adoption was helped by changes in journal and funder policies that encourage preprint posting, and by bioRxiv technology that lets authors transfer manuscripts directly to journals.[8](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/833400v2)
Most preprints do go on to formal publication. In one analysis of all 18,841 preprints posted from November 2013 through December 2017, 67.7% had appeared in peer-reviewed journals by the time of the study, and among preprints that are eventually published, 75% appeared in a journal within about eight months (247 days) of posting.[6](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/673665v1.full) • [12](https://elifesciences.org/articles/45133v1.pdf) A survey of bioRxiv authors found the strongest motivations for posting were increasing awareness of the research (80% of authors) and benefiting science (69%), with staking a priority claim cited by 54%.[13](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0274441&type=printable)
**Citation and attention effects.** Multiple studies report a measurable advantage for articles that were first posted as preprints. One analysis of 26 journals, covering 46,451 articles and 3,817 preprints, found bioRxiv-deposited articles averaged 36% more citations and a 49% higher Altmetric Attention Score than non-deposited articles, with associations independent of subfield, author count, and other article characteristics.[7](https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/bitstream/document/71641/1/ssoar-qss-2020-2-fraser_et_al-The_relationship_between_bioRxiv_preprints.pdf) Proposed explanations include wider accessibility, earlier availability for citation, and self-selection by authors who preprint their strongest work; the observational designs of these studies cannot fully separate these mechanisms.[7](https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/bitstream/document/71641/1/ssoar-qss-2020-2-fraser_et_al-The_relationship_between_bioRxiv_preprints.pdf)
## COVID-19 and quality concerns
The COVID-19 pandemic made bioRxiv and medRxiv central channels for fast-moving biomedical results. As of 1 July 2020 the two servers had hosted 26,584 posts, nearly matching their total for all of 2019 (30,446), with 19% of those posts related to COVID-19 research.[14](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-020-0650-9) The volume also exposed the risks of unreviewed results: a February 2020 bioRxiv preprint claiming short "insertions" in the [SARS-CoV-2](https://www.edgepedia.org/sars-cov-2) genome with "uncanny similarity" to HIV fueled conspiracy theories about a man-made virus and was quickly withdrawn.[14](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-020-0650-9) In response, the servers tightened screening, for example declining to post purely computational predictions of COVID-19 drug treatments without additional biological evidence.[15](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01394-6) Studies of preprint-to-publication consistency generally find that central claims survive review largely intact, though small changes in results reporting and wording are common.[16](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.30.735556v1.full)
## medRxiv and openRxiv
In June 2019, CSHL launched **medRxiv** ("med-archive") in partnership with Yale University and BMJ as a sister server for health sciences and clinical research.[17](https://www.cshl.edu/how-sharing-results-and-data-went-viral/) The two servers are co-managed but have separate scope and screening policies, and posting the same manuscript to both is not permitted.[18](https://www.medrxiv.org/about/faq)
In March 2025 the servers moved from CSHL into **openRxiv**, an independent non-profit created to secure their long-term sustainability, broaden access, and diversify funding. The [Chan Zuckerberg Initiative](https://www.edgepedia.org/chan-zuckerberg-initiative), which had funded bioRxiv for eight years and medRxiv for four, provided three years of seed funding but holds no editorial or operational control; openRxiv's six-member board includes one person with a CZI affiliation.[2](https://openrxiv.org/qa-governance-funding-future/) A practical consequence for readers is a DOI prefix change: articles posted from 1 December 2025 carry the prefix 10.64898, while earlier articles keep the 10.1101 prefix from the CSHL era.[19](https://openrxiv.org/dois-for-preprints/) openRxiv also runs experimental programs such as openRxiv Labs, testing new approaches to reading, search, and curation on top of the preprint corpus.[20](https://connect.biorxiv.org/news/2026/06/01/launching_openrxiv_labs)
## References
1. [CSHL launches bioRxiv, a freely accessible, citable preprint server for biology, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (12 November 2013)](https://www.cshl.edu/cshl-launches-biorxiv-a-freely-accessible-citable-preprint-server-for-biology/)
2. [openRxiv Q&A: Questions About Governance, Funding, and the Future of Preprints, openRxiv (May 2025)](https://openrxiv.org/qa-governance-funding-future/)
3. [About openRxiv: Richard Sever and John Inglis biographies](https://openrxiv.org/about/)
4. [Advancing the sharing of research results for the life sciences, bioRxiv about page](https://www.biorxiv.org/about-biorxiv)
5. [Screening Procedures on bioRxiv, bioRxiv News & Notes (13 June 2022)](https://connect.biorxiv.org/news/2022/06/13/screening_procedures)
6. [Fraser et al., The effect of bioRxiv preprints on citations and altmetrics, bioRxiv (2019)](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/673665v1.full)
7. [Fraser, Momeni, Mayr and Peters, The relationship between bioRxiv preprints, citations and altmetrics, Quantitative Science Studies (2020)](https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/bitstream/document/71641/1/ssoar-qss-2020-2-fraser_et_al-The_relationship_between_bioRxiv_preprints.pdf)
8. [bioRxiv: the preprint server for biology, bioRxiv (2026)](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/833400v2)
9. [bioRxiv Monthly Content Summary, bioRxiv API reports](https://api.biorxiv.org/reports/content_summary)
10. [Preprint licensing updates, openRxiv (May 2026)](https://openrxiv.org/preprint-licensing-updates/)
11. [Preprint withdrawals, bioRxiv News & Notes (15 August 2023)](https://connect.biorxiv.org/news/2023/08/15/preprint_withdrawals)
12. [Abdill and Blekhman, Meta-Research: Tracking the popularity and outcomes of all bioRxiv preprints, eLife (2019)](https://elifesciences.org/articles/45133v1.pdf)
13. [Fraser, Mayr and Peters, Motivations, concerns and selection biases when posting preprints: A survey of bioRxiv authors, PLOS ONE (2022)](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0274441&type=printable)
14. [Weighing and communicating evidence, Nature Biotechnology 38, 903 (2020)](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-020-0650-9)
15. [How swamped preprint servers are blocking bad coronavirus research, Nature 581, 130-131 (2020)](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01394-6)
16. [Tracking claim changes from preprint to publication across 72,644 biomedical studies, bioRxiv (2026)](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.30.735556v1.full)
17. [How sharing results and data went viral, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (2021)](https://www.cshl.edu/how-sharing-results-and-data-went-viral/)
18. [Frequently Asked Questions, medRxiv](https://www.medrxiv.org/about/faq)
19. [Understanding DOIs for preprints: how openRxiv assigns and manages persistent identifiers, openRxiv (November 2025)](https://openrxiv.org/dois-for-preprints/)
20. [Launching openRxiv Labs, bioRxiv News & Notes (1 June 2026)](https://connect.biorxiv.org/news/2026/06/01/launching_openrxiv_labs)
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