A proposal to create a repository for life science preprints has some researchers wondering why one is necessary, as Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory started bioRxiv back in 2013, ScienceInsider reports.
ASAPbio, a researcher-organized group that promotes preprints, has called for the development of a "'one-stop shop' for all life-sciences preprints," Nature News adds, and has garnered endorsements from a number of scientific funders, including the US National Institutes of Health, the UK Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, and more. Together, they've developed a set of principles for the proposed repository that say it should have community support, meet scholarly standards, and be free to use, among other features.
But a number of researchers have pointed out on Twitter and elsewhere that bioRxiv fills this niche, ScienceInsider notes.
No need for this: we have bioRxiv. Discovery is easy. It's on bioRxiv. https://t.co/70e2OJMMZD
— Nick Loman (@pathogenomenick) February 13, 2017
The director of ASAPbio, Jessica Polka, tells ScienceInsider that bioRxiv could respond to the group's call for applications to become this central service.