
Accelerating biological discovery through free, rapid open-access preprint distribution.
bioRxiv is a non-profit preprint server for the biological sciences, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Since its inception, it has revolutionized scientific communication by allowing researchers to share findings immediately before formal peer review. Architecturally, bioRxiv utilizes the HighWire Press platform, offering robust versioning and persistent identification through Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs). By 2026, bioRxiv has solidified its position as the critical infrastructure for the global 'Open Science' movement, integrating advanced AI screening tools to detect image manipulation and plagiarism at the submission stage. Its technical stack supports complex metadata harvesting via the bioRxiv API, enabling large-scale data mining for pharmaceutical R&D and academic meta-analyses. The platform facilitates a 'decoupled' publishing model where community feedback and automated technical checks occur in parallel with traditional journal submission, significantly reducing the 'time-to-knowledge' gap in critical fields like genomics and epidemiology.
An automated workflow that allows authors to transmit their preprint files and metadata directly to partner journals' submission systems.
Verified feedback from the global deployment network.
Post queries, share implementation strategies, and help other users.
An integrated feature that displays peer reviews from third-party services like Peer Community In or eLife alongside the preprint.
Each revision receives a unique version-specific DOI while the base DOI always points to the most recent iteration.
A RESTful API providing structured JSON access to publication dates, category, and author details for every preprint.
Native support for the Hypothesis web layer allowing inline, public or private annotation of manuscripts.
Automatic linking of preprints to the final published version (Version of Record) via DOI matching.
Granular classification across 27 biological disciplines powered by expert screening.
Peer review can take months; during outbreaks, data is needed immediately.
Registry Updated:2/7/2026
Researchers fear being 'scooped' while a paper sits in peer review.
Funding agencies require open-access dissemination of results.