Preprints without borders: SciELO Preprints’ push for multilingual, Open Science in Latin America and beyond

preLights recently spoke with Carolina Tanigushi who now looks after SciELO Preprints, the preprint server that is part of the SciELO Network. We talked about SciELO’s shift into an Open Science programme, the opportunities and challenges of running a preprint service across 16 national collections, and practical steps to boost visibility and uptake; read on to learn how SciELO supports multilingual, scalable, open infrastructure in Latin America, how journals are adapting their preprint policies, and what early‑career researchers can do to make the most of preprints. Also, for the latest English-language biological preprints posted on SciELO, please take a look at this dedicated preList.

First of all, could you tell us a bit about SciELO’s mission and its evolution over time?

SciELO, which stands for Scientific Electronic Library Online, started in 1997 as a journal library for open access journals. It started in partnership with BIREME, which is a part of the Pan American Health Organisation and the World Health Organisation but focuses specifically on the development of health in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Today, we look at SciELO as an Open Science programme; part of our mission is not just to publish, to index and publish journals, but to help professionalise our journals and make sure that they have the means and access to be able to adhere to open science practices.

“Today, we look at SciELO as an Open Science programme.”

How did you get involved with SciELO, and specifically SciELO Preprints?

I joined as an intern and then got hired full time working as part of the publications team. I was mostly doing quality control for articles sent for publication, then worked with editorial management, handling things from manuscript acceptance up until publication on the site.

And then, I think seven or eight years ago, a position opened up in the online services department, working mostly on submission systems. It is this team that started the SciELO Preprints server, and so I have been working on this ever since.

What excites you most about taking the helm at SciELO Preprints at this moment in time?

SciELO Preprints is now sustainable and increasingly visible into its fifth year of operation. It’s gone through quite a few changes and improvements. Over the last five years, we’ve seen an increase in adoption of preprints within the SciELO Brazil collection which is something we’re pretty excited about. There are some matters we’re still working on of course, but it’s been doing well, and operating stably with growing impact. This is great because it opens the door to new improvements, such as the introduction of AI moderation.

 “SciELO Preprints is now sustainable and increasingly visible into its fifth year of operation.”

SciELO Preprints spans 16 countries—how does this regional diversity shape the platform’s mission and impact?

SciELO Preprints aims to serve the SciELO Network which is comprised of 16 national collections. Every national collection is operating and follows shared guidelines and standards — it’s a little bit like a franchise: they have guidelines and certain standards, but they operate fully independently, and we just need to make sure they’re doing things the right way.

We’re always looking to make things as equitable as possible. This means we’re working with the mindset of multilingualism and openness to all areas of knowledge, and that anything we implement needs to be scalable and sustainable to be used by the network.

How does SciELO promote inclusivity and multilingualism?

 All our sites are available in Portuguese, Spanish and English, and everything we build is designed to be scalable so the whole network can use it. Preprints are mostly in Portuguese and Spanish, with English accepted and occasional items in other languages. We prioritise open software and open access so the platform works across the network, and we make sure authors can publish in Portuguese or Spanish if they prefer rather than being expected to use English-only services.

“All our sites are available in Portuguese, Spanish and English.”

How visible is SciELO Preprints among researchers, and how do you increase awareness?

I would say that SciELO is something most researchers, definitely in Brazil, know about, but SciELO Preprints not so much — there’s still a lot of confusion about preprints. A few journals have decided they’ll only accept submissions that were already posted as preprints; some authors remain a little confused, and many journals are open to preprints but don’t yet have a formal policy. We do require a clear preprint policy in our journal criteria, which helps reduce uncertainty and encourage wider adoption.

What role do you see SciELO Preprints playing in strengthening open science in Latin America and beyond?

Just by existing, SciELO Preprints works to divulge and incentivize the adoption and use of preprints. Leading by example, so to speak. It contributes to open science infrastructure

It’s also meant to support journals indexed in the SciELO Collection (not exclusively, but first and foremost) by offering the necessary infrastructure so they can update their submission criteria to be preprint-friendly, whether that means just saying they accept preprints or by demanding that authors only submit articles that have already been posted as preprints. This gives authors an option to submit to a preprint server that is “locally” run, open to all areas of knowledge, and accepts submissions in Portuguese or Spanish, for example.

The other role is in offering infrastructure: by providing the SciELO Preprints server itself as an option for authors and journals as well as by strengthening the Open Preprint Systems software through our partnership with the Public Knowledge Project.

How can initiatives like preLights help bridge the gap between regional preprint ecosystems and the broader scientific community?

The main value in initiatives like preLights lies in making sure that good preprints by regional authors are seen and gain visibility and traction, which they don’t always get due lack of proper indexing, even when published in English. The language gap is a challenge, but also an opportunity: writing a preLight, let’s say, in English about a preprint posted in another language can increase its visibility to a broader, and possibly new audience. Either directly or indirectly, initiatives like preLights and SciELO Preprints help spread the word of preprints in general.

The language gap is a challenge, but also an opportunity: writing a preLight, let’s say, in English about a preprint posted in another language can increase its visibility to a broader, and possibly new audience.

What would you say to early-career researchers in Latin America who are hesitant to post preprints?

Get engaged! This is the best way to fully learn and understand how preprints work and to get the most out of them (e.g. versioning). Preprints, alongside other open science practices, exist to help researchers and, why not, the general public, make better, more informed decisions by increasing transparency and visibility of research outputs.