In a significant move towards enhancing research integrity and accelerating the dissemination of scientific findings, F1000 and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have joined forces to unveil a groundbreaking preprint platform, VeriXiv. This platform aims to streamline the availability of new research and bolster transparency in scholarly communication.
VeriXiv, pronounced 'very-kive,' stands out from conventional preprint servers by implementing rigorous pre-publication checks to uphold research integrity. With concerns mounting over the unchecked spread of misinformation through preprints, VeriXiv will conduct twenty meticulous ethics and integrity checks, including assessments for plagiarism, image manipulation, author verification, and potential competing interests. Moreover, the platform will ensure transparency in research by verifying data availability and reproducibility methods.
As part of Taylor & Francis, F1000 brings over a decade of experience in pre-publication checks to VeriXiv. Leveraging their expertise, F1000 will oversee the verification process for each submission, thereby fostering trust in the published content.
The initiative comes in response to the Gates Foundation's updated open access policy, which mandates all grantees to make their research preprints available from January 2025. VeriXiv will serve as a conduit for researchers to comply with this policy, offering them the option to subsequently submit their work for peer review on Gates Open Research or other platforms.
VeriXiv is set to begin accepting preprint submissions from August 2024, heralding a new era of transparent and expeditious scientific dissemination. With its robust verification process and support from key stakeholders, VeriXiv aims to become a gold standard for preprint platforms, facilitating the swift and reliable dissemination of groundbreaking research.
Click here to read the original press release.
