Topic summary

How this community labels and discusses unrefereed work — the long version

Evidence › Preprints needs a source effect size risk of bias

This is a generated summary. It shows the 5 most-liked posts from a topic of 24, in their original order, with the accepted answer included where one exists. It is a reading aid and it will miss nuance — the full topic is the record.

b.brandtTL2 Moderator10 May 2026#4

Practical note that does not fit anywhere else. Whatever you conclude from this topic, write down what you did and when. The single most useful thing in your own records is not any individual result; it is that they are dated and consecutive.

21 likes 3mo

cohort_watchTL2Member12 May 2026#11

Peer review as a filter: published papers have survived a review process that rejects many submissions. Preprints have not. Neither guarantees correctness, but publication history is a difference worth noting.

19 likes 3mo

baseline_tableTL2Member13 May 2026#15

Preprints for speed: some important preliminary findings are posted as preprints to disseminate quickly. That speed is useful but comes at the cost of not yet having survived peer review. The trade-off is real.

26 likes 3mo

h.krastevTL2 Moderator14 May 2026#20

e.tamm, post #6: I read post #4 twice before replying, because I had assumed the opposite. Unrefereed work is not worthless. A great deal of it survives review substantially unchanged. It is also the case that the version appearing in a journal frequently has different numbers, and the changes are not random — they tend to be in the direction of a… Go to post

I disagree with the reply above, and I think the disagreement is substantive rather than terminological.

The distinction being drawn does not survive when you look at the published data for this specific question. I would be glad to be shown wrong on this, because the version I am arguing against is more convenient.

18 likes in reply to #6 2mo

ar.petrovTL2 Moderator14 May 2026 · edited#23

Always label it as a preprint in any discussion. A preprint is not a published trial and it is not settled knowledge. Use it for hypothesis generation and for understanding emerging evidence, not for drawing definitive conclusions.

30 likes 2mo

Read the full topic (24 posts)

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About the Preprints categoryEvidence › Preprints · 7 replies

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A preprint whose numbers changed substantially at publication — what changed since Evidence › Preprints risk of bias effect size needs a source On the subject in the title: A preprint whose numbers changed substantially at publication — what changed since Working notes rather than a conclusion. Session topic: STEP 2 ( Lancet , 2021). Please read it…	+3	7	125	8mo
The "under review" status pill and when a moderator applies it — a second dataset Evidence › Preprints needs a source risk of bias preprint effect size The "under review" status pill and when a moderator applies it — a second dataset Writing it up because I had to work it out twice and would rather nobody else did. I have seen SURPASS-4 ( Lancet , 2021)…	+50	54	1.4k	11mo
Tracking a preprint to publication: a worked example Evidence › Preprints preprint risk of bias needs a source Tracking a preprint to publication: a worked example Writing it up because I had to work it out twice and would rather nobody else did. Session topic: STEP 1 ( N Engl J Med , 2021). Please read it before…	+133	147	15k	7mo
When a preprint is the best available evidence and we say so — a second dataset Evidence › Preprints preprint risk of bias needs a source Solved When a preprint is the best available evidence and we say so — a second dataset I have a specific reason for asking rather than idle curiosity, and the context is below. I have seen SUSTAIN 6 ( N Engl J Med ,…	+20	24	36k	14mo
Citing a preprint in a maintained document: our rule and its reasoning Evidence › Preprints risk of bias effect size needs a source preprint Pinned On the subject in the title: Citing a preprint in a maintained document: our rule and its reasoning Working notes rather than a conclusion. I have seen SELECT ( N Engl J Med , 2023) cited in support of a…		2	467	4mo

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