Students around the world are asking new scientific questions, testing hypotheses, and making discoveries. They share their exciting work with their community through projects and science fairs – but what if they want to go farther? How can they share their work not just with their classmates, but with the scientific community? How can they continue to learn and grow as science communicators, when they can’t access traditional academic publishing pathways?
Anchored in the belief that students deserve the same opportunities as adult scientists, we initially set out to open traditional peer-reviewed scientific publishing to students by founding the Journal of Emerging Investigators in 2011. Students who participated in JEI found their confidence and identity as scientists and launched their research careers.
But even as more and more students published with JEI, not all students had the mentoring or resources to complete the lengthy peer-reviewed publication journey. What could we do to remove these barriers and empower these young scientists?
Over the last few years, preprint servers – online platforms where scientists post their research to get community feedback before publishing – have become more and more popular. When scientists post their research manuscripts online as preprints, sharing new discoveries and getting feedback from other scientists becomes faster and easier.
Over the next few years, we committed ourselves to developing eiRxiv. Initial seed funding, a dedicated advisory board, and our talented webmaster helped refine our vision and lay the foundation for the platform. eiRxiv officially launched in spring 2025, and research is currently under way to quantify the platform’s impact on student student outcomes.
eiRxiv aims to bridge the science accessibility gap by providing a free preprint platform designed specifically for students to rapidly share their work and get professional scientific feedback. By participating in the preprint process with eiRxiv, every student can find their voice and be part of the scientific community.
