The essential requirements for EMBL’s primary research articles are to: 

1. Publish a preprint
2. Publish open access with a CC-BY license (no NC-ND)
3. Make the article available as a full-text in Europe PMC within 6 months of acceptance

Preprints

What are preprints?

Preprints are scientific manuscripts directly uploaded to a public server by the authors. 

Most journals encourage authors to publish a preprint. If you are unsure about the journal’s preprint policy, you can check Sherpa Romeo.

The research findings and methods have not yet been accepted by a journal. After a brief quality check, the article is posted online often within a day without peer review. Peer review of the preprint (integrated with publishing) can be invited after posting by the authors. By choosing a CC-BY license, posting a preprint allows immediate Open Access of the manuscript. Preprints enable authors to retain their rights and control of the timing to share their work with the research community. 

Why are preprints important?

Posting a preprint allows authors to share their completed research as early possible without limitation to access an readership. This is tremendously important for the advancement of research. Beyond that, posting a preprint also confers many advantages to the authors, such as priority claim, increased attention and citation (36% increase in citation), and receiving early engagement with the community (37% receive feedback by email). This early proof of productivity can be used in job applications and internal reviews. If you have specific concerns, please consult with OSIM at OSIM@embl.org. 

How to post a preprint?

First inform all authors of preprint requirement from EMBL, and collect approval to post a preprint. Choose the appropriate preprint server that is indexed by Europe PMC and depending on scope, discipline and type of research article (primary research, review). If your article type is not a primary research article, or if the research topic is not life-science, please contact OSIM@embl.org for advice on the appropriate preprint server. Prepare and upload the manuscript according to the preprint server’s guidelines.   

Preprint Review

Preprint review refers to the evaluation and feedback process on a preprint. This review allows researchers to receive constructive feedback, suggestions, and comments from their peers, helping to improve the quality and rigor of the research. Preprint review can serve as an early feedback mechanism or be integrated into the publication process in some journals and platforms. 

On some platforms, preprint review offers the opportunity to evaluate the work based on its own merit, and independently of the journal that it is submitted to. Review Commons is an example of journal-independent preprint peer review that is coupled with publication. Other preprint review platforms are scholarly-led and present a community where researchers take back their ownership of the dissemination and peer review process. PREreview and Peer Community In are some examples of community-organized preprint review platforms that have a strong emphasis on inclusion of Early Career Researchers in the peer review process. Please see an overview of preprint review platforms here.

Open Access Publishing

Open Access transforms many aspects of scientific publishing. OSIM supports all EMBL researchers and staff with advisory and training services on Open Access options and publication strategies as well as with further information. Please see a list of EMBL’s Open Access agreements with publishers. 

Choosing a CC-BY licence (no NC, ND) is required for all EMBL publications. This enables your work to be fully reusable by other researchers while requiring attribution to your original work. Please link all authors to their ORCIDs during submission of the manuscript.

Affiliation formats to be used

European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstraße 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany

European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Developmental Biology Unit, Meyerhofstraße 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany

European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, CB10 1SD, United Kingdom

European Molecular Biology Laboratory, EMBL Grenoble, 71 avenue des Martyrs, CS 9018 38042 Grenoble, France

European Molecular Biology Laboratory, EMBL Hamburg, c/o DESY, Building 25A, Notkestraße 85, 22603 Hamburg, Germany

European Molecular Biology Laboratory, EMBL Rome, Adriano Buzzati-Traverso Campus, Via Ramarini 32, 00015 Monterotondo (RM), ltaly

European Molecular Biology Laboratory, EMBL Barcelona, C/ Dr. Aiguader, 88,PRBB Building, 08003 Barcelona, Spain

Europe PMC 

A key requirement of EMBL’s Open Science Policy is that all EMBL publications should be deposited in the institutional repository Europe PMC within 6 months of publication. This is possible for journal articles published through Gold Open Access and Green Open Access and preprints. 

Why is the submission to Europe PMC important?

Europe PMC is an open publication database that enhances the discoverability of Open Access publications, enriched with links to supporting data and reviews.

Europe PMC is EMBL’s trusted institutional repository, which acts as the central, free and open database of EMBL publications.

How to submit an article on Europe PMC

Most publishers will deposit to Europe PMC a copy of the manuscript on behalf of the author; such information can be found on the publisher’s site and/or on Europe PMC’s Journal List tool (under Participation Level).

If such a deposition service is not offered by the publisher, the author needs to self-archive the manuscript to Europe PMC through the Europe PMC Plus tool. User guides can be found on the Europe PMC Plus User Guide page; the guide specific to the submission process can be found here. When the Gold Open Access route (payment of Article Processing Charges) is selected, the paper must be made available on Europe PMC immediately.

What you will need

• The grant numbers
• The final manuscript file as a PDF or Microsoft Word file
• The figures and supplementary files in an accepted type
• If the citation isn’t found, you will need the name of the publishing journal
• The embargo period required by the publishing journal

During the Grant Linking step, if your research has not been funded by a Europe PMC funder -for a list check here– use the dummy grant code EMBL001. 

If you need any help, please contact OSIM@embl.org or email helpdesk@europepmc.org.

Which version to submit?

The author may submit the Author Accepted Manuscript, i.e. the version of the manuscript after the peer-review process but before the editorial typesetting and publishing production step. If you have questions about whether your manuscript can be submitted, email helpdesk@europepmc.org or contact OSIM@embl.org. 

Acknowledgement of funding support

EMBL should be acknowledged as a funder. To acknowledge EMBL as a funder, see the example below.

If you use EMBL services and facilities, they should be acknowledged. This includes IT Services such as central compute/storage as well as physical infrastructures and scientific support services and centres (e.g., GBCS, CBBCS, CSDA, … ), as appropriate. This should be done by naming the facility according to this list (to be supplied).

To acknowledge external funders, please follow the instructions from those individual funders.

Example of good practice: The work was supported by: the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (X.X., X.Y., X.Z.); the EMBL International PhD Programme (X.Y.); and the EMBL Interdisciplinary Postdoc Programme under Marie Curie Actions COFUND (X.Z.). The EMBL Advanced Light Microscopy Facility is acknowledged for support in image acquisition and analysis. EMBL IT Support is acknowledged for provision of computer and data storage servers. This work was supported by the European Union’s Horizon Europe Framework Programme project SPINOZA (Grant: 69117) and Wellcome (Grant: 12335).

For advice on reviews, book chapters, journal policies, or questions related to publications, please contact OSIM at any stage of the manuscript preparation process.