Can I withdraw or remove my preprint from the platform?

Once a preprint is posted, it cannot be removed from Research Square. Preprints posted on Research Square receive a DOI, making them a citable part of the scientific record. Additionally, a permanent digital presence is created by indexed services such as Google Scholar, ResearchGate, EuropePMC, and Crossref.

In most cases, there is no need to withdraw or remove your preprint from the platform. There are a number of alternative ways to resolve issues with a preprint. This blog post provides more information about these alternatives but in brief:

• Posting a preprint is becoming commonplace, and most publishers support the practice. Authors can continue submitting their preprinted manuscripts to other journals. You are encouraged to check the journal policies or reach out to a journal prior to submitting.
• Preprints will be reported on similarity reports. It is important to inform journals to which you are submitting of the presence of your preprint so they can exclude this from the similarity report.
• Research Square allows authors to post a new version of their preprint to show the evolution of the author’s work and correct any issues or errors that may have been found in earlier versions.
• The DOI provides timestamped ownership of your work. This inhibits others from stealing or scoping your work. This also allows the preprint to be used on grant applications.
• If your manuscript has been published, a link to the published DOI can be added to your preprint. This will allow readers to view and cite the published work.

A preprint may be withdrawn due to issues that cannot be addressed by submitting a revised version of the preprint, such as detection of plagiarism, authorship disputes, and content errors that will not or cannot be corrected.

When a preprint is withdrawn, a notification explaining the reason for withdrawal is placed on the preprint as a new version. It does not replace or remove the original version of the preprint and the DOI remains active. Readers may still search for your preprint on the internet but will be directed to the withdrawal notice version.