A recent article by Michael Mullins in The Scientist and an accompanying editorial by the publication’s editor-in-chief point to the dangers of disseminating un-peer-reviewed biomedical research in the form of preprints. Both contain factual inaccuracies and misunderstandings.
The Mullins article cites a medRxiv preprint by Didier Raoult and colleagues on hydroxychloroquine as an example of the danger. Hydroxychloroquine was widely used to treat COVID-19 early in the pandemic, in part out of desperation and in part because it was championed by influential figures such as then–US President Donald Trump. The article implies that this was due to the medRxiv preprint. In fact, Raoult made his findings public on YouTube and his institution’s website prior to posting them on the preprint server. Moreover, the manuscript was rapidly published in a peer-reviewed journal, the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, that very same day, March 20, 2020, as Mullins points out. It was ...
