Now that engrXiv eprints receive their own DOI assignments, the value of submitting your engineering preprints to engrXiv is even greater. We already know that making your engineering work available through OA venues such as engrXiv has benefits such as increased access in developing nations, wider readership, and increased citation counts^1-5. With DOIs now available for all engrXiv eprints, it is easier than ever for others to cite your work using a persistent identifier. Further, since engrXiv is indexed by Google Scholar, any citations your preprint receives prior to formal publication will be combined in the Google Scholar citation metrics.

After formal publication, it is easy to update your preprint’s record on engrXiv with a DOI link to the publisher version. Even if the final version is not published in an OA venue, readers without access to that publication will still be able to read your preprint version on engrXiv!

Preprinting your article with engrXiv at the time of submission and updating the record after peer reviewed publication is the best way to ensure that your work is being read (and cited) quickly and by the greatest number of people.

References cited

¹Berg, D.R., Fleischfresser, L., and Niemeyer, K. Open publishing in engineering. Editorial in The Journal of Open Engineering. DOI: 10.21428/12302
²Rocha da Silva, P. Born Digital: building the ultimate open-access publisher. Frontiers OA Commentary. Link: https://blog.frontiersin.org/2015/12/22/born-digital-building-the-ultimate-open-access-publisher/
³McKiernan, E.C., Bourne, P.E., Brown, C.T., et al. How open science helps researchers succeed. eLife. 5. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.16800.001
⁴Tennant J.P., Waldner F., Jacques D.C., et al. The academic, economic and societal impacts of Open Access: an evidence-based review. F1000Research. 5, 632. DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.8460.3
⁵Koler-Povh, T., Južnič, P., and Turk, G. Impact of open access on citation of scholarly publications in the field of civil engineering. Scientometrics. 98, 2, 1033–1045. DOI: 10.1007/s11192-013-1101-x