Are you a researcher who conducts multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary work? Then using a preprint server hosted on the Open Science Framework is for you! In addition to great features such as the ability to upload multiple files and file types, OSF enables a preprint to be simultaneously posted to multiple archives. For now this includes engrXiv for engineering, SocArXiv for the social sciences, and PsyArXiv for the psychological sciences.

Thus if you do work that is appropriate for both engrXiv and SocArXiv, for example, you can post it to both by simply adding both relevant tags to the preprint’s page. The preprint will then be listed on both archives while pointing to the same page and will therefore be easily discoverable and accessible to members of both disciplines.

A few people have asked the question, “Why is it called engrXiv?” This is a great question and the answer requires a little backstory.

First is the “engr” part. While there is not really a standard to broadly accepted abbreviation for engineering, engr. is often used and can be found in places like course prefixes at universities. Therefore, engr is a good option to avoid confusion with eng., which is sometimes used as an abbreviation for English.

Next is the “rXiv” part. This form of spelling for the word archive is best known in its use on the website arXiv. arXiv is a preprint server for physics, mathematics, computer science, nonlinear sciences, quantitative biology and statistics that started in 1991. Though commonly written with a capital letter “X” for ease of typing, the pronunciation uses a Greek letter chi (χ), stemming from its use in TeX (or 𝜏𝜀𝜒), the typesetting system. The convention of using this spelling has been carried on in the preprint server realm by entities such as bioRxiv and SocArXiv.

Putting this all together, we took these two parts and smashed them together, while eliminating the double “r”, to form engrXiv, pronounced “Engineering Archive.” We hope that with time as the engrXiv community grows, the name and pronunciation will become commonplace and not require explanation.

To help avoid confusion, if you tell your colleagues to visit www.engineeringarchive.org they will also find their way to engrXiv. ;-)

Submitting a pre or postprint to engrXiv is pretty easy, you can do it by just sending an email:

Send an email to the following address from the email account you would like used on the OSF:

For Preprints, email engrxiv-Preprint@osf.io

The format of the email should be as follows:

Subject
Preprint Title

Message body
Preprint Abstract

Attachment
Your preprint file (e.g., .docx, PDF, etc.)

Once sent, we will follow-up by sending you the permanent identifier that others can use to cite your work; you can also login and make changes, such as uploading additional files, to your project at that URL. If you didn’t have an OSF account, one will be created automatically and a link to set your password will be emailed to you; if you do, we will simply create a new project in your account. By creating an account you agree to our Terms and that you have read our Privacy Policy, including our information on Cookie Use.

Note that you can also submit to engrXiv by tagging an existing osf.io project with “engrxiv”.

What ‘s next?

So now that you’ve got your pre or postprint submitted, what else can you do? When you submit via email, OSF will automatically create a page for your eprint and send you an email with a link to it. On this page you have several options for how you can enhance your submission.

Tagging

You can add tags to help categorize your eprint. This will help others find your eprint as well as any similar work which may have been given the same tag as tags can be searched.

Add co-authors

Where other people involved with your eprint? You can add them as “contributors” so make sure they get credit as well. If they are not on OSF already, you can enter their email address to send them an invite.

Licensing

Last but certainly not least, you can select a desired license for your eprint.

Whatever fits your work!

With OSF as a backend for engrXiv, you have the flexibility to represent your work in whatever way works best for you. You can upload additional supporting documents to go along with your eprint or add more detail to the wiki page. All of it will be open and accessible to the engrXiv community!