Challenges associated with accelerated preprint availability

The rise in preprint servers has also narrowed the gap between academic and general audiences \cite{fox_preprint_2018}, providing public access to research material of immense topical interest. However, the unreviewed nature of preprints has proven a double-edged sword, allowing conclusions lacking scientific support to filter through various media channels. Several COVID-19 research preprints have been highly criticised, with some now retracted as a result.
One example claim was that the SARS-CoV-2 genome had either naturally or artificially acquired genetic material from HIV based on sequence similarity of observed inserts \citep{pradhan_uncanny_2020}; this was soon demonstrated to be a simple false positive resulting from the short sequence lengths in question \citep{xiao_hiv-1_2020,zhang_protein_2020}. Another unreviewed early access article via theJournal of Medical Virology purported the many-banded krait (Bungarus multicinctus ; an elapid snake species) to be a likely host of SARS-CoV-2 \citep{ji_cross-species_2020}. This was evidenced via similarities in codon usage between virus and krait, which were then shown to be artefactual through reanalyses that highlight the codon usage of SARS-CoV-2 is almost identical to other mammalian betacoronaviruses \citep{andersen_ncov-2019_2020,zhang_protein_2020}.
Though academic communities were quick to address these claims, their early availability as preprints meant their findings were already widely disseminated within mainstream media articles \cite{lee_shoddy_2020} and public perceptions. Online searches for terms linking SARS-CoV-2 to HIV and snake hosts immediately increased following the respective preprint post dates (Figure 3). This further fuelled the uncontrolled and unfiltered spread of misinformation surrounding COVID-19, appropriately termed an ‘infodemic’ \cite{zarocostas_how_2020}. While it is tempting to think that public misinformation can only originate from non-scientific sources, misrepresented preprint research needs to be recognised as a potential driver of such infodemics.