Preprints are free online scientific studies that are inconclusive or unverified.
Researchers find them useful to get feedback quickly.
Preprints skyrocketed during COVID19 - scientists were sharing and refining each other's work on life-saving drugs and vaccines.
Covering preprints is okay as long as one mentions that the work is tentative.
Researchers analyzed over 450 media stories that covered preprints - only about half accurately portrayed them as being unverified research. With COVID19's rapid spread and few verified studies to rely on, journalists have little choice but to cover preprints.
But things are changing - journalism associations have recommendations to cover preprints responsibly. Warning messages on preprint collections remind readers not to treat findings as facts.
But we must also do our part. Read science papers critically. Fact-check questionable claims. Think before you share.
Science communicator Liz Neeley says - we are all science communicators now: COVID-19 has conscripted us.
Original article:
In the rush for coronavirus information, unreviewed scientific papers are being publicized
Original study: