Library science

Vibration isolation

Quantum mechanics

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak

World Wide Web

Philosophy

Biology

Public health

Social psychology

Betacoronavirus

Global health

Preprint

Virology

Transmissibility (structural dynamics)

Biochemistry

Vibration

Computer science

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

Outbreak

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Physics

Psychology

Geography

Political science

Epistemology

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Immediacy

Hygiene

MEDLINE

Epidemiology

Coronavirus Infections

Medicine

Novelty

Pandemic

Contagious disease

Disease

Pathology

History

The Lancet Global Health

Since it was first reported by WHO in Jan 5, 2020, over 80 000 cases of a novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have been diagnosed in China, with exportation events to nearly 90 countries, as of March 6, 2020.1 Given the novelty of the causative pathogen (named SARS-CoV-2), scientists have rushed to fill epidemiological, virological, and clinical knowledge gaps—resulting in over 50 new studies about the virus between January 10 and January 30 alone.2 However, in an era where the immediacy of information has become an expectation of decision makers and the general public alike, many of these studies have been shared first in the form of preprint papers—before peer review.

Early in the epidemic: impact of preprints on global discourse about COVID-19 transmissibility