OpenXiv vs bioRxiv
bioRxiv covers: Biology (companion medRxiv covers clinical medicine). Last updated 2026-05-20.
bioRxiv is the preprint server for the biological sciences, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. It runs a basic screening process and is the dominant preprint venue for life sciences.
| Dimension | OpenXiv | bioRxiv |
|---|---|---|
| Endorsement gate | None. | No endorser, but bioRxiv runs a basic screening for plagiarism, dual-use bio research, and policy fit before posting. |
| AI policy | Four-level AI disclosure. Per-paper refusal with named failure mode. No author bans. | AI use must be declared in the manuscript. Editorial discretion to remove papers that fail screening. |
| Federation | AT Protocol with Bluesky bridge posts. | None. RSS and Twitter announcement feeds only. |
| Post-publication review | Typed endorsements and Trust Passport. | On-paper public comment thread (free text). No typed review vocabulary. |
| Refusal model | Public refusal packet, revise-and-resubmit. | Manuscripts that fail screening are withdrawn privately. Limited public reasoning. |
| ISSN | Yes, ISSN 3120-9556, registered 2026-05-18 | No site-wide ISSN. |
| DOI | Roadmap (Crossref). | DOIs minted at posting (Crossref). |
| Default license | CC-BY-4.0. | CC-BY-NC-ND default; CC-BY, CC-BY-NC, CC0 also available. |
| Source mandate | Source archive required. | PDF accepted (DOCX accepted as well). No source mandate. |
| Eligibility | Independent researchers welcome on equal footing. | Authors must affirm at submission that they are bona fide researchers in a relevant field. |
Source for the bioRxiv column: https://www.biorxiv.org. Where a field looks stale, the policy page on the competitor site is the authoritative source.
See also: About OpenXiv, FAQ, Policies, How to submit.