Research Square

Research Square is an open-access preprint platform that enables researchers to upload their manuscript versions so they receive a DOI, become publicly accessible, and can be commented on. Unlike a conventional journal, it is not a peer-review venue in itself but rather a dissemination tool. 
It was founded around 2013 and in 2022 was acquired by Springer Nature, meaning it now integrates closely with a major publishing house.

Key Features & How It Works
Preprint Dissemination: Authors can upload their manuscripts which undergo basic quality checks (e.g., plagiarism screening or formatting) and then receive a DOI. This makes the work citable and permanently part of the scholarly record.

“In Review” Integration: For certain journals affiliated with Springer Nature, when you submit your manuscript you can opt in to have it posted as a preprint on Research Square at the same time the journal review process begins. This gives a public version while peer review proceeds in the background.

Licensing and Access: The uploaded preprints are made open access under a CC-BY (Creative Commons Attribution) licence, facilitating reuse and visibility.

Global Scope & Subjects: The platform accepts contributions across disciplines (physical sciences, biomedical, social sciences) and has built a substantial repository of preprints.

Why Researchers Use It
Rapid visibility: Instead of waiting months for journal peer review and publication, your work can be visible almost immediately, enabling earlier feedback, collaborations or citations.
Permanent DOI and citation: The assignment of a DOI ensures your work is formally citable even before journal publication.
Improved transparency: Through In Review and the preprint model, research becomes more transparent—review processes, revisions and timelines are easier to track.
Protection of priority: By uploading your work early with a timestamped DOI, you establish precedence—even if the work is modified later for a journal.

Considerations & Challenges
Not peer‐reviewed: Because preprints are not formally peer‐reviewed at the time of posting, users must treat findings as preliminary. Journals still determine final acceptance.
Journal policies: Some journals may have restrictions or preferences regarding preprint posting, authors need to check compatibility before uploading.

Version control: When submitting to a journal you might later modify your manuscript, keeping track of versions (preprint vs journal version) is important for clarity.

Perception: Some stakeholders (reviewers, funders) may still view preprints as “less final” than peer-reviewed articles, so authors may need to clarify status when citing or presenting.

How Research Square Differs From Traditional Journals and Other Preprint Platforms
Unlike a traditional peer-review journal, Research Square focuses on speed and openness rather than formal editorial selection. Compared to many preprint servers, Research Square offers enhanced services: DOI issuance, integration with journal submission (In Review), and additional author tools.
Because it is part of Springer Nature, there is close alignment with major publishing pipelines, which may benefit authors seeking journal submission but still wanting early access.

While some preprint servers are discipline-specific (e.g., arXiv for physics, bioRxiv for biology), Research Square covers a broad range of fields, making it a more generalist option.