Wolters Kluwer expert discusses CDC director’s new push for preprints

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Wolters Kluwer Health:

What: Among numerous measures announced to drive efficiency and restore public confidence in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the agency’s director, Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, proposed increasing the use of preprint research to ensure actionable new findings and data are available more quickly, instead of delaying until research has undergone a lengthy peer review process, according to the Associated Press.

What are preprints? A preprint is a completed draft of a research paper that is publicly available before it has undergone a peer review process. Like published articles, preprints often get a digital object identifier (DOI) so they can be cited by other researchers in subsequent articles and reports. Researchers that opt for preprints circumvent a potentially protracted peer-review process which can take months to sometimes years.

Preprints are found on preprint servers—websites that serve as online repositories hosting article drafts and data associated with various scholarly papers that are not yet peer reviewed or accepted by traditional academic journals.

Why it matters: According Vikram Savkar of Wolters Kluwer, “For years, the medical community has called for technology to help transform medical publishing, but the delays faced by the CDC during the COVID pandemic particularly highlighted the urgency to have tools available that support this transformation in a rigorous way. Walensky's announcement has the potential to increase the uptake of preprints within the research community.”

“Through preprints, authors can immediately disseminate their research in an open access setting. This can increase the accessibility of their findings and accelerate translation of research to practice. This move by Walensky reflects the CDC’s commitment to moving ahead and adapting with changes in medicine. Of course, preprints also carry risks; velocity of publication must be accompanied by an increase in critical evaluation by readers. But properly managed, preprints should position the global medical community to better meet the challenges of future pandemics, and Walensky's comments represent a crucial waystation on the journey to improvement.”

Who: Vikram Savkar is the Senior Vice President and General Manager for the Medicine Segment of the Health Learning, Research & Practice business at Wolters Kluwer.

In his role, Vikram leads innovations to advance the digital evolution of information and productivity solutions for medical researchers, clinicians, medical students, and faculty to inform evidence-based decisions on care and outcomes.

Prior to joining Wolters Kluwer, he held senior positions at Nature Publishing Group and Pearson Education, and has earned degrees in Physics and Classics from Harvard University.

How: Contact André Rebelo at andre.rebelo@wolterskluwer.com to schedule an interview with Vikram Savkar. Journalists may also publish quotes above with proper attribution.

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About Wolters Kluwer

Wolters Kluwer (WKL) is a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services for the clinicians, nurses, accountants, lawyers, and tax, finance, audit, risk, compliance, and regulatory sectors. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with advanced technology and services.

Wolters Kluwer reported 2021 annual revenues of €4.8 billion. The group serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 19,800 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands.

Wolters Kluwer provides trusted clinical technology and evidence-based solutions that engage clinicians, patients, researchers and students in effective decision-making and outcomes across healthcare. We support clinical effectiveness, learning and research, clinical surveillance and compliance, as well as data solutions. For more information about our solutions, visit https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/health and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @WKHealth.

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André Rebelo

Public Affairs & Public Relations Associate Director

Wolters Kluwer

+1 (781) 392-2411

andre.rebelo@wolterskluwer.com

Source: Wolters Kluwer Health