Sophien Kamoun — bioRxiv Affiliate

Sophien Kamoun is a Group Leader at The Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, UK, and a globally recognized expert in plant-pathogen interactions and plant immunity. He is also a passionate advocate for open science, including open data, transparent peer review, and the use of preprints to accelerate the dissemination of research. You can follow him at @KamounLab on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn. He also blogs about preprints and open science on Medium. Sophien has been an bioRxiv Affiliate since 2013. In this interview, he shares why he enjoys being an Affiliate.

When did you join as an affiliate and why?

I’m incredibly proud to say I’ve been an Affiliate since 2013—basically from day one. I can’t believe it’s already been 12 years! It’s been wonderful to witness how bioRxiv has grown from a bold experiment into a mainstream platform for biology research. For me, supporting bioRxiv was a natural decision. I’ve long been a vocal proponent of the “publish, then filter” model, which I see as a much-needed alternative to outdated systems of scientific publishing and peer review.

Why do you enjoy being an affiliate?

I genuinely love the thrill of reading exciting science before it’s made public. Even though Affiliates only see preprints a few hours before they’re released, I still find that early glimpse exhilarating. There’s something uniquely rewarding about being part of the process that brings fresh ideas into the world.

Why others might like to join?

If you support open science, you should embrace preprints—and embracing preprints in biology means supporting bioRxiv. As an Affiliate, you get to help vet what gets posted while also being among the very first to read some of the most exciting research being done. It’s a rare combination of service and inspiration.

What do you do?

I start by screening the plant biology preprints, and then I check other fields I’m familiar with—microbiology, genetics, bioinformatics. I usually download the PDFs, scan the title, abstract, and figures, and occasionally read deeper into the paper. I always scroll to the last page—just in case someone decides to sneak in a photo of their cat for fun (yes, I’m watching you).

What have you learned by being an Affiliate?

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the overall high quality of preprints. When bioRxiv first launched, I did a mental exercise: what could go wrong? One concern was that it might attract a flood of poor-quality papers. But in fact, the opposite happened. The best and most exciting science often gets preprinted—while many of the more questionable papers that do pop up in high-profile journals skip preprint posting altogether. Why? Because it takes guts to preprint. You're putting your work out there for the world to see and scrutinize, without hiding behind journal prestige. And I admire that courage.

To promote the rapid dissemination of new research, bioRxiv and medRxiv depend on Affiliates who help screen manuscripts. Affiliates are active scientists who volunteer their time to quickly determine whether submitted articles include biological research and do not have the potential to cause harm to the public. Thanks to affiliates we can continue sharing new research within ~48h of submission. To learn more about our screening procedures please click here https://connect.biorxiv.org/news/2022/06/13/screening_procedures