When linking preprint citations on Edifix, you may see inconsistent Crossref results. Edifix does the best it can, but the results depend on how Crossref resolves link queries. Unfortunately, Crossref query results are inconsistent, and sometimes Crossref does not have complete metadata.
Here’s an example. This input reference yields an “ideal” output: Edifix adds the preprint DOI to the reference and adds a comment with information about the final publication as a journal article.
Input
1. Dunham I. FORGE: A tool to discover cell specific enrichments of GWAS associated SNPs in regulatory regions. bioRxiv. 2014
Output
1. Dunham I. FORGE: A tool to discover cell specific enrichments of GWAS associated SNPs in regulatory regions. bioRxiv. 2014 https://doi.org/10.1101/013045.
Crossref reports this preprint has been published as 10.12688/f1000research.6032.1 (Ref. 6 "Dunham, 2014")
In this case, Edifix can provide both DOIs, because publishers have provided all the necessary metadata and Crossref has correctly cross-referenced the two DOIs.
However, we also see cases like this one:
Input
2. Lou B, Li T, Zheng S, et al. Serology characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infection since the exposure and post symptoms onset. medRxiv. Preprint posted March 27, 2020.
Output A: Final publication info is missing
2. Lou B, Li T, Zheng S, et al. Serology characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infection since the exposure and post symptoms onset. medRxiv. Preprint posted March 27, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.23.20041707.
Output B: Preprint DOI is missing
2. Lou B, Li T, Zheng S, et al. Serology characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infection since the exposure and post symptoms onset. medRxiv. Preprint posted March 27, 2020.
Crossref reports this preprint has been published as 10.1183/13993003.00763-2020 (Ref. 6 "Lou, Li, Zheng, et al.")
Outputs A and B come from submitting exactly the same input to Crossref two different times, less than 1 minute apart.
In Output A, Edifix found the correct DOI for the preprint, but because the preprint and the published journal article aren’t linked in the Crossref database, Edifix can’t provide information about the published article.
In Output B, Edifix found the DOI for the published journal article in the Crossref database. Edifix is smart enough to recognize that this isn’t the correct DOI, so it inserts a comment instead of just adding the DOI to the reference. Because the preprint and the final publication aren’t linked in the database, however, Edifix can’t provide the preprint DOI.
For more information about preprints on Edifix, see this FAQ.