<p>How common is it to place articles on arXiv or similar sites <em>before</em> publishing in a peer-reviewed journal?</p>

<p>I'm trying to get a feel for what my chances are, of publishing in a journal if I put an unreviewed article on Cornell's archival site, before I publish.  Is this common in theoretical computer science?</p>

<p>NOTE:  I see <a href="https://cstheory.stackexchange.com/users/186">@Kaveh</a> has recommended putting a paper on arXiv first <a href="https://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/7207/how-to-publish-a-paper">in this question</a>, so this gives me some hope!</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-15T03:18:23.337Z
It is very common.
Chandra Chekuri
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2017-02-15T03:34:05.063Z
@ChandraChekuri:  I thought so, but I guess I wasn't sure.  I just wanted to make sure that if I want to arXiv it, I'll still have a good chance at peer review.
Matt Groff
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2017-02-15T05:50:18.643Z
If a journal doesn't want to take a paper because it is already online as a  preprint, the problem is with the journal. But I have never even heard of that happening.
David Eppstein
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2017-02-15T06:56:36.580Z
It depends on the community. If you want to submit your work to conferences that have a double blind submission policy, you can't upload the paper to arXiv before it is accepted.
R B
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-15T07:19:58.710Z
@RB Regarding double blind submissions: My experience has been that referees are strongly discouraged from googling the paper so as to try to discover its authors. The authors are not faulted for posting the paper elsewhere with full information. I have *never* heard of any reputable journal having any issue with arxiv preprints.
Aryeh
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2017-02-15T09:12:14.320Z
This question might be better suited for [Academia](http://academia.stackexchange.com/). It probably already has an answer there.
Jan Johannsen
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2017-02-15T14:27:05.737Z
@Aryeh, Concerning the double blind, it may still be risky to send a preprint. I had once an arxiv preprint for an interesting result and we sent a paper proving this result but with a write-up and an approach completely different from the preprint (simpler proofs and relying on existing results) to a double blind conference. The paper almost got rejected because two reviewers did not appreciate the fact that we were claiming to be the first to settle this question. They indeed cited our arxiv paper to prove us wrong...
holf
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2017-02-15T17:11:50.293Z
Most TCS papers appear first in conferences rather than journals, and many *want* you to post a preprint online before submitting. From the most recent FOCS CFP: "Authors are encouraged to post full versions of their submissions in a freely accessible on-line repository such as the arxiv, the ECCC, or the Cryptology ePrint archive. (Papers that are not written well enough for public dissemination are probably also not ready for submission to FOCS.)"
Huck Bennett
<soft-question><journals>
Is putting articles on arXiv or alternatives, before peer review, generally acceptable?
Matt Groff
# Is putting articles on arXiv or alternatives, before peer review, generally acceptable?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-02-15)

How common is it to place articles on arXiv or similar sites *before* publishing in a peer-reviewed journal?

I'm trying to get a feel for what my chances are, of publishing in a journal if I put an unreviewed article on Cornell's archival site, before I publish. Is this common in theoretical computer science?

NOTE: I see [@Kaveh](https://cstheory.stackexchange.com/users/186) has recommended putting a paper on arXiv first [in this question](https://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/7207/how-to-publish-a-paper), so this gives me some hope!

**Tags:** soft-question, journals
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: It is very common.  
> **username_0**: @ChandraChekuri:  I thought so, but I guess I wasn't sure.  I just wanted to make sure that if I want to arXiv it, I'll still have a good chance at peer review.  
> **username_2**: If a journal doesn't want to take a paper because it is already online as a  preprint, the problem is with the journal. But I have never even heard of that happening.  
> **username_3**: It depends on the community. If you want to submit your work to conferences that have a double blind submission policy, you can't upload the paper to arXiv before it is accepted.  
> **username_4**: @RB Regarding double blind submissions: My experience has been that referees are strongly discouraged from googling the paper so as to try to discover its authors. The authors are not faulted for posting the paper elsewhere with full information. I have *never* heard of any reputable journal having any issue with arxiv preprints.  
> **username_5**: This question might be better suited for [Academia](http://academia.stackexchange.com/). It probably already has an answer there.  
> **username_6**: @Aryeh, Concerning the double blind, it may still be risky to send a preprint. I had once an arxiv preprint for an interesting result and we sent a paper proving this result but with a write-up and an approach completely different from the preprint (simpler proofs and relying on existing results) to a double blind conference. The paper almost got rejected because two reviewers did not appreciate the fact that we were claiming to be the first to settle this question. They indeed cited our arxiv paper to prove us wrong...  
> **username_7**: Most TCS papers appear first in conferences rather than journals, and many *want* you to post a preprint online before submitting. From the most recent FOCS CFP: "Authors are encouraged to post full versions of their submissions in a freely accessible on-line repository such as the arxiv, the ECCC, or the Cryptology ePrint archive. (Papers that are not written well enough for public dissemination are probably also not ready for submission to FOCS.)"  

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