Tweets about preprints are largely confined to the scientific community

The vast majority of non-peer-reviewed scientific research shared on Twitter is circulated among people in academia, according to a new study that analyzed 1,800 of the most tweeted and downloaded papers on the preprint server bioRxiv from 2013 to 2020. But the study found that other measures suggest a much lower proportion of academics engage with these papers. Among non-scientists, the analysis found that 10% of preprints seemed to garner attention from white nationalists and other far-right groups, especially for papers concerning behavioral traits and population genetics. This study suggests social media engagement of preprint data stays within homogenous circles and points to why scientists ought to "build a following beyond their professional bubble" and contextualize their research, the authors write.