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I am submitting a manuscript to PNAS and they want to know if the work is in arxiv or a preprint server (a definite yes or no).

A few months ago, we had posted a much older version of the manuscript to arxiv under a different name.

I know that the arxiv version can be replaced, but a different author (the PI) had posted it there. Since the PI is busy right now, getting them to update the arxiv version may take quite a few days. But, I want to speed up the journal submission process (my PI and other coauthors have contributed to the updated version, and they have agreed that I, the first author, will send the new version to the journal). What should I do now?

Alternatively I can just give a link to our old preprint and proceed immediately. The same arxiv link will be eventually updated to the new version anyway, and the journal should send my uploaded PDF to the referees, not the arxiv version. What worries me is whether the editors may not like it if they find out that the submitted article title and the preprint title are different and the content is also somewhat substantially different.

(Subject -- theoretical condensed matter physics, Country -- US)

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I would err towards the side of disclosure; this sounds like it's absolutely a preprint of the same work despite the revisions.

If it were separate then it would certainly be something you should cite yourself to make clear where the overlap is and what is and isn't novel, but it doesn't sound separate at all to me from your description.

Make sure all authors are on board about all stages of submission.

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I would expect that, upon submission to arxiv, the submission password was shared precisely in case an update needs to be done. If not, then getting this password shouldn't be an issue if you want to update the arxiv version.

More importantly, what is PNAS policy regarding arxiv submission? Some journal with exaggerated self-importance discourage arxiv submissions and you might want to clarify this.

At any rate, having a previous version on arxiv is not required for submission so why try to upload an update and delay when no arxiv version is needed? ... and yes you should disclose that an early version was uploaded, clarifying that this is a substantially different version.

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  • PNAS has no problem with preprints. Commented 5 hours ago
  • @BryanKrause I figured as much as it's a "society" journal... so it must be Science that is not happy with preprints (as is Nature). Commented 4 hours ago

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