Embase has ventured into the world of preprints by now providing article preprints from medRXiv and bioRXiv.
Preprints are early versions of manuscripts that are shared on public preprint servers prior to peer review and publication.
The benefit to you is earlier access to biomedical information including randomized controlled trials which might be included for systematic reviews as grey literature. Keep in mind that preprints are not peer-reviewed and therefore should be used with caution.
Embase clearly identifies an article as a preprint on the publication record. When doing searches, you can use the filter on the left hand side to limit Publication Types to “Preprint” or limit the Journal Titles to “medRXiv” and “bioRXiv.”
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If you only want to search for preprints, you can add the limit [preprint]/lim to your search (e.g., COVID-19 AND [preprint]/lim).
Be aware that if you have existing Embase email alerts, preprints will be included unless you modify the preprint settings in your saved email alert.
More details can be found in the November 2021 Embase Release Notes. If you have questions or would like to know more about preprints, please Ask a Librarian!