Preprints are drafts of research papers
that are shared online prior to peer review.
One of the reasons preprint culture
evolved was frustration amongst academics on the length of time it takes for
papers to be reviewed and published in traditional journals.
In addition to speed, some other benefits of publishing preprints are:
Community Feedback (peer-review)
which is an option that preprints
offer. The research community can access your work and provide feedback either
openly (via an online comment) or privately via email. This enables researchers
to address any concerns before submitting to a journal.
Increased visibility for your work - preprints
are typically assigned DOIs and are later linked to published articles,
increasing visibility, and citations.