BioRxiv
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2013
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
BioRxiv firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- BioRxiv
- Legal name
- openRxiv
- Website
- https://biorxiv.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2013
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where BioRxiv is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
BioRxiv business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Grant Funding: BioRxiv is funded through grants from organizations including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and other academic institutions. Total funding of $6.1 million received until 2024.
- Institutional Support: Funding from academic institutions including Caltech, MIT, Stanford, Imperial College London, University of Edinburgh, University of Washington, and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Others | Free submission and access for all users |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels6 records
BioRxiv product offering
Product offeringCore offering
bioRxiv is a free online archive and distribution service for unpublished preprints in the life sciences. Authors self-submit manuscripts, which pass through a screening process before being posted publicly with assigned DOIs, typically within 72 hours. The platform integrates with 249+ journals for direct manuscript transfer and provides free text-mining APIs for machine analysis of all hosted content.
Product overview
bioRxiv is a preprint server for Biology operated by openRxiv, a non-profit organization. The core product is the bioRxiv preprint server, which provides free online archive and distribution services for unpublished preprints in life sciences. The platform enables authors to make research findings immediately available to the scientific community and receive feedback before journal submission. Related offerings include B2J (bioRxiv-to-Journal) direct submission for manuscript transfer to partner journals, article-level commenting built on Hypothesis partnership, and Disqus-based commenting. bioRxiv offers text mining APIs and feeds for machine analysis of content, RSS/Atom feeds for content syndication, and article metrics including usage tracking and altmetrics. The sister platform medRxiv handles health sciences preprints including clinical trials and epidemiology.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- bioRxiv Preprint Server A free online archive and distribution service for unpublished preprints in the life sciences. Authors self-submit manuscripts which are screened and posted publicly with assigned DOIs, enabling researchers to make findings immediately available to the scientific community and receive feedback before formal journal submission.
- medRxiv (Sister Platform) A dedicated health sciences preprint server co-managed with bioRxiv under openRxiv. medRxiv covers all health science research including clinical trials and epidemiology, providing the same free submission, screening, DOI assignment, and open access model as bioRxiv.
Quantifiable outcome
- 310,000+ preprints uploaded since 2013
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use BioRxiv
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
BioRxiv technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration6 records
AI capability3 records
Feature4 records
BioRxiv partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.
- Hypothes.iscoreMulti-year partnership beginning in 2017 to build article-level commenting features allowing researchers, educators, and readers to engage directly with preprints. New functionality live on medRxiv and neuroscience section of bioRxiv.
- Cold Spring Harbor LaboratorycoreFounding organization of bioRxiv. Now operates under openRxiv, a non-profit. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory continues as a major institutional supporter and funder.
- 249+ Partner JournalscoreJournals integrated for direct manuscript transfer (B2J) and co-submission (J2B) workflows, including major publishers like PLOS, Frontiers, PNAS, Science, and eLife. Enables authors to submit preprints directly to journals.
- CrossrefmajorProvides DOI assignment for all bioRxiv preprints, making them citable and part of the permanent scientific record.
- Google ScholarmajorAll bioRxiv preprints are indexed by Google Scholar for discoverability.
- PorticomajorAll bioRxiv papers are archived at Portico for permanent preservation and accessibility.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
BioRxiv competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- ChemRxiv: Chemistry preprint server jointly operated by the American Chemical Society, Royal Society of Chemistry, German Chemical Society, and other chemistry societies. Direct structural analog to bioRxiv in a different scientific discipline.
- OSF Preprints: Open Science Framework preprints discovery and hosting layer built on a free, open-source infrastructure operated by the Center for Open Science. Provides branded preprint servers (PsyArXiv, SocArXiv, etc.) and a comparable preprint aggregation experience.
- medRxiv: Dedicated health sciences preprint server launched in 2019, co-managed by BioRxiv/Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory/BMJ/Yale. Effectively a sister platform covering clinical and epidemiological research and operating the same submission workflow as BioRxiv.
- Preprints.org: Multidisciplinary preprint platform operated by MDPI covering biology, medicine, social sciences, and more. Direct competitor for author submissions, particularly in life sciences where BioRxiv is dominant.
- arXiv: The original preprint server, operated by Cornell University, covering physics, mathematics, computer science, and quantitative biology. Closest analog to bioRxiv as a discipline-specific preprint platform with similar submission, screening, and free-access model.
- Research Square: Preprint platform and author services company offering preprint posting, in-house peer review, and journal transfer across multiple scientific disciplines. Direct competitor for preprint submissions and integrated journal transfer workflows.
- SSRN: Social Science Research Network preprint repository owned by Elsevier, covering social sciences, humanities, and life sciences research. Direct peer as a long-established, discipline-spanning preprint platform with journal transfer capabilities.
Broad incumbents
- PLOS: Open-access publisher (PLOS ONE, PLOS Biology, etc.) and a long-standing B2J partner of BioRxiv. Comparable in audience (life sciences researchers) and open-access ethos, with a broader portfolio including journals and broader publishing infrastructure.
Emerging players
- Authorea: Collaborative manuscript and preprint writing platform that competes for the early-stage author workflow. Less established in pure preprint hosting but addresses the same author experience of drafting, submitting, and posting preprints.
- Zenodo: Open-access general research data and document repository operated by CERN. Serves an adjacent preprint/long-tail research-content role, increasingly hosting preprint-style deposits in fields outside bioRxiv's coverage.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
BioRxiv social profiles
Digital presenceBioRxiv financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
BioRxiv leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
BioRxiv funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
BioRxiv M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about BioRxiv
What does BioRxiv do?
bioRxiv is a free online archive and distribution service for unpublished preprints in the life sciences. Authors self-submit manuscripts, which pass through a screening process before being posted publicly with assigned DOIs, typically within 72 hours. The platform integrates with 249+ journals for direct manuscript transfer and provides free text-mining APIs for machine analysis of all hosted content.
Is BioRxiv a public or private company?
BioRxiv is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was BioRxiv founded?
BioRxiv was founded in 2013. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is BioRxiv based?
BioRxiv is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does BioRxiv make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Grant Funding is the primary driver. The others are institutional Support.
Who are BioRxiv's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are ChemRxiv, OSF Preprints, medRxiv, Preprints.org, arXiv, Research Square and SSRN. PLOS is listed as a broad incumbent. Emerging players are Authorea and Zenodo.
Does BioRxiv have an API?
Yes. bioRxiv provides free and unrestricted access to all articles via APIs and feeds for text mining purposes. A growing variety of resources including APIs and feeds have been created to facilitate machine analysis of content. XML is available for text mining purposes. bioRxiv also supports text mining of preprints by search engines and researchers through explicit consent given by authors upon posting. Developer documentation is at biorxiv.org/tdm.