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Announcing MechanicsArXiv: A Dedicated Preprint Server for the Mechanics Community

Submitted by Pradeep Sharma on
education
preprint

Dear iMechanica community,

We (Pradeep Sharma, Kaushik Dayal) are writing to share an exciting new initiative aimed at maintaining and enhancing the identity, coherence, and visibility of our field.

While preprint platforms like arXiv have revolutionized how early-stage research is shared, our specific community faces a unique challenge. Solid mechanics papers are often lost in the sheer volume and jumble of all the disciplines hosted on general preprint servers. Not to mention that many mechanicians don’t routinely upload preprints. Furthermore, because our community publishes broadly in a host of journals focused on topics ranging from chemistry to geophysics, tracking down the latest mechanics research can be difficult.

At the same time, while iMechanica remains an outstanding and indispensable platform for community discussions, it is not an efficient, purpose-built system for uploading, hosting, and archiving preprints.

To bridge this gap, we have launched MechanicsArXiv. This initiative is supported by a high-quality advisory board and plans for its sustainable evolution.

Modeled directly after the success of arXiv, this is a dedicated, open-access preprint repository built specifically for the mechanics community. Our goal is to provide a focused, freely accessible home where our community can share research preprints without their work being buried in unrelated fields.

Please consider submitting your next preprint on this site. You can continue to discuss papers on iMechanica and simply provide a link to the preprint. Also, we note that you can also submit your preprint to both the classic arXiv and MechanicsArXiv. 

We look forward to seeing your work on the platform and welcome your feedback as we grow this resource for the community.

Best, Pradeep Sharma and Kaushik Dayal

Kaushik Dayal

Hello Yonggang, 

Thanks very much for your encouraging comments and the excellent suggestion. We will add clarification to the website regarding this matter but, briefly, here is our response.

The current academic publishing landscape is overwhelmingly supportive of early, open dissemination. Sharing your original manuscript on MechanicsArXiv prior to or during the formal submission process will not jeopardize its eligibility for publication in the vast majority of scientific journals.

Interdisciplinary journals including Nature, Science, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), fully permit the use of preprint servers and do not consider them prior publication. The primary stipulation from these publishers is the observance of a strict media embargo. While you are encouraged to share and discuss your preprint within the scientific community, you must refrain from soliciting mainstream media coverage or engaging in public relations campaigns regarding the findings until the manuscript is formally published.

Within the solid mechanics and engineering communities, policies are highly permissive and designed to facilitate rapid communication. For example,

  • Elsevier Titles: Cornerstone journals such as the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids (JMPS) and the International Journal of Solids and Structures (IJSS) explicitly allow authors to post their original, pre-peer-reviewed manuscripts to preprint servers at any time.
  • ASME Titles: The Journal of Applied Mechanics (JAM) and other ASME journals fundamentally support community-led open access and encourage early sharing.

While the posting preprints is universally accepted by these venues, authors should keep the following in mind:

  • Some journals offer double-anonymized review options. Posting a preprint makes their identity public which will effectively void the blinding process during peer review.
  • Once your manuscript is accepted and published, major publishers ask that you update the preprint record to include the DOI linking to the final Version of Record.
Sat, 04/25/2026 - 14:19 Permalink