Skip to main content

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
Pradeep Sharma

Hi Yonggang, a great follow-up and a good opportunity for us to clarify. I will use Nature as an example, although other journals are similar or even more permissive. They explicitly allow preprints (see this link). You just have to protect their "scoop," i.e., cannot mention that the paper is accepted in Nature until the embargo is lifted, and cannot post the copy-edited version of the paper. In fact, people have been posting Nature/Science/PNAS papers on arXiv (the inspiration for MechanicsArxiv) for quite some time now. During the time of submission to Nature, etc., you should simply disclose that the paper is on MechanicsArxiv (or Arxiv for that matter).

Sun, 04/26/2026 - 14:05 Permalink
Hanqing Jiang

Dear Pradeep and Kaushik,

This is a very timely and much-needed initiative. The fragmentation of our field across journals and the limited visibility of mechanics work on broad platforms like arXiv are real issues, and a dedicated space could meaningfully improve both discoverability and community cohesion.

I do have a few questions that may be helpful as the platform evolves:

(1) Adoption strategy: Since many mechanicians do not routinely post preprints, are there plans to actively incentivize or encourage adoption?

(2) Journal policies: Some journals have policies regarding preprints. How do you envision handling cases where authors are uncertain about whether posting on MechanicsArXiv could affect subsequent journal submission?

(3) Long-term sustainability: Could you share more about the governance and funding model to ensure the platform’s continuity?

Overall, I think this is an important step toward strengthening our mechanics community. I look forward to seeing how it develops.

Hanqing

Sun, 04/26/2026 - 14:54 Permalink
Pradeep Sharma

Hi Hanqing,

I really appreciate the thoughtful questions and your support for the initiative. You've highlighted some of the exact considerations we have been working through.

(1) You are right that posting preprints isn't the norm for all mechanicians just yet. However, we do already see many colleagues sharing preprints and accepted papers on platforms like iMechanica, ResearchGate, or personal websites. MechanicsArXiv will streamline this: a user can simply announce their paper on iMechanica and link directly to the MechanicsArXiv repository. This creates a single, centralized database that the entire community can easily monitor and search by keyword.

Our strategy for adoption relies on encouragement through forums like iMechanica and by convincing respected colleagues like yourself to lead by example. :-) Once we hit a critical mass, the practical benefits, such as the ability to easily link to preprints for federal grant reporting, will hopefully drive further adoption.

(2) Journal Policies: As we noted in our response to Yonggang, the overwhelming majority of journals do allow preprints. To help alleviate any author hesitation, we are putting together a detailed guide on the site regarding these policies so authors know exactly where they stand. We also hope that if authors are ever in doubt, they will reach out to us for clarification. We plan to add this resource to the website very soon.

(3) Long-term Sustainability and Governance: You have hit on two vital points here. For governance, the structure is straightforward: while Kaushik and I are currently acting as coordinators (much like Zhigang and Teng did for iMechanica in its early days), the site ultimately belongs to all mechanicians. We have an Advisory Board that will continue to expand, and governance will flow through them. This is, obviously, a strictly non-profit venture.

Regarding sustainability, our goal is to transition the platform once it reaches a certain level of success. At that point, Kaushik and I will divest ourselves and establish a self-perpetuating governance board with formal rules for selecting future coordinators and members. However, experience shows this transition can only happen after the idea has truly taken off; until then, it needs shepherding by a few passionate enthusiasts!

Financially, we already have the minimal funding secured to sustain the platform "indefinitely" at a moderate scale. Our long-term plan, however, is to raise funds through federal grants and private foundations to make our capacity "limitless" and ensure robust, ongoing maintenance and updates.

Thanks again for the excellent questions, and I look forward to your continued feedback as the platform evolves.

 

Mon, 04/27/2026 - 00:19 Permalink
Hanqing Jiang

Dear Pradeep

Thanks for the detailed response. This is very encouraging. It is great to see the level of thought already going into this.

I fully agree that reaching critical mass is the key step. Since this is ultimately a community habit problem, it may be useful for a small group of senior researchers to commit to systematically posting their upcoming papers/preprints. Early visibility from well-known groups could quickly establish credibility and attract broader participation.

I’m happy to support it and will plan to contribute my own papers as the platform develops.

Hanqing

Mon, 04/27/2026 - 09:12 Permalink
jzsong

Dear Pradeep and Kaushik,

This is a valuate resource for mechanics community. The platform not only facilitates the sharing of early-stage research but, more importantly, provides protection for such work. I look forward to contributing my preprint and feedback to its growth. 

To achieve its success, it is important to attract and encourage more mechanicians to post their preprints—this is crucial not only because many mechanicians do not routinely share their preprints, but also because some journals (e.g., JAM) can publish results very quickly (within 2-4 weeks), which may deter them from doing so. Are there any good plans to solve this issue?

Jizhou

Sun, 04/26/2026 - 23:41 Permalink
Kaushik Dayal

Hello Jizhou,

This is an interesting point. JAM is certainly a lot faster than most publication forums but even with such superfast journals, downloading from an open archive is very low barrier and requires no login or access to the journal through university VPN/library account. This will make access quick and easy.

Mon, 04/27/2026 - 09:23 Permalink