The Article Status Monitor enables users to input a list of publication IDs including PMIDs, PMCIDs, PPRIDs and DOIs and returns status updates for publications. These status updates include:

• Preprint has been published in a journal
• Preprint has been withdrawn or removed
• Preprint has a more recent version
• Journal article has been retracted

It is not always possible to match a preprint to a more recent or published version. For example, when an author changes the title of their preprint, or if a preprint server uses the same DOI for different preprint versions. For more information, see How status updates are obtained below.

This data can also be accessed programmatically using the Status Update Search module of the Europe PMC RESTful API.

Some details are provided below about each status type including how the status data is obtained by Europe PMC and some limitations of the data.

Preprint has been published in a journal

Europe PMC indexes preprint abstracts and metadata from Crossref and the full text of COVID-19 preprints, or preprints supported Europe PMC funders. Find out which preprint servers are indexed by Europe PMC. Europe PMC uses links in Crossref (where available) as well as an algorithm to match preprint titles and author details to peer reviewed, journal published articles received from PubMed and PubMed Central. Sometimes authors change the title of their paper between posting an early version to a preprint server for feedback, and a peer-reviewed version being published in a journal. Therefore it is not always possible to match a preprint to its published version.

Preprint has been withdrawn or removed

Preprints are occasionally withdrawn by the authors or journal, or removed completely. For full text COVID-19 preprints, Europe PMC identifies and tags withdrawn or removed preprints with the article type @article-type="preprint-withdrawal" or @article-type="preprint-removal". There is currently no metadata field in Crossref to identify withdrawn or removed preprints, so if a preprint only has an abstract in Europe PMC it is not currently possible to identify if it is withdrawn or removed.

Preprint has a more recent version

Europe PMC indexes different versions of preprints. If a more recent version of a preprint ID exists the Article Status Monitor will return this status update. However, it is not always possible to identify preprint versions. Some preprint servers (bioRxiv and medRxiv) use the same DOI for different preprint versions.

Journal article has been retracted

Europe PMC receives publisher retraction notices from Medline and these are linked to the retracted article.