COVID-19 and blood groups – there is an elephant in the room, but who cares? Do we need additional rules for preprints? [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]

Abstract

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) not only can cause very severe disease but, less obviously, the virus can also infect science in unpredicted ways. It seems that during these times some basic rules of science will lose validity and we do not know if they will come back. Though not necessarily always being the case, problems can arise from messages that make their way to public media straight from preprints. An impressive example is a recent study on an association between ABO blood groups and the severity of COVID-19. The study was first published as a preprint which almost immediately gathered an enormous amount of public interest though major drawbacks of the study had been identified by members of the scientific community. One of the major advantages of preprints is to present data, even if still incomplete, to the scientific community for an early discussion. It does not serve the quality of science if possible critical considerations are not addressed adequately until these preliminary studies go public and are submitted for publication in classical journals. Accordingly, clear additional rules for handling data derived from preprints are advocated herein. Speed does not have an advantage on its own.