To the best of my knowledge, no journal explicitly states that preprints cannot be cited. However, some journals do not look favourably on preprints. ... You can do this by clearly indicating in the main text if you cite a preprint (e.g., Smith et al., 2018 PREPRINT), as suggested by the Scholarly Kitchen.
Is it OK to cite preprints?
Ideally, use and cite the final, published version of a work. However, if you used the preprint version of a work, cite that version, as shown in the examples. Preprint versions of articles may or may not be peer reviewed or may be the author's final, peer-reviewed manuscript as accepted for publication.
How do you cite arXiv preprints?
You should use references of the form:
- arXiv:YYMM. NNNNv# [category] for new paper identifiers (April 2007 onward), e.g. ...
- arXiv:arch-ive/YYMMNNNv# or arXiv:arch-ive/YYMMNNNv# [category] for papers submitted before April 2007. The second form should be used for archives that have subject classes ( math.
