Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s (CSHL’s) John Inglis and Richard Sever have earned The Royal Society’s 2025 Research Culture Award. The two were honored for cofounding the preeminent biomedical preprint servers bioRxiv and medRxiv. Established in 2013 and 2019 respectively, these online repositories empower scientists worldwide to share their research fast, fairly, and free of charge.
Founded in 1660, The Royal Society is the world’s oldest scientific academy in continuous existence. The Research Culture Award annually recognizes outstanding and sustained work in the improvement of the research system and culture.
“I’m deeply honored by an award from this most prestigious scientific institution and delighted that it recognizes my preprint team colleagues’ dedication,” says Inglis, executive director of CSHL Press. “I founded CSHL Press with the mission of helping scientists succeed. bioRxiv and medRxiv, now independent, were created with that vision and are enabling scientists worldwide to share their work with the widest possible audience.”
“I am honored to receive this award,” Sever, now chief science and strategy officer at openRxiv, adds. “It reflects a fantastic team effort from a group of people dedicated to transforming science communication. bioRxiv and medRxiv enable researchers to share new discoveries more rapidly, and science moves faster as a consequence.”
In March 2025, Inglis and Sever spearheaded the launch of openRxiv, a community-oriented, independent nonprofit, to oversee bioRxiv and medRxiv operations. Today, the two servers combine to host over 430,000 preprints from thousands of international institutions. Dr Tracy Teal was recently appointed openRxiv’s first CEO.
Inglis and Sever credit their colleagues at CSHL, including CSHL President Dr. Bruce Stillman, the medRxiv co-founders Harlan Krumholz, Joe Ross, Theo Bloom, and Claire Rawlinson, the preprint teams at bioRxiv and medRxiv, as well as the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative for sustaining and supporting the growth of the preprint program.
“The recipients of this year’s medals and awards have all made outstanding contributions to science and its applications for the benefit of humanity,” says Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society. “They have done so through furthering our understanding of the processes that govern the world around us, changing the practices of academia to build a more robust and inclusive research environment, and engaging new audiences. Celebrating these diverse contributions is core to the Society’s mission and I offer my congratulations to all the 2025 recipients.”
Written by: Nick Wurm, Communications Specialist | wurm@cshl.edu | 516-367-5940