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Deposit Your Plasmids Pre-Publication

Deposit Plasmids

Did you know that you can deposit plasmids before they are published? If you have cloned unique plasmids for an upcoming paper, we encourage you to deposit them before the paper is released.

Why deposit plasmids before publication?

Our quality control and legal approvals typically take a few weeks. By submitting the deposit before your paper is published, we can begin these processes in advance so that your plasmids are ready for distribution by the time your paper is published.

  • Sequence discrepancies can be caught and corrected before the manuscript completes peer review.
  • You can include the Plasmid IDs in your paper or supplemental tables, making it easy for readers to find the Addgene pages, sequences, and other information — and to request the constructs!
  • Having your plasmids ready for distribution as soon as the paper is published can help maximize potential impact.

Once your paper or preprint is available online, email us at [email protected] to let us know the citation and/or PubMed ID and your deposit or plasmid ID numbers. We will associate the paper with your plasmids on our website to ensure that users cite your work correctly.

Screenshots from the cited article, Eastwood et al. 2023. One view shows a table with heading "Recombinant DNA", listing the names of plasmids created in this study and their Addgene IDs. The second view shows "Materials Availability" statement with the text "Plasmids generated in this study have been deposited to Addgene. Plasmid ID #s 182386–182425".

Figure 1: Example of plasmids listed in a Materials table and Materials Availability statement of a paper (Eastwood et al., 2023 Cell Rep Methods).

Can you keep my plasmids offline until my paper is published?

Yes. Select the "Hold for Publication" option when beginning the data entry process. You can also email us at [email protected] to request that your submitted plasmids remain offline until publication (please be sure to include your deposit number).

  • We will begin our quality control and legal approval processes for your plasmids and let you know when they are ready, but the plasmids will be kept on hold from distribution and public view (including search results and listing on our web pages) until you request their release.
  • Once your paper or preprint is available online, let us know the citation and/or PubMed ID and your deposit or plasmid ID numbers you would like to release. We will associate the paper with your plasmids on our website.

As of July 1, 2025, we have updated our Hold for Publication policy:

  • If Addgene staff become aware of a publication describing your plasmids on hold, we will update the plasmids with the citation, release the hold, and notify you of their release.
  • For new deposits (as of July 2025), after three years on hold Addgene staff may release the hold unless otherwise requested. One month before the three-year limit is set to expire, we will notify you of the pending release. You may request an extension if a paper is still awaiting publication.

To learn more, read our blog post describing this policy.

If you change your mind (or if plans change), you can request that your plasmids on hold be released at any time, even without a publication.