Authorea

Active

Country: United States (US)
Founded: 2013
Developer: Authorea (self-developed)
Pricing: Freemium
Open source: No
Platforms: Web

Indexes

Writing/Word Processing

Overview

Authorea is a web-based collaborative writing platform designed for researchers to write, cite, collaborate, host data, and publish academic documents.¹⁸ It supports real-time editing, automatic citation formatting, and integration of figures, data, code, and interactive elements, with export options for journal submission.¹³ Targeted at scientists, students, and professionals across fields, it stands out through Git-based storage, preprint workflows, and reproducible research capabilities.¹³

Key Features

Collaborative editing - Multiple users edit documents simultaneously with change tracking.
Automatic citation formatting - Supports over 40 publisher-specific styles for journal submissions.
Data and code hosting - Attach raw data, iPython notebooks, and run live code.
Interactive figures - Embed interactive visualizations using D3.js.
Git integration - Documents stored in Git repositories for syncing with GitHub and offline editing.
Export options - Export to Word, PDF, LaTeX; import from LaTeX or .docx.
Preprint workflows - Direct submission to bioRxiv and private/public document controls.

Pricing

Plan	Price	Includes
Free	Free	One private document; basic features.
Paid Subscription	Paid (details on site)	Multiple private documents, advanced features.

Platforms & Requirements

Authorea is exclusively web-based, accessible via any modern browser without software installation.³⁴ No specific minimum requirements stated beyond internet access; supports desktop and potentially mobile browsers.⁵

Integrations & Ecosystem

GitHub
bioRxiv
PREreview
LaTeX import/export
Word (.docx) import/export
PDF export
iPython notebooks
D3.js for interactive figures

Alternatives

App	Difference
Overleaf	Primarily LaTeX-focused collaborative editor without native data/code hosting.
Google Docs	General-purpose with less academic-specific citation and journal formatting tools.
Manuscript Central	Publisher-specific submission platform lacking collaborative writing features.
ShareLaTeX (now Overleaf)	LaTeX-centric; Authorea adds multimedia and data integration.

Reputation

Authorea is recognized among researchers for facilitating collaborative academic writing with strong citation and export tools, used by over 200,000 in various fields.¹² Strengths include reproducible research support via code and data integration, though free tier limits private documents to one.¹ Some users note it differs from traditional word processors, better suited for scholarly work than general documents.³ Partnerships like bioRxiv indicate established credibility in preprint ecosystems.¹

Sources (9)