The primary reason I switched over to Overleaf was the built-in template they had for our target journal (Scientific Data). This was extremely helpful for citation formatting. Additionally, Overleaf had a “direct submission” button for our target journal (meaning, you could initiate the manuscript submission directly from Overleaf, instead of navigating to/through the web pages for the journal).

In regards to workflow, prior to this manuscript, we generally worked in Word or a Google Doc (usually the latter) for collaboration and then transitioned to Word for final formatting prior to submission. This was our first usage of Authorea and Overleaf (and, our first experience with LaTex!).

I had a slightly better experience with Overleaf (including collaborative contributions to the manuscript), so I’ll probably stick with that in the future. However, even when I was using Authorea, I was writing everything in a Git-monitored folder (repository) for tracking (and documenting) changes and not using the Authorea website. Google Docs is probably the easiest way for collaboration – tracks changes over time, is easily shared, and provides a commenting system. However, getting offline access for Google Docs is tedious across multiple computers.

At the end of the day, I really only need either website for their commenting abilities. Going forward, I’ll probably do all writing in a Git repo tied to Overleaf – easy offline access and great means of tracking changes.