How to Write and Publish a Scientific Article
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1) Preprint
A preprint is the first version of an article that authors submit to publishers. This initial version of the article has not yet been peer-reviewed.
The manuscript is generally presented in a ".doc" or in another text format and it does not include the publisher’s formatting.
Generally speaking, this is not the version of the article archived in an institutional repository such as PolyPublie.
Preprints are sometimes archived in disciplinary repositories such as arXiv.org.
Other terms used to refer to preprints:
- Pre-print
- Preprint
- Pre-pub
- Pré-publication
Industry Standards
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) published in 2008 its recommendations for the nomenclature used for different versions of articles. Clear definitions of terms used by scientific publishers are included.
2) The Author's Final Manuscript
The author’s final manuscript is the final version of the article submitted to the publisher. The author’s final manuscript includes all the changes made to the article during peer review.
The manuscript is generally presented in a ".doc" or in another text format and it does not include the publisher’s formatting.
Generally speaking, this is the version of the article that can be deposited in an institutional repository such as PolyPublie.
Other terms used to refer to the author’s final manuscript:
- Postprint
- Post-print
- Final peer-reviewed manuscript
- Reviewed article
- Amended article
- Accepted manuscript
- Postpublication
- Post-publication
- Postdocument
- Post-document
- Manuscrit final examiné par les pairs
- Version finale de l'auteur
- Version acceptée pour publication
3) The Publisher's Final Version
As its name indicates, the publisher’s final version is the version of the article as published by the publisher. It includes all the formatting work carried out by the publisher.
The publisher’s final version is generally presented as a ".pdf" or "HTML" formatted document. This version can be deposited in PolyPublie immediately after its publication when the article is published with a license allowing redistribution, such as Creative Commons (CC). In the absence of such a license, the version formatted by the publisher can not generally be archived in an institutional repository.
Other terms used to refer to the publisher’s final version:
- Published version
- Type-set version
- Formatted version
- Version of record
- Version finale
- Version officielle
- Version publiée
- PDF final
