Scholars Junction: Guide to Manuscript Versions

Also known as: article publication charge, APC, or publication fee
An amount you may pay to publish your work open access.

The typesetting, layout, and design standards that a publisher might apply to a work before publication.

Also known as: original version, author's original manuscript, preprint
The version of a work that you submit to a publisher; has not yet undergone peer review, revision/correction, formatting, or publication.

Also known as: author's accepted manuscript, final author version, postprint
The version of your work that has undergone peer review, revision, and correction, and has been formally accepted for publication, but has not yet undergone final formatting.

Also known as: final published version, publisher's PDF, version of record
The version of your work that has undergone all publisher processing, including peer review, acceptance, formatting, and publication.

Also known as: self-archiving
Depositing a version of your work (commonly the accepted version) in an institutional or discipline-specific open access repository. (More information via the Open Access Network)

A period of time, often mandated by your publisher, during which a self-archived version of your work must remain unavailable for download or restricted to specific groups of people (e.g., faculty/staff/students at your university).

The versions of your manuscript correspond to different stages of publication: submission, acceptance, and final publication.

Most scholars regard peer-reviewed publications as more authoritative, and thus versions of a publications that have completed peer review as more authoritative.

A carefully formatted, "pretty" document is generally regarded as more "professional" and authoritative. By applying a standard, visually-appealing format to your article (including font face, layout, and color where applicable) your publisher adds an aura of authority.

The level of value and trust generally assigned to a particular version of work (or to researchers/potential competitors using that version) may vary by discipline. In some fields, rapid publication may trump exhaustive peer review. In others, the threat of "scooping" or intellectual property theft may deter authors from sharing an unpublished version even where journal policies allow it.

Individual journals - even under a single publisher umbrella - may have specific policies regarding manuscript versions that differ from each other, and they don't always use the same name for each version that other journals in your field may use. Always check a journal's own policies on how you can use and share your work. Key phrases to look for include "self-archiving" and "green open access."

The more value a publisher has added to your article (in the form of peer review, formatting, etc.), the more likely the later versions of that article are to carry restrictions.

Often (but not always) if you choose and/or pay to publish your item open access, you retain the right to share more versions of it in an institutional repository or other website, including the final published version. (Always check your publisher's policies and your signed publication agreement before sharing a version of your manuscript!)

In general, we prefer not to accept preprints / submitted versions of your manuscripts. A dedicated preprint server such as arXiv may be a better fit for this version of your work.

When allowed by publisher policies, and especially when the published work is not open access, we encourage all MSU authors to submit the accepted version of their manuscript. Be sure to read and follow your journal's green open access / self-archiving policies, including applicable embargoes and special statements.
Note for co-authors: Your publisher may have sent a copy of the accepted version of your manuscript only to the PI. Ask your PI for a copy of this version, and keep both a digital and a physical copy in a safe place!

If you published your work open access, you may have the right to deposit the final published version in Scholars Junction. Check your publisher's policies to be sure. Otherwise, unless granted express written permission from your publisher, you should not submit this version to Scholars Junction.

(Formerly Sherpa-RoMeO)
Search the name of a journal, publisher, or funder to get information about their open access policies and how you may be able to share a version of your manuscript.

Enter the DOI of your published item into this tool to see whether and how you can freely share it. From there, you may have the option to deposit the work into Zenodo. (You can still deposit into Scholars Junction afterward!)

Check multiple items at once with this easy tool - simply paste in the DOIs and receive a .csv or .json file with information on whether those items are open access or not.

A brief introduction to Scholars Junction, MSU's institutional repository.

Visit https://ask.library.msstate.edu/scholcomm to ask questions and browse FAQs.