Version of record (VoR)

The version of record (VoR) is the final, formally published form of a scholarly work exactly as the publisher issued it — typeset, paginated, copy-edited, and carrying the definitive bibliographic citation (volume, issue, page range or article number). It is the canonical citable form of the work, and it is what a paper’s DOI most commonly resolves to. Any later correction, retraction, or expression of concern is applied to the VoR via a linked notice, not by silently editing the original.

How this differs from a preprint and postprint

Where the preprint predates peer review entirely and the postprint (author-accepted manuscript) has been peer-reviewed but not yet typeset, the VoR is the end state of the publication pipeline — the only one of the three carrying the publisher’s final formatting and definitive citation. NISO’s Journal Article Versions (JAV) recommendation formalises this progression with distinct labels (author’s original, submitted manuscript, accepted manuscript, proof, version of record, and — for later changes — corrected VoR and enhanced VoR), giving repositories, publishers, and citation managers a shared vocabulary for which state a given file actually represents.

Example

The publisher’s typeset PDF of a journal article, carrying volume, issue, and page numbers, indexed and retrievable via its DOI — as distinct from the author’s accepted Word file circulating on a personal website or institutional repository.

Why the distinction matters in practice

Which version an author is permitted to self-archive, and where, is governed by the specific publisher agreement — it is common for the postprint to be self-archivable (often after an embargo) while the VoR itself remains restricted to the publisher’s platform or a paid subscription. Citing the wrong version, or citing a preprint’s page numbers as if they belonged to the VoR, is a common but avoidable citation error.