Q. What's the difference between an accepted author manuscript and the version of record?

The accepted author manuscript, or AAM, is the version of a journal article that has been accepted for publication and includes changes suggested during the peer review and editorial process. It is often a text file or a PDF with very little formatting, and usually won’t include final typesetting, publisher logos or pagination. This is the version that can be deposited to Pure to enable Green open access, to fulfil the eligibility requirements of the next REF.

The version of record, or VoR, is the final version of a journal article as it appears from the journal’s website or bibliographic databases such as Scopus. Copyright to the formatting of this version lies with the publisher. As a result, it is usually not possible to upload this version to Pure to facilitate open access.

The ability to deposit and reuse different versions of research publications varies from publisher to publisher, and often time restrictions, or embargos, must be applied before a file can be made available. The Scholarly Publications team will support you with this, checking the copyright status of every file uploaded to Pure and contacting you if any further information is needed. The team can be contacted with any questions about Pure, Northumbria Research Link or Open Access at openaccess@northumbria.ac.uk