The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) has published a revised edition of its Journal Article Versions (JAV) Recommended Practice (NISO RP-8-2026), updating guidance on how different versions of scholarly journal articles are identified and communicated throughout the publication lifecycle.
Originally released in 2008 through a collaboration between NISO and the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), the JAV Recommended Practice established a standardized vocabulary for describing journal article versions appearing before, during, and after formal publication. Since then, the rise of preprints, evolving publishing models, and growing use of post-publication updates have increased the number of publicly available versions of individual research articles.
The revised guidance updates terminology and definitions for article versions and offers recommendations for communicating version information through machine-readable formats such as the Journal Article Tag Suite (JATS). It also includes examples demonstrating how the framework can be applied across a variety of publishing scenarios.
Following a public consultation period, the JAV Revision Working Group reviewed stakeholder feedback and incorporated relevant suggestions into the final version of the recommended practice.
The revised Journal Article Versions Recommended Practice is available free of charge through the NISO website.
Click here to read the original press release.
