published

Published is the past participle of publish, and as an adjective and verb describes the act of making content publicly accessible through distribution by a publisher or host platform. The term derives from Latin publicare “to make public,” via Old French publier.

In scholarly and professional contexts, publication refers to the process by which a manuscript passes through review, editing, production, and dissemination. The publishing workflow typically includes submission, editorial evaluation or peer review, copyediting, design and typesetting, proofreading, and distribution in print or digital form. Identifiers such as ISBN for books and DOI for articles help locate published works.

Published works may be subject to copyright, with rights typically transferred to the publisher or licensed to readers, including subscription, single-copy sales, or open access models.

Different genres include academic journals, books, newspapers, magazines, and online content. Unpublished denotes works that have not yet been distributed publicly; authors may maintain manuscripts, theses, or preprints as unpublished.

In the digital era, self-publishing and open access have broadened gateways to publication, enabling broader and faster dissemination while shifting conventional business models.

Overall, being published marks a work as officially released and publicly accessible, in contrast to drafts, notes, or private manuscripts.