Self-archiving dermatology articles.

M anuscripts, like embryos and tumors, develop in stages (Table I), and dermatology authors increasingly expose this development to examination by self-archiving—that is, by posting manuscripts or published papers on personal Web sites and in public repositories (Table II) before, simultaneous with, or after publication in academic journals. When authors publish in closed-access traditional journals, self-archiving makes their work accessible to those without subscriptions or medical-library access (including peers in developing countries and the lay public) and may also improve the preservation of digital content; a downside of self-archiving, however, remains the potential loss of revenue to scientific societies dependent on subscriptions or manuscript access fees. When deciding whether and, if so, at what stage(s), to self-archive, authors should examine the policies of journals to which the final manuscript will be or has been submitted. Although few do so, publishers may prohibit self-archiving. In other cases, self-archiving