Self-archiving means that the author deposits his final manuscript (pre- or post-print) or published article in an institutional or subject-based repository.

Green Open Access, or 'the Green Route" means that the publisher's policy allows the author to archive his final manuscript in a repository, before peer review (pre-print) or after peer-review (post-print). Some publishers allow self-archiving of the published version in PDF-format. TheSherpa/RoMEO database gives information on most publishers' and journals' policies