Online publication and issue release are not the same thing
An article may appear on the journal website before the issue, volume, or collection itself is released. Online publication does not always mean that the issue is already complete.
In detail
One of the frequent questions from authors is: if an article is already published on the journal website, does that mean the issue has already been released? Not necessarily.
In many publishing models, an article goes through several stages
- accepted;
- online first / article in press;
- final version of record;
- later issue assignment.
This means that the article may already be available to readers and even be citable, but its final place in a volume, issue, or collection will be assigned later.
This matters to the author for several reasons
- the online version may appear weeks or months before the issue release;
- the print version or full issue may come later;
- the presence of the article on the website does not mean the full set of issue materials has been published.
In modern scholarly publishing this is normal practice. A journal may first publish a completed article online and then include it in an issue according to its schedule.
What is important to remember
Online publication of an article and release of the full journal issue are different stages of the same process.