Articles and their statuses

An ARIADNE article has two parts. The first is a public record on the Algorand blockchain. It says who published the article, in which fields, what type it is, its status and its current version. The second is a folder of files on IPFS with the text and its figures. The record holds the folder’s fingerprint (its CID), so any change to the text would show.

This page explains the rules behind that record, which the ARIADNE contract (the program on the blockchain) enforces. For the steps, see Publish an article and New versions, amendments and retraction. Terms such as address, CID or transaction are explained in the glossary.

What the record holds

Part	What it is	Can it change?
Number	given by the contract in order (1, 2, 3…); the article’s page is `https://ariadne.press/testnet/a/<number>`	never
Author	the address (wallet) that published it, called the submitter	never
Co-authors	up to 25 addresses declared when publishing; each one confirms by signing	the list never changes; only confirmations are added
Primary field, secondary field	the field of the article and, if you want, a second one	never
Type	article, notes, amendment, dataset or replication	never
Parent	for an amendment only: the article it amends	never
Status	preprint, under review, closed version, disputed or retracted	by the rules below
Version	a number that starts at 1, with the CID of the current and the previous version	by new versions

Votes, reviews, comments and flags are recorded next to the article. The page What is on the blockchain, and what is not lists everything. The folder itself, and why its fingerprint is 36 bytes, are explained in Storage: IPFS, pins and copies.

Only the submitter can change the status, publish new versions and resolve comments. Confirmed co-authors share the reputation the article earns, but they have no editing or status rights (see Co-authors).

Types of publication

Type	Use it for
`article`	a research article
`notes`	short notes
`amendment`	a correction or addition to an earlier article, which it points to
`dataset`	data published on its own, so that articles can point to it instead of carrying it
`replication`	a replication of someone else’s result

Every publication folder, whatever its type, holds at most 20 MB. The type is chosen when publishing and never changes. Only an amendment has a parent: the contract refuses an amendment without one, and refuses a parent on any other type. Notes, datasets and replications point to the work they discuss through their references list and the links in their text (see The article header). The upload editor in the web app starts each type from its own template.

The five statuses

Status	Meaning	How it gets there
preprint	first public version	publishing
under review	the author invites reviews	the author
closed version	the author closed it: no more versions (it says nothing about review; the seal does)	the author, from under review
disputed	enough flags were raised; under examination	automatically, by flags
retracted	withdrawn; still readable, permanently marked	the author, at any time except while it is disputed, or governance after a dispute

On the blockchain the statuses are numbers from 1 to 5. Status 3 is called final there; the web app shows it as “closed version”, because closing an article only stops new versions. Whether an article was reviewed is shown by the Peer-reviewed seal, which is independent of the status.

Who moves an article

The contract accepts exactly these changes and refuses every other one.

From	To	Who	How
preprint	under review	the submitter	“Change status”, then “Set under review”
under review	closed version	the submitter	“Change status”, then “Set closed version”
preprint, under review or closed version	retracted	the submitter	“Change status”, then “Retract”
preprint, under review or closed version	disputed	nobody: it happens by itself	the flags of the current round reach 30
disputed	the status it had before the dispute	governance	dispute resolved as cleared
disputed	retracted	governance	dispute resolved as retracted

What follows from the table:

An article cannot jump from preprint to closed version; it goes through under review.
Nothing goes back: a closed version never reopens, and retracted is final.
“Who” means the submitting address. A co-author cannot change the status.
Retracting asks for confirmation in the web app, because it is final and loses any reputation the authors have not claimed yet.
How flags lead to a dispute, and what governance may do, is explained in Flags, disputes and governance.

What each status allows

You can…	preprint	under review	closed version	disputed	retracted
publish a new version	yes	yes	no	no	no
review it	yes	yes	yes	yes	no
vote for it, or for its reviews and comments	yes	yes	yes	no	no
claim reputation from it	yes	yes	yes	no	no
comment on it	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
flag it	yes	yes	yes	yes	no

A few actions follow the same pattern:

Confirming co-authorship works in preprint, under review and closed version, not in disputed or retracted.
Resolving a comment follows the voting row: it is possible in preprint, under review and closed version.
Flags while disputed are recorded and keep adding up in the round, but the status does not change again.
Claiming the article token is possible in every status except retracted.
Declaring a DOI needs an article that is not retracted; a DOI can be withdrawn in any status.

The web app offers only the actions the contract would accept from your account, so a button you do not see is usually one of these rules at work.

Versions

Every article starts at version 1. A new version replaces the current folder with a new one and adds 1 to the version number. The article keeps its number, authors, fields and type.

When: only while the article is a preprint or under review, and only by the submitter.
What must change: the new CID must differ from the current one. The header of index.md must still match what the chain holds (first author, fields, type, parent).
What stays: every earlier CID stays on record on the blockchain, so anyone can see what changed and when. The reviews, votes and comments stay with the article.
In the web app: “New version” opens the files of the current version, checked against its CID, so you edit from where you are.
Cost: no deposit, only the network fee (see Costs and deposits). Your new folder must be pinned like the first one.

Reviews are written on the version that was current when they were submitted. The seal names the version its reviews were written on and says when a later version has not been reviewed yet. Citations name the exact version the reader cites.

Once an article is a closed version it can no longer change. To correct it, publish an amendment.

Amendments

An amendment is a separate publication of type amendment that points to the article it corrects (its parent). The parent can be in any status, including closed version and retracted. The contract checks only that the parent exists.

The amendment has its own number, status, versions, reviews and votes. Its page links to the parent automatically, it counts as citing the parent, and both stay readable. Amendments are left out of Thread Score.

The article token

Each publication also creates an article token. A token, here, is an Algorand Standard Asset (ASA): an object the blockchain itself keeps track of, which wallets and blockchain explorers can display. The article token exists in exactly one unit, carries the asset name Ariadne Article and the unit name ARIA (the literal values wallets display), and is issued by the ARIADNE application.

It proves authorship in any wallet. It follows the ARC-71 standard for non-transferable tokens.
Claiming it is optional. Until you claim it, the application holds it. “Claim the article token” on the article page moves it into the submitter’s wallet. You keep 0.1 ALGO in your own account while you hold it, as Algorand requires for any token held.
Once claimed it is frozen. Nobody, not even you, can move it to another account. Algorand still lets a holder hand a token back to its issuer; doing so changes nothing about authorship.
It points to the current version. Its metadata follows the ARC-19 convention: the token stores the fingerprint of the current CID, and each new version updates it.
On retraction it is revoked. Its settings become permanently fixed, and it can no longer be claimed.

The token is a convenience for wallets. The authority on authorship is the article record in the contract, not the token.