A manuscript is the work that an author submits to a publisher, editor, or producer for publication. In publishing, "manuscript" can also refer to one or both of the following:
an accepted manuscript, reviewedbut not yet in a final format, distributed in advance as a preprint.
Manuscript format
Even with desktop publishing making it possible for writers to prepare text that appears professionally typeset, many publishers still require authors to submit manuscripts formatted according to their respective guidelines. Manuscript formatting varies greatly depending on the type of work, as well as the particular publisher, editor or producer. Writers who intend to submit a manuscript should determine what the relevant writing standards are, and follow them. Although publishers’ guidelines for formatting are the most critical resource for authors, style guides are also key references since "virtually all professional editors work closely with one of them in editing a manuscript for publication." Nonetheless, individual publishers' standards always take precedence over styleguides. As formatting of a short story is considered the most general rubric for manuscript submissions, it is referred to as the standard manuscript format and is easily distinguishable from most published material.
Preprint
An ordinary manuscript only becomes a "publisher's preprint" if it somehow gets distributed beyond the authors. A future "final print" must be planned - with better layout, proofreading, prepress proofing, etc. - that will replace the "preprinted manuscript".
In a peer review context: if an author prepares a manuscript on their computer and submits it to a publisher for review but it is not accepted, there cannot be a "publisher's preprint".
In a web context : to demonstrate authorship, an author can upload a version of their work to a repository before full publication. Note that an alternative could be to use a legal deposit.
