Self-archiving
There are a number of ways to publish a paper, but many authors also share their work in online repositories. This is known as self-archiving. The arXiv repository, managed by Cornell University, is a good example of this. Authors can upload their published work to online repositories, subject to journal conditions. Many authors upload their unpublished work, which has not undergone any form of review. If you wish to share your work quickly or gain informal feedback from your community, self-archiving can be useful. Remember, though, that online repositories are only archives and most will not subject your work to formal peer review.