2 minute readReference note
Should a whitepaper or research report be published as a web page, a PDF or both?
In brief
Choose formats for how the material will be read, shared and maintained. A web reference and a downloadable edition can serve different needs while pointing to the same findings and current status.
Use a stable landing page to identify the report, authors, publication date, scope and important findings. Include the research methods or a clear route to them. Put substantive explanations in readable text where useful, with the underlying tables or download available for readers who need the full document. A registration form can be appropriate for a separate business purpose, but decide deliberately which information should remain publicly available.
A PDF can preserve a designed edition for printing, offline use or formal citation. It needs real selectable text, meaningful headings, accessible tables and working links. Check the exported document rather than assuming that a good source file produced an equally usable download. A web version also needs the same factual and accessibility review.
Keep the versions connected. Give each edition a date or version, explain material corrections and link the download back to the current reference. When a finding changes, update the landing page and identify which downloaded edition it affects so an old file does not silently stand in for the current result.