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This page is the summary of much discussion on policy talk pages. It is not a guideline, but rather an effort to clarify the definition of the words published and accessible as used on guideline and policy pages.
All reliable sources must be both published and accessible to at least some people, according to definitions in the relevant policies and guidelines. Sources that are not published (e.g., something someone said to you personally) or not accessible (e.g., the only remaining copy of the book is locked in a vault, with no one allowed to read it) are never acceptable as sources on Wikipedia.
Below are presented separate definitions of published and accessible for Wikipedians. These are separate from the idea of "reliable", which is covered elsewhere. Please note, this definition is not identical with the Wikipedia or Wiktionary pages about publications, because it is the specific application of these concepts to the English Wikipedia.