Citing papers with newer arXiv versions I am writing my Master's thesis on topological quantum field theories, and would like to cite the following paper:


arXiv version: https://arxiv.org/abs/q-alg/9503002
Published version: https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.531236


The published version is from 1995, while on arXiv there are two versions, one from 1995 and one from 2004. Which one of the papers should I cite (published or arXiv)? And how should I cite them?
I think best practice is to include the arxiv identifier for any paper you cite anyway, so the bibliography will include both the publication info and a link to the arxiv.  In that sense you don't have to choose just one.  If it's say in the introduction and you're writing "The stabilization hypothesis was introduced in [BD]" there's no need to specify which version you're referring to.  However, if you want to refer to a specific theorem number then you might want to clarify if the numbering disagrees in the two sources.  Similarly if you want to refer to something that's only in a later revision then you have to be clear.  So you could say "Theorem x from [BD] (which appears only in the arxiv version) says..."