I'm uncertain, for example, if I put it in the acknowledgement that "this paper is the enlarged and substantially rewritten version of X (bibliographic details), presented at Z conference", must I still provide in-text citations with page numbers to my previous writing (where appropriate)? Or if I provide all in-text citation properly, than the aforementioned aknowledgement can be omitted? Can I "cannibalize" a large block of text (1-2 pages) from the proceeding if the manuscript will be significantly longer (like 10 pages) and the remaining 8-9 pages of the manuscript will not have any connection with the previous publication whatsoever?
My advice is that your disclaimer now allows you to "pretend" that your conference paper does not exist. You "pretend" that you got your journal paper to its present, perfect state without any scaffolding. Remember that the journal paper has a longer life and greater availability than your conference paper, so it will be available long after the conference paper is no longer accessible.
Your other solution is to believe that your conference paper will be eternally available, and use in-text references to your conference paper. Use this solution only if your target journal has a tight page limit. You can relegate lots of detail to the conference paper.
Your aim should to be to make the journal paper self-standing as far as possible, so that the reader does not have to access another document to find out what you really did. Your initial disclaimer allows you to take as much or as little as you want to from your conference paper, as long as it is the most up-to-date and reader-friendly, with no fear of self-plagiarism.
If your draft journal paper is 50% old work from the conference and 50% new work on a new topic, then you owe it to your reader to start a brand new journal paper without any reference to your previous work.
I'd cite myself and then simply list the nature of the citation. We all know ideas evolve and might even be cited as personal corresponance.
Thank you for all your helpful comments. So basicly, it is not self-plagiarism if i include parts of my conference material in an article as long as i provide one simple acknowledgement. Is this because the difference between the scientific value of a proceeding and an article? So it also works similarly between a non-peer reviewed and a peer-reviewed writing?
I agree with Ian Kennedy. You should regard your published paper as just another source you are using and you should thus reference it as such. A disclaimer will not solve your problem.
"Disclaimer" is not really the word to use in this context. "Footnote" or "Reference" is better terminology. The "scientific value" of the initial work is not of concern: Even if your first work was company confidential, you should still reference it to register prior art (as long as the title does not give the game away!) A similar situation arises if you convert a Master's thesis to a PhD. If you have not got the Master's degree, you are free to cannibalize the draft any way you want to for your PhD. However if you have the Masters, even though your thesis is gathering dust in your university library, you have to quote from it and reference it as if it was not your baby. As Linda says, if the first work is registered somewhere the reader can find it or trust it, reference yourself. Her decision then raises the interesting question of where "the literature" begins and ends!
My mentor taught me that even a personal verbal communication has to be referenced. I found this rather odd, as if it is so, I'm basicly a living reference to my previous teacher's activity....
In our journal (TCPHEE http://andreevin.narod.ru/journal) we encourage authors to fully refer to their earlier publications on the topic of the manuscript including conference proceedings same as any other source. This allows editors, reviewers and readers to judge about how much was done by the author earlier and how much comes from other sources and origins.
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