Amir - another question from you I've answered in quick succession. I don't think there is a real currency here. Articles, especially if they are primary, empirical studies, usually 'trump' conference papers. However, it's not a 'level playing field'. You might publish in an an average or low-quality journal and have presented at a top conference as a Keynote speaker and published conference proceeding. It depends on the context.

Amir - another question from you I've answered in quick succession. I don't think there is a real currency here. Articles, especially if they are primary, empirical studies, usually 'trump' conference papers. However, it's not a 'level playing field'. You might publish in an an average or low-quality journal and have presented at a top conference as a Keynote speaker and published conference proceeding. It depends on the context.

Dean - My experience with many institutions in the USA reveals that some give no credit for paper (very strict) and others are more flexible and consider conference papers. The great point you just made about low-quality papers versus quality conferences and the prestige associated with being asked to speak as a keynote should be considered in assessing faculty scholarship. Unfortunately, some simply insist on journals ONLY! Thank you for your time and hope you have a great new year. Amir

@Amir, we cannot show that this rough gauge of 2 conference papers as equivalent to 1 journal publication is a good estimate. Certain conferences are organized for profit, and the quality of the papers is questionable. These papers may be reviewed by only one reviewer. The quality of the paper is influenced by the reviewer. Only a competent reviewer plus a good author will result in a worthy paper.

Journal articles are often reviewed by two persons. Again only competent reviewers working with a good author will produce a worthy paper. I would not give credit for conference papers if I'm certain that the conference was carried out solely for profits, and if I have evidence that papers presented at a certain conference were low-quality. Similarly I don't give credit for predatory publications.

Article Ethical and predatory publishing: Experiences and perception...

Dear Prof. Yeoh,

Thank you for your response. Is it my understanding your institution will consider conference papers in assessing faculty scholarship if it can be shown that the conference is of high quality? Amir

Amir - the very same to you and yours. Yes - that can be true. On the one hand, I think that institutions should 'measure' and acknowledge conference presentations - but there should a be a 'sliding scale' - with varying measure dependent on the quality of the conference. On the other hand, I understand why some institutions might be hesitant. I've seen many a Professor who, when I look at their publication record, 90% are conference presentations - and 10% journal publication - or similar range i.e. mostly conference presentations and, far less, journal publications. That's a great job if you can get it - but it's not how it should be.

Dean- you make a great point but I think it shouldnt be all or nothing. A balance between Journals and quality conferences that help scholars engage others in person are bound to help build a better scholarly record. There are times when getting students to engage in scholarly activities at the undergraduate level through conferences may provide the inspirations to pursue future research. quality journals may take too long to get undergradsite students involved. Thank you for you input. Amir

Hi Amir - not a problem. You've hit the nail on the head in a way. It is about balance. That's why I made the point about 90% versus 10% - as that is not balanced. Personally, I think that most established universities would far rather that the 'balance' was more in favour of primary, journal articles - than conference proceedings. Another element of this debate is it would be balanced if every academic sought to present their early research findings at a conference (and claim the conference proceeding) and then follow that up with at least one journal publication when final findings are known. That would be balanced.

On the undergraduate issue (unless it is at the established Honours level) students should not be collecting data (as they would not be able to register for ethics approval) and that means that they are submitting either conceptual articles or literature reviews. It's unlikely that established conferences would consider such applications - and the same so for established journals.

Dean- agree and thanks for the input. Amir

Each January I set a goal that I will write a journal article each time that I prepare a major conference presentation (2-3 a year) - because much of the work is done preparing for the conference, isn't it? However this goal tends more towards aspiration than achievement. 2018 is about to start so maybe this year I will achieve this balance!

It's a good aspiration Genevieve. Peaks and troughs - hey!!

Those who never taste bitter things will never appreciate sweet things. It is persistence and finding joy through the ups and downs that keeps scholars productive and relevant!

To add to this interesting discussion. Some conferences will collectively publish papers as a special edition or supplementary, does this not make the estimate 1:1? Given the cost of conference registration , flights etc would it not be a better investment by the university to pay for open access if this were to be the case of comparison?

A more fundamental question is exposure and quality. An open excess journal would limit the number of pages regardless of the number of pages required to make an adequate presentation of your result. A conference would allow you to interact and build collaborative partnerships with other scholars. You can also question findings and discuss concepts with other authors.

Do open access journals limit page/word length any further than subscription journals? In my experience open access journals offer longer lengths and frequently offer on-line supplementary material. Conferences limit the time for presentation and some limit the length of accompanying handouts; and abstract posters are limited in size.

For me the value of conference is the face to face networking.

It is even more complicated than that because in computer science a paper in the proceedings of a top conferences can be seen as more prestigious than in a journal, cf. e.g.

https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38086/why-are-conference-papers-so-important-in-computer-science-cs

https://www.researchgate.net/post/In_computer_sciences_research_Top_conferences_have_more_importance_than_high_quality_journals_Why

This situation has been a torn in the flesh of most academician. It is believed that conference papers carries no weight as compared with journal article. This has prevented a lot of academicians from attending conferences nowadays. However, I am of the opinion that instead of equating 2 conference papers as 1, authorities responsible for evaluating these papers for promotion should rather consider the quality.

Harry, I agree with you. Thank you.

Cheers to all for such enlightening and fun conversation!

I feel this must be not only situation dependent but also discipline dependent. I can only speak for mathematics so here goes. Some areas (computational in particular) have very prestigious conferences with quality proceedings. Some areas of pure mathematics (my own in particular) has a few recurring conferences but few of these with high quality publications resulting. There are exceptions but these tend to be one-time conferences. Quality journals can also agree to host proceedings of conferences as special issues, where the papers would then go through the same review process that the journal regularly employs.

For the most part, I find conferences are about networking and exchange of ideas. I also use them for inspiration. From time to time, I must surround myself by people who are much smarter than me to remind myself why I need to keep working so hard. ResearchGate serves this purpose well in the absence of a conference. :-) Thank you all!

Nice discussion. Different views of different experts belonging to different institutes and fields having different concepts with good sharing. I agree all the views, but I prefer publication in good journal and have presentation in a nice conference without full paper publication. In this way, I got maximum benefit.

With regards

Question: "......two quality conference papers with one quality journal article"

May be some institutions follow this formula. In my view, evaluation should be made based on the quality of work, new findings etc. A conference paper may also be of very high standard like an article in high IF journal. As Dr. Colton mentioned, some areas (computational in particular) have very prestigious conferences with quality proceedings. So the good content may be found in conference paper as well as in journal article.

Regards

Dear Asit,

I agree with your position on quality in evaluating scholarly work.

Amir

For some jobs publication is not enough; it must be in a high scoring journal and have many citations of the article. If you are in a small speciality area the journals may have a high rating in that speciality but low when compared with less speciality journals. Some researchers circulate copies of their publications widely so that other researchers will notice and cite their work. Nowadays if a researcher is looking for tenure, promotion, new job etc it is about marketing - circulating your work, showcasing at events and relevant social media, networking with other researchers, and explaining your work in simple terms to interview panels e.g. "my research looks at .... It was recently published in the prestigious speciality journal ... this article has ... citations as far indicating its value to this research community ...Funding was received from ... who recognised the importance of this topic and my skills in this research ..." Some universities and companies have a department that assists with this type of marketing.