I was recently asked if I had considered writing a conceptual paper. In scientific disciplines, is there a difference between a concept paper and a review paper? And if so, what is the difference? Thanks.
Hi Jennifer,
This is off the 'top of my head' - but my personal understanding is that a conceptual paper (and I believe that I have written quite a few) is one that goes beyond a literature review paper and, therefore, is different. A literature review, in my mind, collects relevant literature on a specific topic and then summarises it in an attempt to establish 'what is the current state of affairs on this topic?' A conceptual article might draw on the same 'corpus' of literature - but proposes something unique, rather than just summarises. In most cases, this will be a new or newer theory, framework or model. In essence, the original 'concept/context' is re-drawn or re-designed. A good methodological example is a 'concept analysis' itself.
Hi Dean,
Many thanks for your thoughts on this. So, do you think that a conceptual paper could be published in the same journals as regular scientific and review papers or are there journals that specialise in conceptual type papers?
Many thanks, Jenny
Hi Jennifer,
No problem. In my field, which is clinical practice, I can't think of any journals that specialise solely on conceptual papers. That said, some journals will attract more papers that are conceptual in nature. For instance, Nursing Philosophy. Such journals probably have an equal mix between conceptual and research-based manuscripts - so it's not a 'one-way street'.
Most journals that I publish in will consider good-quality and original conceptual papers - but many are now more reluctant to publish 'simple' literature reviews and some will not accept concept analyses.
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