Often, short communications report an interesting finding or technique that is of broad interest and should be published quickly. Sometimes, they also document a correction that may be important for fellow researchers to know.
In contrast, a full-length article is a much more thorough, in-depth study that could stand on its own. Major findings are reported and verified by orthogonal techniques.
There is also a grey line between these definitions. A short communication in a high profile journal might be considered a full study in a journal of lesser impact.
Often, short communications report an interesting finding or technique that is of broad interest and should be published quickly. Sometimes, they also document a correction that may be important for fellow researchers to know.
In contrast, a full-length article is a much more thorough, in-depth study that could stand on its own. Major findings are reported and verified by orthogonal techniques.
There is also a grey line between these definitions. A short communication in a high profile journal might be considered a full study in a journal of lesser impact.
Thank you Sonja for your answer. I see now how important the "grey" areas are when classifying a paper to be a short communication with respect to the impact factor of a journal.
Cheers,,
In line with the answer provided by Hess, I will added time factor for article to be appeared. Usually, there is certain conditions for writing a short communication regarding data (few and interested data) and usually the time is very important for such data to be published as soon as possible while full article ususally contains more detailled data and time of publication needed is not an important factor.
Thank you Fathi for your response. It seems now to me, after your response and others' that the data and findings, even if they're new and interesting, don't necessarily need to be published in a high-impact-factor journal if to be kept presented in a short communication article.
Thank you again.
Faysal
Actually, a short communication aims at establishing one single result, and it should be written in no more than 4 pages, while a full length article may include more than one results, and there is usually a page limit higher then 4.
full length paper is enriched with information and finding ,while short communication need some little modification in its finding.
@Gopal Sharma: A short communication can not be republished as a full length article (http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/). However, the recommendations do not prevent an original article that follows a preliminary report, such as an abstract, or a preprint from a scientific meeting, or a letter to an editor (p8-9).
@Josef Evers I agree the publication of an original article following a preliminary report. This is particularly so in resource-poor laboratories where new unique observations could be made but facilities for further investigations could be absent. Such a short communication raises awareness and collaborative interests with more advanced laboratories where further investigation could lead to novel information. Take the situation of unique viruse-like symptoms on a host hitherto not listed as a host of PVY that tests positive in ELISA for the potyvirus group test. This is a significant short communication that can call for collaboration with other labs for further identification procedures to establish if the observation is due to an existing known virus or a new one. This is a peculiar situation in which most third world laboratories find themselves.
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