Difference between conference paper and journal paper

 

When you write a conference paper, you are writing it with the intention of having it accepted to a conference. A conference is typically an annual (or biannual) venue with a specific scope where you can present your results to the community in one of three ways: either as an oral presentation, a poster presentation, or a table discussion. When it comes to conferences, the review process is typically completed within a set time frame: everyone submits by a specific deadline, then the review committee (also known as the programme committee) collaborates to review and discuss papers, and then all authors are notified with an accept or reject decision at the same time. Because the review process follows a set timetable (which corresponds to the schedule of the actual meeting), the periods for conference review are quite predictable.

Conference papers are often published in collections known as "proceedings," which are sometimes produced by university presses, sometimes by professional organisations, sometimes by well-known publishers, and sometimes just available online.

A journal paper is an article that has been published in a particular issue of the journal. It ranges from one issue each month to once a year, or anything in between; it may not even be a regular occurrence for certain journals. The review process for journals is frequently unpredictable, with no set timetable or plan in place: while journals may make promises such as "reviews in six weeks," in my experience, this is seldom, if ever, followed through on. Journals, as opposed to conferences, typically have a rolling review schedule, and reviewers can choose to ask authors for revisions, which means that there may be multiple review phases (often limited to three, at which point the paper is rejected or accepted), whereas conferences typically have only accept/reject decisions.

Given that conference papers have a set timeline and offer the authors with a forum for debate and criticism, they are typically used for shorter-term work or for "announcing/marking a concept," as well as for identifying potential collaborators. A further disadvantage of conference papers is that they typically have defined page restrictions, which means that the material is limited to preliminary findings.

Journal papers tend to have generous page restrictions (or none at all), but they also require that the work be more complete and self-contained as a result of the liberal page limits.

In general, articles published at well-recognized journals tend to be more prestigious than papers published in well-recognized conferences in most subjects (esp. in terms of metrics).