Submission Process

Q: What are the basic rules for submitting the same research to a conference and a journal?

Detailed Question -

I currently have research content to merely write the abstract of my study. I plan to submit the abstract to the Scholar Society Conference (deadline – mid of May) to be held in October. If I submit my abstract now to the Society, develop it into a paper soon after, and submit it to an SCI journal, it might get accepted by the journal before October. However, there is a higher possibility of the paper getting accepted by the journal after October. Here are my questions. 1. Is it still okay to submit to both the society and an SCI journal with the same research? I think it can be possible as it’s not published yet. What you do think? 2. If I make a presentation at the conference and write the paper after the presentation and then submit to the journal, is that okay? 3. Can I submit the abstract to the society after submitting the paper to a journal? (I think the Society wouldn’t like it if my paper gets published in the journal before the Society presentation date) If you know the general rules regarding submission of the same research to a conference and a journal, please let me know.

Asked by Young jun Cho on 22 Apr, 2015

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Answer:

First, let me clarify the basic rules:

When an article is presented at a conference, it is generally not complete. The general practice is to present a preliminary analysis at the conference and reserve the detailed analysis for a full paper. The purpose of presenting your research at a conference is to inform people about your study and get feedback from them to improve your methodology. So, it is okay to develop a previously published conference paper into a full-length manuscript and publish it in a journal later on. This is an acceptable practice, provided you clearly disclose the conference paper and include at least 30% new material in the journal paper.

It is also acceptable to present your published work at a conference. However, in this case, it is generally considered good practice to cite your published article and provide a link at the end of the presentation if it is avilable online.

Now let's answer your questions one by one:

1.You can submit your conference abstract to the society and submit the full-fledged paper to an SCI journal around the same time. However, it is best inform the editor about this and ask whether it is fine to publish the abstract as part of the conference proceedings. If the journal editor is not okay with publishing the abstract, you can still make your presentation, but inform the conference organizers that you would not want it to be a part of the conference proceedings.

2. It is also fine to present at the conference, write the paper after the presentation and then submit it to the journal. In fact, this might work better for you because you will be able to incorporate the feedback that you receive at the conference in your paper.

3. You can also submit the abstract to the society after submitting the paper to a journal. As I mentioned earlier, it is acceptable to present your submitted/published work at a conference.

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