The effect of conference proceedings on the scholarly communication in Computer Science and Engineering

Conference papers have traditionally been a quick form of research communication, and an important source of information for scientists in addition to the standard journal papers. However, in the disciplines of Computer Science and Engineering, a vast majority of the peer-reviewed publications is communicated in the form of conference papers, and conference proceedings have become the primary channel of research communication in these disciplines. While this form of scholarly communication was effective for Computer Science as a young discipline, it introduces several limitations that make it non-optimal for a mature and established scientific field. These include the quality of the peer-reviewed work, selection of papers for publication, and also the efficacy of conferences as forums for expressing innovative and visionary ideas and providing opportunities for networking and meeting other researchers in the field. Here we review the differences between Computer Science and Engineering conference publications and the traditional journal publication used in other scientific disciplines, and discuss the effect of these differences on the scholarly communication in this field