Conferences

Results presented at conferences get immediate attention. Because of the slow turn-around time for journals and books and the fast pace of developments in CS, people working in the more active areas of CS rely heavily on conferences to get their work out. We distinguish between levels of conferences, based on the selectivity of the refereeing process.

Some conferences, especially those without multiple tracks, are very selective. It is not uncommon for such conferences to reject 75% or more of the papers submitted. Though journal turn-around times are longer, the final acceptance rates are higher than this. Therefore, acceptance of a paper at one of the more selective conferences may be counted as equal to or more of an accomplishment than publication of a paper in an archival journal.

The following criteria are useful in distinguishing conferences:

• Conferences sponsored by the ACM, IEEE, or other major professional organizations are generally of higher quality.

• National-level conferences are generally tougher than regional conferences, or conferences sponsored by a university.

• International conferences organized and held in the US tend to be tougher than international conferences held in Europe or Asia.

• Papers presented in a single track are tougher than papers that are presented in parallel sessions.

• The term ``symposium'' is generally applied to larger conferences, and ``workshop'' is generally applied to conferences that are smaller and less formal. Workshops are often focussed on presenting cutting edge ideas for new research, and on opening up close interactions between the participants, rather than on presenting completed research results. It is often the case that position papers are solicited from participants at the completion of the workshop, and published as collection. These collections often are extremely influential in setting future research directions. Since workshops attract representatives of industry and funding agencies, they can also significantly influence the funding of the proposed research directions.

• Conferences with proceedings published by a major publisher, such as the IEEE, ACM, SIAM, or Springer, are more prestigious than those published ad hoc by the organizers.

Conference papers are often later published, in revised and expanded form, as a journal paper. However, this is not always done. Sometimes the material is overtaken by newer results, and is absorbed into later papers, a book of collected papers, or even a textbook.

Conferences are important as a mechanism of technology transfer, i.e., publicizing and adapting research results to potential applications. In this regard, it is not uncommon for people doing CS research to submit papers to several conferences representing different communities of potentially interested users. This is viewed as a mark of successful research, that it has found multiple applications and potential avenues for further improvement.