Difference between a conference and a journal publication
A journal is an article that is published in a specific field by researchers, professors, or experts. Whereas, a conference article or conference proceedings is a very short article on a topic of discussion. When a number of researchers working on a specific topic or subject, they arrange meetings to discuss and share their findings with the scientific community, this is called a conference and the short research or review article is presented or discussed in that meeting by a scholar or researcher is called conference proceedings. Therefore, lets read the Difference between a conference and a journal publication.
The main topics of discussion in this article are mentioned below
">Core difference between journal and conference article
- The basic Difference between a conference and a journal publication
There is basically no significant difference in the structure of a journal or a conference article. There are 4 basic headings (Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and discussion, and conclusion) that must be there in a scientific research paper, regardless it will be submitted to a conference or a journal. However, the length and the number of words are not the same. A conference paper should be not more than 6 pages and not less than 4 pages. Whereas, a journal paper should be more detailed and therefore may be more than 10 pages. The word limit for a conference paper is approximately 2000-4000 words, whereas for a journal paper it may be 8000-14000 words. These are not fixed, depends on the journal and conference authorities. There is no limit to the number of figures and tables in both types of articles.
The core difference between a journal and a conference article is that conference articles are short and journal articles are more detailed. Conference articles are not full-length research articles. They are presented or published at a conference when actually the research work on that topic is going to take feedback from the scientific community. However, a journal article is a full-length paper that consists of the complete methodology and findings of that research.
Link to a journal article: Journal
Link to a conference article: Conference
Publication fees of articles
The publication fees vary from conference to conference also journal to journal. Depending on which country or organization is organizing the conference, a paper publication fee can be from $100-$300, whereas, a journal article publication fee in an open-access ranked journal can be from $2000-$4000. However, there are some journal publishers who are close accessed and they do not charge any fee from authors to publish their papers, they publish the papers free of cost. Names of some large conference organizers are the American society of mechanical engineers (ASME), IEEE, World research forum for engineers, etc., and the names of some world's leading journal publishers are Nature, Elsevier, Springer, Sage, Frontiers, IEEE, etc.
Which one is more valued by the admission committee - for students
From the above discussion, it is already quite clear that journal papers are more valued than conference proceedings. Journal articles need more hard work, intelligence, patience, and time. Journal articles are full-length articles and reflect the complete knowledge of a student on that specific topic. Conference articles are also valued sometimes if it is published in renowned conference proceedings. Low-grade conferences are valued in the sense that "Something is better than nothing". However, a very low conference or journal article will badly impact your admission or scholarship application. To know more about that read our Is publication important for scholarship application blog post.
Suggestion for beginners
If you are a beginner and do not understand which one would be better for you to start with. I recommend going with conference proceedings first. I started my research career with two/three conference presentations and articles. Later, when I gained some knowledge I shifted towards journal publication. Conference papers are easier to publish and will boost your confidence and give you the motivation to work hard for journal articles.
If you need any help with journal or conference paper publication, suggestions or anything else contact us. Refer to our About us page.