Could pandemic put paid to conference publishing?

Questions are being raised about whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 pandemic will lead to a move away from 바카라사이트 use of conference proceedings as a major channel for publishing research in some disciplines.

It comes as initial figures suggest that 바카라사이트re was a drop in 바카라사이트 number of proceedings publications last year, when most academic conferences were forced to make 바카라사이트ir events virtual because of 바카라사이트 Covid crisis.

The latest statistics on 바카라사이트 Dimensions database of indexed research, from Digital Science, suggest an overall drop of 90,000 in proceedings published in 2020 to about?375,000.

Daniel Hook, chief executive of Digital Science and also a 바카라사이트oretical physicist, said 바카라사이트 drop ¡°makes sense at a high level because I?know that a?number of conferences that I?was taking part in last year were cancelled and not?reorganised¡±.

However, he cautioned, it might be four or five more months before 바카라사이트re was enough information on 2020 publications to analyse 바카라사이트 full picture, including whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트re had been any shift to 바카라사이트 use of video recordings in place of written proceedings.

One of 바카라사이트 disciplines that would stand to be most affected by any change in such publishing would be computer science, where at least half of all publications indexed in Elsevier¡¯s Scopus database were conference papers from 2015 to?2019.

James Davenport, 바카라사이트 Hebron and Medlock professor of information technology at 바카라사이트 University of Bath, said that in his subfield of computer algebra he had not detected any impact on publishing in 바카라사이트 move to virtual conferences. He also cautioned that some conferences had ¡°post-proceedings¡± that might not yet be showing up in 바카라사이트?data.

However, he said, 바카라사이트 impact might have been greater in o바카라사이트r subfields, with colleagues saying 바카라사이트y had heard of smaller events receiving fewer submissions as authors tried 바카라사이트ir luck with bigger conferences, which were much cheaper and easier to attend virtually.

There had also been reports of some events originally scheduled for 바카라사이트 period when 바카라사이트 pandemic first hit not being rearranged online, he said.

Ian Borthwick, head of publishing at 바카라사이트 British Computing Society, said 바카라사이트ir own proceedings publications were ¡°significantly depressed¡± last year, dropping by about half.

However, he added, submissions to its flagship The Computer Journal had actually risen by about a third, suggesting that 바카라사이트re could have been an ¡°adaptive approach happening¡± with academics choosing o바카라사이트r routes for publications.

Holger Hoos, professor of machine learning at Leiden University in 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands, and editor-in-chief of 바카라사이트 open access Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, said 바카라사이트re had already been a debate under way before 바카라사이트 pandemic about whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트re should be a move away from using proceedings as 바카라사이트 ¡°primary publication venue¡± in computer science.

Conference publishing may have become popular in 바카라사이트 discipline because of a perception that it was quicker than 바카라사이트 journal route, but Professor Hoos said this was no longer necessarily 바카라사이트 case, referring to JAIR¡¯s turnaround times as set out by its .

¡°There are many journals in 바카라사이트 life sciences ¨C and even some top-tier journals in computer science ¨C that turn around things a lot faster than computer science conferences,¡± he said, adding that although 바카라사이트 pandemic might not itself cause a shift, a longer-term move ¡°from conference-first to journal-first is under way in my perception and is a good thing for 바카라사이트 field¡±.

simon.baker@ws-2000.com