Publishing and Peer Review › Module 1: Where to publish
Journals, conferences and preprints
Lesson 1 of 3 · 2 min
There are three main routes for a paper. You met them as a reader in Reading and Reviewing Papers; now you're choosing as an author.
The three routes
| Route | How it works | Typical speed |
|---|---|---|
| Journal | Submit any time; peer review; often revise and resubmit several rounds | Months to over a year |
| Conference | Fixed deadline; one review round; accepted papers presented at the event | A few months |
| Preprint | Post publicly (arXiv, bioRxiv, SSRN); basic screening, no peer review | Days |
- Journal
- How it works: Submit any time; peer review; often revise and resubmit several rounds
- Typical speed: Months to over a year
- Conference
- How it works: Fixed deadline; one review round; accepted papers presented at the event
- Typical speed: A few months
- Preprint
- How it works: Post publicly (arXiv, bioRxiv, SSRN); basic screening, no peer review
- Typical speed: Days
Which field uses what
- In computer science and AI, top conferences (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR, ACL) are often the main venue, and preprints on arXiv are standard.
- In most sciences and medicine, journals are the main venue; preprints are growing, especially since COVID-19.
- In humanities, journals and books dominate.
Preprints and journals together
Most journals now accept papers that were posted as preprints first. Check the journal's policy before posting. Posting a preprint lets people read and cite your work immediately and establishes when you did it.
Workshops
Workshops at big conferences accept shorter, earlier work with lighter review. They are an excellent first venue for students: you get feedback and meet people, and many allow you to publish a fuller version later.
RememberJournals for depth, conferences for speed in CS, preprints for immediate sharing. Many papers use two of the three.