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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS SELECTION PROCESS

Conference proceedings are published as part of scholarly journals or in books.

Conference proceedings published in books are known to be a popular vehicle for scholarly communication in the physical sciences, particularly engineering. However, in fast-moving areas of the biomedical sciences, conference proceedings are more typically published in journals. In the life sciences, for example, a rapid dissemination of critical information is essential and journals provide the best medium for this.

 

Conference Proceedings Published in Journals

The proceedings published in journals are selectively covered from any of the 10,500 journals covered in Web of Science^®. As part of the indexing process, each journal article is classified as to document type. If the article is actually a paper delivered at a conference then it is coded as such and automatically included in Conference Proceedings Citation Index™ with full conference information. The journals that include proceedings are selected for coverage according to the criteria detailed in the essay at: http://thomsonreuters.com/business_units/scientific/free/essays/journalselection/

Conference Proceedings Published in Books

Conference proceedings published as books are acquired and selected according to a set of specialized guidelines. Thomson Reuters staff is in regular direct communication with every major scholarly publisher, and many professional societies and associations who publish and/or sponsor professional conferences and who submit their publications for evaluation and coverage in the CPCI. The Thomson Reuters Editorial Development team evaluates each volume of conference proceedings we receive according to a set of well-established criteria. They include the following:

• Basic Publishing Standards
  Editors examine each proceedings volume to insure that basic publishing standards are in place, including sequential page numbering, timeliness, international editorial conventions, abstracts, and keywords.
• Content
  The overall quality of the research presented is assessed, as is the completeness of the cited references. In addition, the editors review the content to ensure that it enriches Thomson Reuters coverage of a field or subfield, a geographic region, or that it completes our coverage of the output of a prestigious scholarly society or organization. Thomson Reuters gives priority to serialized conferences sponsored by prestigious scholarly societies.
• Copyright and Conference Date
  To insure that the content of the Conference Proceedings Citation Index is timely, published conference proceedings must fall into a specific date range.
  — For scientific and technical proceedings, the meeting must have been held in the current or previous four years.
  — However, in the Social Sciences and Humanities the parameters are less strict. All conference dates are accepted for Social Sciences and Humanities proceedings as long as the volume is a first edition and not ever previously indexed.
  This policy takes into consideration the greater time sensitivity of information in the natural sciences and technology and the somewhat less urgent time sensitivity of information in the Social Sciences and Humanities.
• Conference Name and Location
  A key factor in distinguishing proceedings literature from other published research is the fact that it is originally disseminated at a meeting or conference. Therefore, proceedings literature must include the name and location of the meeting in order to be accepted in the Conference Proceedings Citation Index.
• Full Papers vs. Meeting Abstracts
  The Conference Proceedings Citation Index lists bibliographic information for full papers and meeting abstracts. Thomson Reuters does, however, consider the source of the full paper or meeting abstract.
  — Books
  — Where books are concerned, only volumes containing full papers are accepted. It is essential, therefore, that those conference proceedings published as books include full papers. Books containing only meeting abstracts, summaries or reports are not acceptable.
  — Journals
  — Meeting abstracts, however, are frequently selectively covered from journals covered in Web of Science. Biomedical conference proceedings are published largely in journals and often include meeting abstracts.

 

 

How to Submit Conference Proceedings for Coverage in the Conference Proceedings Citation Index

If the conference proceedings are publishing in print only, please send the volume(s) to the following address:

Publication Processing
Thomson Reuters
1500 Spring Garden Street
Fourth Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19130
USA

If the conference proceedings are publishing online (XML, PDF or a combination of formats) please send information on free electronic access to ts.proceedings@thomson.com. This email address may also be used if you wish to recommend coverage of a particular conference.