Journal X has recently received two manuscripts, which were previously published at a conference, with DOIs and publisher information. They contacted the authors with our concerns.
Author A's manuscript was taken verbatim from their conference paper, yet they insisted that they own the copyright of the conference paper. They claim that they are free to re-submit the paper to Journal X, but failed to give any evidence.
Author B's manuscript contained several differences from their conference paper, and they replied that they had made improvements based on the previous conference paper. But it is hard to evaluate whether these improvements are enough to be published as a new paper.
Questions for COPE Council
- Can we publish these two papers?
- What are the rules for publishing a paper in a journal that has been published as a conference paper?
Advice on this case is from a small number of COPE Council Members. Most cases on the COPE website are presented to the COPE Forum where advice is offered by a wider group of COPE Members and COPE Council Members. Advice on individual cases is not formal COPE guidance.
It is up to each journal to have a policy on whether full conference papers count as prepublication. Although practices vary across journals, all journals should have clear guidelines on this issue.
Some journals do not allow republication of a conference paper, some allow republication if the conference paper was only a short version (abridged or summary) and some allow republication if a certain amount of new data or original material is added (e.g., 40-50% new content). In the latter case, the prepublished content would need to be clearly explained and indicated at the submission stage for the journal editor to consider publication. Some journals may be willing to consider a special appeal in certain cases; e.g., where distribution was very small (only to conference attendees) and the authors are seeking a broader distribution for their content.
Publication also depends on the copyright ownership of the earlier piece and if permission and payment is needed if the copyright owner is the publisher.
If the journal’s policy is to allow conference papers to be republished, full disclosure and citation are needed at submission of the later paper and within the paper. The authors should also be required to prove they have the necessary permission and rights.
If the conference paper appeared in a journal supplement, that usually counts as already published.