Academic conference: Difference between revisions

An '''academic conference''' or '''scientific conference''' (also '''congress''', '''symposium''', '''workshop''', or '''meeting''') is an [[Convention (meeting)|event]] for [[researcher]]s (not necessarily [[academic]]s) to present and discuss their scholarly work. Together with [[academic journal|academic]] or [[scientific journal]]s and [[preprint]] archives, conferences provide an important channel for exchange of information between researchers. Further benefits of participating in academic conferences include learning effects in terms of presentation skills and “academic"academic [[Habitus (sociology)|habitus]]”", receiving feedback from peers for one's own research, the possibility to engage in informal communication with peers about work opportunities and collaborations, and getting an overview of current research in one or more [[Academic discipline|disciplines]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hauss |first1=Kalle |title=What are the social and scientific benefits of participating at academic conferences? Insights from a survey among doctoral students and postdocs in Germany |journal=Research Evaluation |date=7 October 2021 |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=1–12rvaa018 |doi=10.1093/reseval/rvaa018|pmc=7499794 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sha |first=Mandy |date=2019-05-14 |title=Professional Association and Pathways to Leadership in Our Profession |url=https://www.surveypractice.org/article/8192-professional-association-and-pathways-to-leadership-in-our-profession |journal=Survey Practice |language=en |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=1–6 |doi=10.29115/SP-2018-0039 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Academic conferences have been held in three general formats: in-person, [[Virtual event|virtual or online]] and [[Hybrid event|hybrid]] (in-person and virtual). Conferences have traditionally been organized in-person. Since the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] many conferences have either temporarily or permanently switched to a virtual or hybrid format. Some virtual conferences involve both [[Educational technology#Synchronous and asynchronous|asynchronous and synchronous]] formats. For example, there is a mix of pre-recorded and live presentations.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 11, 2020 |others=Chaired by Mandy Sha |title=75th Anniversary Conference |url=https://aapor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/AAPOR-20-CP_FNL.pdf |access-date=December 27, 2023 |website=American Association for Public Opinion Research}}</ref>

Because virtual or hybrid events allow people from different time zones to participate simultaneously, some will have to participate during their night-time. Some virtual conferences try to mitigate this issue by alternating their schedule in a way so that everyone has the chance to participate at day time at least once.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard Professors at the Alma Mater Europaea Symposium|url=http://www.sloveniatimes.com/oxford-cambridge-and-harvard-professors-at-the-alma-mater-europaea-symposium|access-date=2020-10-27|website=www.sloveniatimes.com|date=10 July 2020 |archive-date=2020-11-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116205026/http://www.sloveniatimes.com/oxford-cambridge-and-harvard-professors-at-the-alma-mater-europaea-symposium|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard Professors at the Alma Mater Europaea symposium|url=https://en.almamater.si/oxford-cambridge-and-harvard-professors-at-the-alma-mater-europaea-symposium-n586|access-date=2020-10-27|website=en.almamater.si|language=en}}</ref>

Prospective [[wikt:presenter|presenters]] are usually asked to submit a short abstract of their presentation, which will be reviewed before the presentation is accepted for the meeting. Some organizers, and therefore disciplines require presenters to submit a paper, which is [[peer review]]ed by members of the [[program committee]] or referees chosen by them.

At some conferences, social or entertainment activities such as tours and receptions can be part of the program. Business meetings for [[learned society|learned societies]] or, [[interest group]]s, or [[Affinity group|affinity groups]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-05-26 |others=Chaired by Mandy Sha |title=Cross-cultural & Multilingual Research Affinity Group |url=https://aapor.org/affinity-groups/cross-cultural-and-multilingual-research-affinity-group/ |access-date=2023-12-28 |website=American Association for Public Opinion Research |language=en-US}}</ref> can also be part of the conference activities.

Conferences are usually organized either by a scientific society or by a group of researchers with a common interest. Larger meetings may be handled on behalf of the scientific society by a [[Professional Conference Organiser]] or PCO.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q9u11fI4Nc8C&q=pco+conferences&pg=PT321 |title=Conferences and Conventions: a global industry by Tony Rogers |access-date=2012-07-13|isbn=9780750657471 |last1=Rogers |first1=Tony |year=2003 |publisher=Butterworth-Heinemann }}</ref>

Predatory conferences or predatory meetings are meetings set up to appear as legitimate [[scientific conference]]s but which are exploitative as they do not provide proper editorial control over presentations, and advertising can include claims of involvement of prominent academics who are, in fact, uninvolved. They are an expansion of the [[predatory publishing]] business model, which involves the creation of academic publications built around an exploitative business model that generally involves charging publication fees to authors without providing the editorial and publishing services associated with legitimate journals.<ref>{{cite book|first1= Gráinne|last1= Kirwan |first2= Andrew|last2= Power|publisher = Cambridge University Press|date = 2013 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=U35HVJyADlEC&pg=PT172 |title = Cybercrime: The Psychology of Online Offenders|isbn = 9781107276420}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | pmid = 9890770 | volume=317 | issue=7172 | title=Fraud. Fraud at conferences needs to be addressed | journal=BMJ | pages=1591 | last1 = Rymer | first1 = J | doi = 10.1136/bmj.317.7172.1590 | year=1998 | pmc=1114400 }}</ref> [[BIT Life Sciences]] and [[SCIgen#In conferences|SCIgen § In conferences]] are some of the conferences labeled as predatory.

Academic conferences are criticized for being environmentally unfriendly, due to the amount of airplane traffic generated by them.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Whitmarsh |first1= Lorraine |last2=Kreil |first2=Agnes |date=2022 |title=Challenging the values of the polluter elite: A global consequentialist response to Evensen and Graham's (2022) 'The irreplaceable virtues of in-person conferences' |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494422001268 |journal=Journal of Environmental Psychology |volume= 83 |language= en |pages=101881 |doi=10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101881 |s2cid=252586199 |issn=0272-4944|url-access=subscription }}</ref> A correspondence on ''Nature.com'' points out the "paradox of needing to fly to conferences" despite increased calls for sustainability by environmental scientists.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grémillet |first=David |date=2008-10-30 |title=Paradox of flying to meetings to protect the environment |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=455 |issue=7217 |pages=1175–6 |doi=10.1038/4551175a |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=18971997 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2008Natur.455.1175G }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Holden |first1=Matthew H. |last2=Butt |first2=Nathalie |last3=Chauvenet |first3=Alienor |last4=Plein |first4=Michaela |last5=Stringer |first5=Martin |last6=Chadès |first6=Iadine |date=2017-08-07 |title=Academic conferences urgently need environmental policies |url=https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:678885/UQ678885_OA.pdf |journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution |language=En |volume=1 |issue=9 |pages=1211–1212 |doi=10.1038/s41559-017-0296-2 |issn=2397-334X |pmid=29046545 |bibcode=2017NatEE...1.1211H |s2cid=205564331}}</ref> The academic community's [[carbon footprint]] is comprised in large parts by emissions caused by air travel.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Achten |first1=Wouter M. J. |last2=Almeida |first2=Joana |last3=Muys |first3=Bart |date=1 November 2013 |title= Carbon footprint of science: More than flying |journal=Ecological Indicators |volume=34 |pages=352–355 |doi=10.1016/j.ecolind.2013.05.025|bibcode=2013EcInd..34..352A }}</ref> Few conferences enacted practices to reduce their environmental impact by 2017, despite guidelines being widely available: An analysis of academic conferences taking place in 2016 showed that only 4% of 116 conferences sampled offered [[carbon offset]] options and only 9% of these conferences implemented any form of action to their reduce environmental impact.<ref name=":0" /> More conferences included the use of [[teleconferencing]] after the COVID-19 pandemic.

In-person conferences suffer from a number of issues.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sarabipour |first1=Sarvenaz |last2=Khan |first2=Aziz |last3=Seah |first3=Yu Fen Samantha |last4=Mwakilili |first4=Aneth D. |last5=Mumoki |first5=Fiona N. |last6=Sáez |first6=Pablo J. |last7=Schwessinger |first7=Benjamin |last8=Debat |first8=Humberto J. |last9=Mestrovic |first9=Tomislav |title=Changing scientific meetings for the better |journal=Nature Human Behaviour |date=March 2021 |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=296–300 |doi=10.1038/s41562-021-01067-y|pmid=33723404 |s2cid=232242249 |doi-access=free |hdl=20.500.12123/9396 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Most importantly, they are fostering the existing social inequality in academia due to their inaccessibility for researchers from low income countries, researchers with care duties or researchers facing visa restrictions.