Importance of peer-reviewed proceedings in particle physics

Question

How important can be peer-reviewed proceedings based on talks on work-in-progress? Do they carry equal importance like a publication in a journal and count as an independent publication even though the full work is later published as a paper?

Answer 1

Publications aren't equal: A workshop publication on a work-in-progress will carry less weight than a journal article on the final result, generally.*

^{*It's plausible that a work-in-progress is published at a top workshop, whilst the final result is found to be less interesting and appears in a low-ranked journal, which might be ranked below the top workshop.}