How does one organize their publication pipeline?

Question

In the field of computer science, there are numerous conferences and journals to seek publication in. It's almost overwhelming! How does one go about organizing, prioritizing, and planning a workflow or "pipeline" for meeting the variety of submission deadlines?

For example, is there a "definitive" resource like wikicfp that most researchers use? Do you simply track your deadline dates on a calendar, even years in advance?

Or do folks tend to just write the papers first, and see what CFP dates are in the near future, and submit to what's in the near future? (Submitting "now" to what's available, as opposed to waiting/planning/timing in advance for particular avenues of publication.)

Or do folks tend to target just a handful of top-tier conferences and journals, and then investigate, ad-hoc, for other opportunities after being rejected from the top-tier publications?

Answer 1

I too am in CS but I found the schedule of conferences to be fairly simple and I strive to submit to the same conferences each year.

First, identify the handful of conferences in your field that are both reputable and aligned with your research topics. Then you can form a mental model that is made up of (A) the deadlines and (B) the prestige.

For example, all of the conferences that I would submit to all have deadlines that cluster around two times, Fall (August/September) and Spring (March/April). I can also group them into top-tier or second-tier. At that point, it is pretty easy to know where I am going to submit each piece of work based on whether it is Fall or Spring and whether it is suitable for the top-tier venues.

One side note. I have been given the advice to find 1-2 conferences that I can call "home." That way I can get close to the community, network, and they will become familiar with my work. I have been told to avoid shooting papers off to a dozen different conferences because they will be forgotten in those communities.

Answer 2

There is no "definitive" source for papers - indeed, in many fields, calls for papers don't actually drive the publication pipeline at all - for example, only a very, very small percentage of my papers have ever been as the result of a call, and in both cases, it was more "Hey, this will fit really well in our special issue on $thing..."

In general terms, I keep an eye out for special issues and other calls that are relevant to me, and after awhile, you generate a feel for the ones that are recurring. I use a Kanban board to organize my papers generally, with lanes like "Planning", "Coding/Analysis", "Writing", "With Coauthors" etc. If there's a particular targeted call and deadline, that gets written on that research idea's index card as well.