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I have come across working papers in economics. I have seen 'papers in progress' listed on some researchers website but have never seen the idea of working paper as is common in economics. Just curious if this is practiced in some sub branch or was used at some point of time in history.

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  • You mean in science, as opposed to economics?
    – gnometorule
    Commented May 14, 2016 at 6:09
  • I mean non-economics, non-social science fields.
    – Kaustubh Kaluskar
    Commented May 14, 2016 at 7:05
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    Yes, but they go by the name "manuscript" or "preprint" in my field (computer science).
    – Thomas Steinke
    Commented May 14, 2016 at 13:32
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    It would help if you explain what you mean by "working paper".
    – David Ketcheson
    Commented May 14, 2016 at 14:37
  • What do you mean by working paper and is 'paper in progress' the same thing? In physics, when I see 'paper in progress' on websites or CV's it just means that someone has every intention of sitting down someday and trying to write up something. But - it could be total wishful thinking to a true rough draft. (However, 'submitted' or 'accepted' or 'in press' at least shows there is a real paper finished - hopefully an accurate descriptions of the place the paper is in the publishing process).
    – Carol
    Commented May 16, 2016 at 0:37

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They are not common in my field(s) (numerical methods, high performance computing, etc.), but where journals are the primary, high prestige publication venues, we sometimes use conference talks to present works in progress. These talks are often accepted to the conference or one of its minisymposia on the basis of nothing more than light review of a one-paragraph abstract. This gives the author room to be a bit speculative in their abstract and talk about work that may or may not be complete by the time of the meeting. Later, if it works out, the material is turned into a journal article for publication.

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Papers publishing work in progress are pretty common in conferences (considering most of the computer science conferences I've been to). Adding on to Bill Barth, they are done so to check for any feedback that could help tune the methods that would hence give rise to a finer result for a journal.

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    Are journals primary in your area of CS? Much of CS from my point of view treats conferences as primary and journals lower down the publication hierarchy, but I understand (mostly from other comments here) that there are subdisciplines of CS where journals are king.
    – Bill Barth
    Commented May 14, 2016 at 13:33
  • True, @BillBarth, I've been to both worlds. It's not the discipline or area that determines what is primary, whether it is journals or conferences. It is the institution. In fact, two laterally adjacent institutions in the same area of mine have opposite views on the matter.
    – Ébe Isaac
    Commented May 14, 2016 at 13:37
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    I'm aware, but there are definitely trends and statuses quo.
    – Bill Barth
    Commented May 14, 2016 at 13:44

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