Submission Process

Q: Can I publish a working paper and later submit the final version as a journal article?

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My field is Economic history. Is that acceptable to present my research in Working Paper and then submit it (keeping the contents identical) to peer review journals? I hear several opinions as follows:

- Such practice is not acceptable and another point of view is required in respective paper.
- Working Paper is a framework for rather longer contents which is not fit to the limited words of peer review journals.
- Peer review process takes for a long time, so I can present Working Paper in order to make the world known my research advancement. (That is, I can write the same contents on Working Paper and Prepublication Paper.)

If I submit a paper to a peer review journal, it should be corrected to some extent, so the contents will not be identical accordingly. How should I treat these two types of papers?

Asked on 12 Apr, 2016

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Answer:

Generally, it is an acceptable practice to post the preliminary version of a paper, also known as preprint or working paper, to a public repository such as arXiv and later submit the final version to a journal. However, journal policies may vary. For instance, Elsevier journals are okay with publishing a preprint or working paper on a repository and they have a clear policy stating this. However, there are journals who do not allow this and will not accept such articles for submission. You should first check the website of the journal where you would like to submit your paper. As long as it is acceptable to the journal, you can go ahead.

Regarding your other concerns, there are pros and cons of publishing a working paper. The greatest advantage is that your research results will be known to the world immediately and you will not have to wait for the paper to get published in a journal, which can take several months. However, since the working paper is not peer reviewed, it may have some flaws and posting it on a repository can invite negative criticism. Another important thing to remember is that if the working paper is very long, you will have to rework on it and present it in a more concise form when submitting to a journal. However, you do not have to necessarily present a different point of view: the contents can be the same as long as the word count or format specified by the journal is maintained.