@article{ACMCommLetterEditor,
	_day = {01},
	abstract = {As a young researcher, I was intrigued by Lance Fortnow's explanation (Aug. 2009) of why the CS community is dominated by conference proceedings. However, I was less excited by his proposed solution, that "...leaders of major conferences must make the first move, holding their conferences less frequently and accepting every reasonable paper for presentation without proceedings." I fear such a move would not have the intended effect of a more journal-focused community.

Fortnow only touched on the reason he thinks it wouldn't work, that CS journals have a reputation for slow turnaround, with most taking at least a year to make a publish/reject decision and some taking much longer before publishing. These end-to-end times are unheard of in other fields where journal editors make decisions in weeks, sometimes days.

Combine this with the trend toward fewer post-doc positions to begin with and young researchers trying to launch their careers by proving their ability to publish their research. Conference publications provide the quick turnaround they need, whereas journals can sometimes represent too great a risk early in a career.

For CS to grow up, CS journals must grow up first.},
	author = {van Hemert, J},
	doi = {10.1145/1592761.1592764},
	journal = {Communications of the ACM},
	number = {11},
	pages = {6--7},
	title = {Letter to the Editor: Abolish Conference Proceedings},
	volume = {52},
	year = {2009},
	bdsk-url-1 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1592761.1592764}}