What types does dblp use for publication entries?

dblp's classification of publications is still far from being perfect, but we try to improve.

dblp classifies publications by the following types:

Books and Theses

In this category, we list authored monographs, as well as PhD theses. Edited monographs, such as proceedings or collections, are listed under Editorship.

Journal Articles

Articles that have appeared in a peer-reviewed journal fall into this category.

Conference and Workshop Papers

This category lists papers published in peer-reviewed conferences or peer-reviewed workshops. Since it is hard (or even impossible) to draw the line between conferences or workshops in computer science, we do not make a distinction between those two types.

Parts in Books or Collections

Research articles that have been published as a chapter of a monograph are listed in this category.

Editorship

All publications that have been edited by a person go into this category. This type also includes prefaces and editorial articles; although this classification is still far from being complete.

Reference Works

Scientists occasionally author publications that are not meant to be original research, but rather reference material for computer scientists. Survey papers and encyclopedia entries fall into this category. Please note that in dblp this classification is still far from being complete.

Informal and Other Publications

dblp focuses on research papers that have been vetted in a strict peer-review process. However, papers published in online repositories without a strict vetting process, as well as as contributions to informal workshops, may still be valuable contributions to the scientific community.

Usually, 'informal publications' are publications that are not excluded from being republished in peer-reviewed journals or proceedings. Also, reputable online repositories like CoRR, ECCC, or IACR generally fall into this category; although if the listed publication is part of a peer-reviewed journal or a peer-reviewed conference proceedings volume, then we change the type accordingly.

As a rule of thumb, all publications that do not fall into into one of the other categories above are listed as informal publications.