How to evaluate the tier of a Conference or Journal?

[nicelhc13]

I am just wondering that how do you evaluate the tier/quality of a conference or journal?

[minuto]

If you google you can find some rankings with impact factor and other metrics. You can also ask your supervisor or a professor in the field.

[excelle08]

1. CCF has lists of rankings of computer science journals and conferences (http://www.ccf.org.cn/xspj/gyml/). But they are in Chinese, cover only a few conferences (So some top-tier conferences in minor areas such as RTSS is not listed) and may be prone to politics(e.g. INFOCOM is classified as A and EuroSys is only considered as B. )

2. Google Scholar Metrics (https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=metrics_intro&hl=en) list top conferences and journals by h5-index. However you are only able to see top 20 publications in your specified area.

3. Conference Ranks(http://www.conferenceranks.com) lists a wide range of conferences and you can search on it. It uses both Qualis and ERA ranking data. Qualis groups conferences by h-index, and ERA is a ranking created by Australian scientists and institutes.

[excelle08]

Forget traditional reports and metrics such as JCR and impact factor. They don't work well with CS related journals and conferences. For example, even papers from best top-tier conferences (e.g. OSDI/SOSP) are unlikely to earn too many numbers of citations in the first three years. This is quite different from areas such as biotech and medicine, whose publications can be well measured by 2/3-yr impact factors.

[excelle08]

Also another way is to look at the history of the conference. For example a conf that has been held for tens of years is not likely to be of poor quality. Also notice the PC and SC members, as well as authors of previous papers. Good conferences always attract highly skilled scientists, prestigious groups and institutions.

[nicelhc13]

Thanks a lot!