It can be much faster to publish paper in conference proceeding in comparison to a journal, so many researchers may present their new material at conferences. Conference papers are rated below the journal in quality because the degree of visibility may be less, and there is no guarantee on the quality of the review. There can be so many papers submitted to a conference that each and every paper can not necessarily be edited to the same degree. The risk with conference papers is that they may not be referred to on citation databases, or the proceedings may not be placed in the public domain. This being said, there can be many conference papers that are higher in quality to their peer-reviewed journal papers.

The Australian Centre for Geomechanics (ACG) is a not-for-profit mining research centre that regularly hosts peer reviewed conferences for the mining industry. They have developed a variety of specialty conference series including Underground Mining Technology, Paste fill, Caving, and Deep and High Stress Mining. The International Society for Rock Mechanics runs annual congresses, in addition to other series like EUROCK. There are other conferences such as ventilation and blasting that are also peer reviewed.

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