“To properly define “scientific paper”, we must define the mechanism that creates a scientific paper, namely valid (i.e., primary) publication. Abstracts, theses, conference reports, and many other types of literature are published, but such publications do not normally meet the test of valid publication. Further, even if a scientific paper meets all the other tests […], it is not validly published if it is published in the wrong place. That is, a relatively poor research report, but one that meets the tests, is validly published if accepted and published in the right place (a primary journal or other primary publication); a superbly prepared research report is not validly published if published in the wrong place.”
Robert A. Day.How to Write & Publish a Scientific Paper. Oryx Press, 1998
