Currency of different publication types

Very current publications

In repositories (e.g. the ZHAW digitalcollection) ), research results can be published in a timely manner without great effort. In this respect, research and conference reports (conference contributions), working papers and preprints are the most current sources of research information.
University dissertations on the other hand, are first subjected to an internal university review process and have to be accepted as meeting a requirement for an academic qualification before they are published in repositories.

Current publications

The peer review process for publications in academic journals is time consuming, as in some cases submissions have to be corrected several times during this process before they can be accepted for publication. The publication of academic journal articles is also tied to the publication schedule of the journal issues themselves.
The primary research reported in journals is, by its nature, more current than research syntheses, as the latter provide a summary of the status of earlier primary research studies.

Non-current publications

Books are the least current publication type. Textbooks, handbooks, encyclopaedias and practical guides provide a summary of scientific findings from primary research and research syntheses for their respective readership. Generally speaking, however, they do not take account of findings from working papers and preprints, as these are not yet considered to be verified.
Thematic edited volumes may include primary research, but often merely represent the "Recycling bereits veröffentlichter Arbeiten" (Weingart, 2016).
Ideally, a proper peer review and revision process is also applied to monographs and edited volumes, which in turn slows down the publication process.