Scientific literature comprises scientific publications that report original empirical and theoretical work in the natural and social sciences, and within a scientific field is often abbreviated as the literature. Academic publishing is the process of placing the results of one's research into the literature.

Scientific literature can include the following kinds of publications:

scientific articles published in scientific journals
patents specialized for science and technology (for example, biological patents and chemical patents)
books wholly written by one or a small number of co-authors
books, where each chapter is the responsibility of a different author or set of authors, though the editor may take some responsibility for ensuring consistency of style and content
presentations at academic conferences, especially those organized by learned societies
government reports
scientific publications on the World Wide Web
books, technical reports, pamphlets, and working papers issued by individual researchers or research organisations on their own initiative; these are sometimes organised into a series

The significance of these different components of the literature varies between disciplines and has changed over time. As of 2006, peer-reviewed journal articles remain the predominant publication type, and have the highest prestige. However, journals vary enormously in their prestige and importance, and the value of a published article depends on the journal.

The significance of books, also called research monographs depends on the subject. Generally books published by university presses are usually considered more prestigious than those published by commercial presses. The status of working papers and conference proceedings depends on the discipline; they are typically more important in the applied sciences. The value of publication as a preprint or scientific report on the web has in the past been low, but in some subjects, such as mathematics or high energy physics, it is now an accepted alternative. For further information about these formats, see the corresponding article.