Do conference abstracts count as publications?

Key answer

There is no outright ban, but refusals keep resting on the same ground: it is not shown that the work is scholarly in nature and appeared in a professional or trade publication. Abstracts frequently fail both at once.

Check a journal or outlet for the petition

Breakdown from the data

The answers below are translated from the original Russian - the language of the community chats.

The criterion judges two things separately: whether the work is scholarly, and the standing of the venue. A one-page abstract without peer review is hard to defend on the first; a conference proceedings volume on the second.
What strengthens the position: a full peer-reviewed paper in the proceedings, indexing of the volume, imprint details with date and authorship, and proof that the venue is a professional one for your field.
If abstracts are all you have, it is usually better not to build the scholarly-articles criterion on them and instead check whether the appearance supports a leading role or judging claim, where the evidence differs.

This breakdown is built on real USCIS notices and public sources, linked below. It is reference material, not legal advice: officers decide similar cases differently.

Two tests, not one

The authorship criterion is checked on two independent grounds, and refusals show both. First, whether the work is scholarly in character. Second, whether it appeared in a professional or major trade publication.

Conference abstracts usually stumble on both at once. A one-page, unreviewed abstract is hard to defend as scholarly work, and a conference proceedings volume is not always recognized as a professional publication in the sense the criterion means.

When a conference publication does work

A full peer-reviewed paper in conference proceedings is a fundamentally different situation from a one-page abstract. If the volume is indexed, has an editorial board and full bibliographic details, and the text went through review, the criterion is genuinely arguable.

What to attach: confirmation of the review procedure, the composition of the programme committee, indexing information for the volume, bibliographic details with date and authorship, and an explanation of why conferences are the primary publication channel in your field. In several disciplines, computer science above all, that is genuinely the case - and it is worth saying so rather than assuming the officer knows the convention.

Where a talk goes if it does not amount to a publication

If what you have is an abstract with no peer review, it is more sensible not to build the scholarly-articles criterion on it and to look instead at what else the appearance gives you.

An invitation onto the programme committee, or reviewing other people's submissions, is the judging criterion - and it is proven differently: not by the invitation but by traces of the work itself. A talk at a significant industry conference can work alongside a leading role, or as one element of proving recognition. Coverage of your talk in a trade publication is the published-material-about-you criterion, not authorship.