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As a non-English scientist, the question bothers me. Maybe the answer depends on the context? Allow me to give a few examples. These are titles of a short text:

  1. Is it better to say "A conjecture on the inner mechanisms of cells" or "A conjecture about the inner mechanisms of cells"?

  2. Is it better to say "A conjecture on the working of enzyme XYZ" or "A conjecture about the working of enzyme XYZ"?

  3. Is it better to say "A conjecture on the structure of DNA" or "A conjecture about the structure of DNA"?

  4. Is it better to say "A conjecture on deducing the molecular structure" or "A conjecture about deducing the molecular structure"?

  5. Is it better to say "A conjecture on the origin of chirality" or "A conjecture about the origin of chirality"?

For those who do not believe it: Google gives only a few pages of hits when searching for the two expressions ("A conjecture about": 13 pages; "A conjecture on": 7 pages). The number is so small that no conclusion can be drawn. Also there seems to be no discussion of the issue anywhere on the web.

Update: For usage statistics, look at https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=a+conjecture+concerning%2Ca+conjecture+respecting%2Ca+conjecture+regarding%2Ca+conjecture+on%2Ca+conjecture+about&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Ca%20conjecture%20concerning%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Ca%20conjecture%20respecting%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Ca%20conjecture%20regarding%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Ca%20conjecture%20on%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Ca%20conjecture%20about%3B%2Cc0#t1%3B%2Ca%20conjecture%20concerning%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Ca%20conjecture%20respecting%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Ca%20conjecture%20regarding%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Ca%20conjecture%20on%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Ca%20conjecture%20about%3B%2Cc0

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  • Hello, Johannes. A reasonable amount of research is expected to be given with questions. Here, Google ngrams for a conjecture on and a conjecture about probably indicate an overarching switch in choice of preposition. But for individual examples, you can Google them directly to check on favoured forms.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Mar 28, 2021 at 13:26
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    This usage NGram surprised me a bit. Apparently a couple of centuries ago, a conjecture respecting [whatever it was about] was actually more common than a conjecture concerning [its subject matter]. But today, about is by far the most common preposition for the context.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Mar 28, 2021 at 13:49
  • @Edwin: see edit.
    – Johannes
    Commented Mar 28, 2021 at 16:16
  • The prepositions sound like they are more closely tied to the later words than to conjecture.
    – Lawrence
    Commented Mar 28, 2021 at 16:17
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    Conjecture is not normally used with an article, nor is it often followed by a preposition—at least not in the way you're trying to do it. What is your whole sentence? Expand the examples here to see typical usage. You might be looking for something like this: His idea of the inner mechanisms of cells was conjecture. Or this: His ideas included a lot of conjecture about the structure of DNA.
    – Tinfoil Hat
    Commented Mar 28, 2021 at 17:23

2 Answers 2

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I'd use (1) on (2) on/about (3) on (4) Conjectures on the deduction of the molecular structure of DNA (5) on.

If you look at Merriam-Webster's example sentences, you'll see they mainly use the noun 'conjecture' without a prepositional phrase. The exceptions are

  • The biography includes conjectures about the writer's earliest ambitions.
  • a conjecture about the extent of the injury

But these are not addressing fundamental issues (the inner mechanisms of cells / the structure of DNA / the origin of chirality). I'd prefer to use 'on', echoing 'on the subject of' and 'A Theorem on Boolean Matrices' [R T Prosser, ATM] say. Neither preposition is incorrect here, but 'a conjecture on' is more formal, more in an academic register.

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  • Thank you - the last sentence sums it up well, I think. Also the NGram reflects this.
    – Johannes
    Commented Mar 31, 2021 at 5:56
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Neither seems natural English to me. If one wishes to write elegant scientific English (and “conjecture” suggests the poster might) I suggest:

“A conjecture regarding…”

A matter of taste, but I think my answer tastes better than the accepted one.

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  • Indeed, also elegant.
    – Johannes
    Commented Apr 2, 2021 at 4:07

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