publishing a masters thesis

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Publishing a Master’s Thesis: A Guide for Novice Authors

Robert g. resta.

1 Swedish Cancer Institute, Swedish Medical Center, Seattle, WA USA

Patricia McCarthy Veach

2 Department of Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN USA

Sarah Charles

3 Jefferson Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA USA

Kristen Vogel

4 Center for Medical Genetics, NorthShore University HealthSystem, Evanston, IL USA

Terri Blase

5 Department of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Advocate Christ Medical Center, Oak Lawn, IL USA

Christina G. S. Palmer

6 Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA USA

7 Department of Human Genetics, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA USA

8 UCLA Semel Institute, 760 Westwood Plaza, Room 47-422, Los Angeles, CA 90095 USA

Publication of original research, clinical experiences, and critical reviews of literature are vital to the growth of the genetic counseling field, delivery of genetic counseling services, and professional development of genetic counselors. Busy clinical schedules, lack of time and funding, and training that emphasizes clinical skills over research skills may make it difficult for new genetic counselors to turn their thesis projects into publications. This paper summarizes and elaborates upon a presentation aimed at de-mystifying the publishing process given at the 2008 National Society of Genetic Counselors Annual Education Conference. Specific topics include familiarizing prospective authors, particularly genetic counseling students, with the basics of the publication process and related ethical considerations. Former students’ experiences with publishing master’s theses also are described in hopes of encouraging new genetic counselors to submit for publication papers based on their thesis projects.

Introduction

Scholarship is important for growth of a profession and for clinical care. For these reasons, the American Board of Genetic Counseling (ABGC) endorses scholarly activities through Practice Based Competency IV.5 (American Board of Genetic Counseling 2009 ). Boyer ( 1990 ) describes four types of scholarship (Scholarship of Discovery, Scholarship of Integration, Scholarship of Application, and Scholarship of Teaching), all of which are endorsed by ABGC and required of accredited genetic counseling training programs. The first three types of scholarship, which involve generating new knowledge or applying existing knowledge to an important problem, are the basis of the ABGC’s requirement that students in accredited programs engage in scholarship and complete a scholarly product. The ABGC defines a scholarly product to include: a master’s thesis, an independent research project, a literature review/case report, a formal needs assessment, design and implementation of an innovative patient, professional, or community educational program, and/or preparation of a grant proposal.

The purpose of this article is to encourage students to disseminate their scholarly work (except grant proposals) through a journal publication. This article was developed from an Educational Breakout Session (EBS) at the 2008 National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) Annual Education Conference and draws upon the experiences of a past editor and current assistant editor of the Journal of Genetic Counseling ( JOGC ), a student mentor, and recent genetic counseling graduates who successfully turned their student thesis projects into peer-reviewed publications.

Engaging in scholarship is important for increasing genetic counselors’ self-knowledge, but dissemination of scholarship is essential for the growth of the genetic counseling field. McGaghie and Webster ( 2009 ) identify a wide range of types of scholarly products that promote broad dissemination of information, including peer-reviewed journal articles (e.g., original research, case reports, review articles), book chapters, books or monographs, edited books, essays, editorials, book reviews, letters, conference reports, educational materials, reports of teaching practices, curriculum description, videos, simulations, simulators, and web-based tutorials. As evidence of the importance of disseminating scholarship to the field of genetic counseling, dissemination of scholarly products is actively promoted by the NSGC, the major professional organization for the genetic counseling profession. A prominent example of NSGC’s commitment to dissemination is the JOGC , a professional journal devoted to disseminating peer-reviewed information relevant to the practice of genetic counseling. The success of this journal over nearly two decades is a strong indicator of the value genetic counselors place on publishing journal articles as an essential product of scholarship.

Individuals who have completed a master’s thesis or equivalent should consider publication. This “call to publish” student work is based on evidence that a large proportion of students engage in a scholarly activity with publication potential. A recent survey of 531 genetic counselors suggests that 75% of respondents fulfilled their scholarly activity requirement via a master’s thesis (Clark et al. 2006 ). Among this group, 21% classified their thesis as “hypothesis driven” and 20% classified it as a “descriptive study.” Although the research may be relatively small scale given the time and resource constraints of short training programs (≤2 years), it nonetheless offers a rich and varied source of information about the practice of genetic counseling that could be shared with the broader community through publication. Yet Clark et al. ( 2006 ) found that only 21.6% of respondents who completed a master’s thesis had submitted a manuscript for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. It appears that many students do not submit their research for professional publication, perhaps due to a combination of time constraints, lack of mentoring and support, unfamiliarity with the publication process, lack of professional confidence, and fear of rejection (Clark et al. 2006 ; Cohen et al. 2008 ; Driscoll and Driscoll 2002 ; Keen 2006 ). Because this is one aspect of scholarship that has received limited attention, guidance regarding the details and vicissitudes of the publication process, and acknowledgement that master’s theses can be successfully published, are needed.

Of course, one might question why students should or would publish the results of their graduate work. The answer is complex, without a “one size fits all,” because scholarship can be intrinsically and/or extrinsically motivated. McGaghie and Webster ( 2009 ) describe intrinsic motives as including sharing knowledge, career advancement, status improvement, collegial approval, personal pleasure, and response to challenge; extrinsic motives include academic pressure, commitment to patient care, practice improvement, and promoting the use of new technologies. Although the reasons genetic counselors publish articles have not been empirically evaluated, Clark et al. ( 2006 ) (i) concluded that a substantial number of genetic counselors consider active involvement in research (a form of scholarship and precursor to publication) to be a core role, and (ii) found that respondents endorsed a range of intrinsic and extrinsic motives for their involvement in research. These reasons included interest in the subject, contributing to the field, personal development/satisfaction, diversifying job responsibilities, job requirements, lack of existing research on a particular topic, and career advancement. It is reasonable to infer that these reasons would extend to publication as well.

The work that culminates in a master’s thesis provides the basis for a professional journal article. However, writing a professional journal article differs from writing a master’s thesis. This article, therefore, provides practical ideas and considerations about the process for developing a master’s thesis into a peer-reviewed journal article and describes successful case examples. Research and publication occur in stages and include many important topics. Previous genetic counseling professional development articles have partially or comprehensively addressed the topics of developing and conducting a research project (Beeson 1997 ), writing a manuscript (Bowen 2003 ), and the peer-review process (Weil 2004 ). This paper expands on previous articles by describing the publication process and discussing publication ethics, with emphasis on aspects pertinent to publishing a master’s thesis. It is hoped that this article will encourage genetic counselors to publish their research.

The primary audience for this article is genetic counselors who are conducting a master’s thesis or equivalent or who completed a thesis in the last few years which remains unpublished. The secondary audience is other novice authors and affiliated faculty of genetic counseling training programs. Although the focus of this paper is on journal publications which are subject to a peer-review process (e.g., original research, clinical reports, and reviews), some of the basic information applies to a variety of publishing forms.

The Publication Process

Publish before it perishes.

Like produce and dairy products, data have a limited shelf life. Research results may be rendered marginal by new research, social changes, and shifts in research trends. For example, a study of patient reluctance to undergo genetic testing due to concerns about health insurance discrimination conducted in December 2007 would have been obsolete when the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (Pub.L. 110–233, 122 Stat. 881, enacted May 21, 2008) was enacted 5 months later. Or studies of whether patients think they might undergo testing if a gene for a particular condition were identified become less relevant once the gene is actually mapped and sequenced.

The hardest part about writing is actually writing. Making the time to sit down and compose a report of research findings is a very difficult first step. As noted in the three case examples, this is particularly true for a recent graduate whose time is occupied with searching for a new job, moving to a new city, and learning the details of a new job. However, the longer you wait, the more difficult it becomes, and the greater the risk that your data will grow stale. If you do not write it, the paper will likely not get written. The three case examples identify strong mentorship, ongoing communication with co-authors, constructive criticism, and commitment to publication by every author as key elements for successfully preparing a manuscript. The following sections describe basic processes for preparing a paper. See also Table  1 for helpful references about technical aspects of manuscript preparation.

Table 1

Selected Resources For Manuscript Preparation

Choosing a Journal

Research delivered to an inappropriate audience is ignored. Many journals publish genetic counseling research—as demonstrated by the three case examples—and therefore, choosing the right journal is critical (Thompson 2007 ). The first step is to decide who the audience should be. Is it important to reach genetic counselors? Medical geneticists? Or is the audience outside of the genetic counseling community? Some genetic counseling research is of interest to researchers in patient education, decision-making, or the social sciences. Clinicians such as surgeons, radiology technicians, psychologists, and family practice physicians might benefit from a greater understanding of genetic counseling and how it interfaces with their specialties.

The next step is to decide whether the journal is interested in the type of research conducted. For example, does the journal publish articles mostly on medical and clinical issues? Does it publish qualitative research? A description of the scope, aims, and types of research that are published is located in the “Instructions to Contributors” section on the web page of most journals. A look at the journal’s editorial board might also provide a good idea of a journal’s theoretical approaches, philosophical orientation, and research interests. Another strategy is to contact the journal’s editor or a member of the editorial board prior to submitting a manuscript to discuss the appropriateness of the manuscript for the journal. Many editors welcome such pre-submission contact since it reduces their workload of reading inappropriate manuscripts.

A journal’s “impact factor” may be important to some authors when considering where to publish a manuscript. The impact factor is a—perhaps imperfect—statistical measure of a journal’s importance. The impact factor was developed in the early 1960s by Eugene Garfield and Irving Sher and is technically defined as A/B, where A = the number of times articles published in that journal were cited and B = the number of citable articles published by the journal (letters and editorials are not usually citable articles) (Garfield 1994 ). An impact factor of one indicates that on average, articles published in the journal were cited once by other authors.

A journal’s impact factor can vary greatly from year to year, and its practical utility is widely debated (Andersen et al. 2006 ; Chew et al. 2006 ; Greenwood 2007 ; Ha et al. 2006 ; The PLoS Medicine Editors 2006 ). Genetic counselors often publish small studies and case reports. The journals that might publish such papers usually have impact factors of ten or less. Thus the impact factor may be a less important consideration for many genetic counselors when deciding where to publish.

A publisher’s copyright policy may also influence the choice of where to publish. The majority of publishers own the copyright (United States Copyright Office 2008 ) and authors do not have the right to copy, re-use, or distribute their own publications without buying reprints, which can be a significant source of income for publishers. Some journals, like the Public Library of Science (PLoS), are completely Open Access and make all articles fully available online. Other journals have Delayed Open Access, which makes articles publicly available after a specified period of time, often a year or two. Many journals, such as the JOGC , promote Hybrid Open Access in which authors, for a fee, can make their articles publicly available. Some journals will make select articles publicly available, usually those that attract media attention. For grant-funded research, consider the requirements of the funding source; some granting agencies require that the research results be made publicly available at some point.

Peer Review

Peer review is the process in which two or three experts evaluate a manuscript to determine whether it is worthy of publication. Peer review is the backbone of scholarly publishing; no research manuscript gets published until a team of reviewers and journal editors vets it. Ideally, reviewers are objective, constructively critical, open-minded, fair, and insightful. Some journals blind the reviewer to the author’s identity, in hopes that the authors’ reputations or professional relationships will not influence the review. Some journals will let authors suggest reviewers or request that certain people not review a manuscript. A journal’s peer review policies may be another important consideration in choosing where to submit a manuscript.

In practice, peer review is not always ideal (Benose et al. 2007 ; Curfman et al. 2008 ; Hames 2007 ; Wager et al. 2006 ). Nonetheless, no better or viable alternative has been proposed. Reviews may sometimes appear to be arbitrary, unfair, and poorly performed. Reading such reviews can be very difficult and frustrating, even for experienced authors. However, it is a reviewer’s job to be critical, and there may be elements of truth in even the most negative reviews. Some editors may be willing to send a manuscript to another reviewer if an original reviewer produces a harshly critical or poorly thought out critique. Some journals have a formal appeals process if a manuscript is rejected or an author feels a review is inaccurate, inappropriate, or biased. However, sometimes it is simply easier to submit the manuscript to a different journal. Case # 2 describes a successful example where submitting a manuscript to a different journal led to publication.

The manuscript rejection rate varies widely across journals, but about half of all manuscripts are rejected or require significant revisions (Armstrong et al. 2008 ; Hall and Wilcox 2007 ; Liesegang et al. 2007 ). About half of rejected manuscripts are published in other journals (Armstrong et al. 2008 ; Hall and Wilcox 2007 ; Liesegang et al. 2007 ). Even among articles that are accepted for publication, the vast majority will require significant revisions. All three case examples describe manuscripts that underwent significant revision. Thus, prospective authors should not be disheartened if a manuscript is rejected or needs extensive re-writing; this is the rule rather than the exception . Many editors are willing to work with authors who have questions about specific comments or how best to incorporate the reviewers’ suggestions. Busy journal editors would rather answer questions up front than have to laboriously edit a revised manuscript and send it back for further revisions.

Peer review, and the subsequent manuscript revisions, along with the number of manuscripts submitted to the journal, are probably the most critical bottlenecks in determining how long it takes before a manuscript appears in print. Typically, a year or more may pass from the time of submission to the publication date. The three case examples include their timeframes to highlight the need for perseverance and patience with the publication process.

The clearest way for authors to respond to editors’ and reviewers’ comments is to prepare a table that lists each comment and how the authors addressed them, item by item. Some reviewers’ comments may be inaccurate or simply unrealistic (e.g. “The authors should re-do the entire research study...”); these can be discussed in the table or in the cover letter that accompanies the table. Additional information about the peer-review process can be found in Weil ( 2004 ).

Acceptance!

Once a manuscript is accepted for publication, the publisher or the journal editor will send a copyright transfer statement that spells out ownership of the article. This statement must be signed and returned in short order before the manuscript will be published. The corresponding author will receive page proofs, usually electronically, which must be read by the author for accuracy and returned fairly quickly (usually 2–3 days). Many publishers are reluctant to make significant changes in the page proofs, and they may charge for substantial revisions. Thus, the version of the manuscript that is submitted to the journal before the page proofs are generated should be very close to what the author wishes to see in print. Usually at this time publishers will offer the author the option to purchase reprints to allow the author to share the publication with other researchers, co-authors, and colleagues. Some journals will provide a limited number of free reprints or a complimentary copy of the issue of the journal in which the paper appears. The steps in the publication process are summarized in Table  2 .

Table 2

Steps in the Publication Process

a ∼50% of manuscripts are rejected or require significant revision before being accepted for publication

Ethics of Publishing

“Scholarship (like life) is not always fair or precise.” (Thompson 1994 )

Manuscript preparation and submission for publication can be complicated by ethical issues. Many authors may not be aware of these ethical conundrums, let alone have a plan for addressing them. Ethics is not a stagnant concept. As research methodologies and research questions evolve, new ethical issues in publishing arise. This section contains a description of several issues broadly relevant to the publishing practice of genetic counselors, particularly as students or recent graduates. However, it is important for genetic counselors-as-authors to keep abreast of ethical issues relevant to their own work.

“Ethics” are principles that govern the behavior of individuals or groups (Merriam-Webster 1974 ). Ethical codes of conduct exist in order to preserve the integrity of a profession, ensure the public’s welfare, and protect scholars. Ethical issues particularly relevant to writing for publication, include: (1) authorship determination, (2) disclosure and conflicts of interest, (3) plagiarism, (4) subject confidentiality, (5) accuracy of information, and (6) publishing in multiple sources.

Authorship Determination

Consider the following situation: A student conducted an excellent study for her master’s thesis project. At the beginning of the project, her supervisor promised her that she would have first authorship on any manuscripts based on the project. However, when the time came to write the paper, the student procrastinated. Finally, after the supervisor repeatedly “nagged” her, she submitted a draft to her, but it was very poorly written. The supervisor decided the only way to salvage the paper was to totally rewrite it herself. Now the supervisor thinks that she deserves to be the first author. Is this ethical? Does it matter if the project was the student’s master’s thesis rather than a project in which she was voluntarily involved? Are there guidelines that might be implemented in advance to handle this kind of situation?

This complex situation may be all too familiar for many supervisors and students. It raises issues about valuing contributions to the publication process, the power differential between supervisors and students, determining when renegotiation of authorship is warranted, and setting expectations and priorities up front. Whenever manuscripts are authored by more than one individual, order of authorship should be negotiated as early in the process as possible. Only individuals who have actually contributed to the work should be listed as authors. Their order should indicate “...the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status” (Shadish 1994 ) (p. 1096). In the sciences, the first and last authors typically are the individuals that made the greatest contributions to the project (Laflin et al. 2005 ). Many journals require a listing of each author’s contribution to the manuscript in order to make sure each person meets the journal’s requirements to be listed as an author.

Student authors pose a special situation. Doctoral students usually are the first authors of papers based on their dissertation research (Nguyen and Nguyen 2006 ). Authorship order is less clear for masters’ projects because masters’ students may lack sufficient knowledge and skills to conduct a project and prepare a manuscript of publishable quality without considerable input from their supervisor (Shadish 1994 ). Thompson ( 1994 ) recommends that when there is any question as to who made the primary contribution, the student should receive higher authorship. His recommendation helps to protect the person who has less power in the situation. Often students are involved in studies that are not based on their own master’s or doctoral research, but rather are connected to an existing research program, such as case examples 1 and 2. In those situations, some authors contend that their involvement should be creative and intellectual in order to warrant authorship; otherwise, student input can be credited in an acknowledgement section (Fine and Kurdek 1993 ; Holaday and Yost 1995 ; Thompson 1994 ).

Negotiating authorship is an important step that should begin in the initial stages of a project. This step usually involves assessing and agreeing upon each person’s tasks, contributions, and efforts. The amount of supervision required for an individual’s contributions is usually considered as well (Fine and Kurdek 1993 ). Sometimes renegotiation of authorship order is necessary due to unexpected changes and/or substantial revision of the manuscript. The key is to remember that authorship is negotiated. Questions to consider throughout this negotiation process include: Who had the original idea for the basis of the publication? Who designed and conducted the study that generated the data? Who will write most of the first draft of the paper? Is the study part of someone’s research lab? Students should maintain early and on-going communication with their co-authors about their investment of time and efforts and the outcomes of those efforts (Sandler and Russell 2005 ). However, scholarly contribution is more important than actual time and effort expended when determining authorship. For more information regarding authorship determination, it may be useful to review guidelines for discussing and clarifying authorship order (Gibelman and Gelman 1999 ) or developing individualized contracts for research collaboration (Stith et al. 1992 ). These guidelines also may be useful for initiating discussion of authorship as part of the curriculum in genetic counseling training programs.

Take another look at the authorship scenario. At the time of the original negotiation of authorship, it is likely that the supervisor (and other parties) believed the student warranted first authorship due to her creative contributions and time allotted to the study. In most authors’ minds, first authorship is equated with substantial contribution to writing the manuscript, usually the first draft, so it is important the student understand this is part of the responsibilities of being first author. Typically students have no experience writing a journal article, and so some procrastination is likely. In this scenario, the authorship dilemma may have been averted by having in place a plan to mentor the student, providing support, and delineating a specific process for writing the first draft of the manuscript.

Manuscripts invariably undergo substantial revision as co-authors and reviewers weigh in, so it is not unusual that the supervisor would revise the student’s first draft. This activity does not prima facie warrant a change in authorship order. However, by developing a specific plan to support the student’s writing, it may minimize the extent of the supervisor’s revisions. It is possible, though, that the student’s procrastination and poor writing should initiate a renegotiation of authorship order because the level and nature of her contributions to the work may be changing. The supervisor and student should discuss the reasons for changing authorship order; the supervisor should not unilaterally make this change without discussion. Keep in mind that the bar for changing authorship should be much higher if the paper is based on the student’s master’s thesis than if it is based on a project in which she was voluntarily involved. It is also important to inform students early in the process that most research is a collaborative effort, requiring time, energy, and sometimes funding, and therefore their collaborators have expectations that their contributions will be rewarded through publication. Developing an a priori policy for renegotiation may often reduce misunderstandings and minimize conflict.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Consider the following situation: A student conducted a study to evaluate a new program that her clinic is offering to its patients. She interviewed ten patients who participated in the program about their experience. Nine of these patients were in general agreement about the value of the program, while the 10th patient was quite negative about her experience. The student’s impression of this patient is that she is a generally negative person. The student believes that the patient came into the program expecting not to like it. Furthermore, the student is concerned her clinic will lose funding for this program if she reports this patient’s responses. The student decides to exclude her data from the paper. Is this decision ethical? Why or why not?

One ethical issue raised in this scenario involves determining when it is appropriate to exclude data points. Data collected from research can be messy, and it is not unusual for some data points to be excluded from analyses. However, there must be an explicit methodology for excluding data points or subjects, and this information usually is reported in the manuscript. Examples for exclusions include: missing data (e.g., a participant did not complete a majority of the items on a questionnaire); measurement error (e.g., the recorded measurement of a biological process or part of the anatomy is simply impossible); small sample sizes (e.g., an insufficient number of individuals from a minority group participated in the research resulting in numbers too small for meaningful analysis). In the scenario described above, the rationale provided for excluding the 10th patient’s experience is not sufficient to warrant exclusion. Instead, it appears that exclusion of this individual is based on a desire to promote the new program in the student’s clinic. In order to eliminate this form of conflict of interest, one could consider involving a clinic outsider in the analysis and interpretation of the data. By including a clinic outsider in the project, editor and reviewer concerns about the integrity of the data, analyses, and conclusions will be allayed.

Most journals provide another “safeguard,” by requiring a statement about possible conflicts of interest. A conflict of interest statement requires the author to acknowledge in writing the nature of any circumstances that might bias the process and/or outcome of their work. For example, any project and published report that might result in direct financial gains for an author(s) should be disclosed to a journal’s editor and to the readership. Examples of possible conflicts of interest include conducting a study of the effectiveness of a genetic test funded by the company that developed and is marketing the test, or a program evaluation study whose outcome would determine the continuation of the investigators/authors’ jobs.

Plagiarism is a familiar concept to most people. Everyone generally understands the importance of “giving credit where credit is due.” Yet, the National Science Foundation estimates that the prevalence of plagiarism may be as high as 50% (Roig 2001 ). Probably many of these incidents are unintentional and/or occur because the authors were unaware of some of the nuances regarding plagiarism. Although there is some variability within and across disciplines about the specific behaviors that constitute plagiarism, there is general agreement about two broad types (Roig 2001 ): cryptamnesia -an individual thinks their idea is original when it actually was presented by someone else previously; and inappropriate paraphrasing —an individual uses another person’s published text without properly citing that use, and/or using their statements with little or no modification. Specific examples of inappropriate paraphrasing include: (1) publishing another person’s work as one’s own; (2) copying part of another author’s paper and claiming it as one’s own; (3) copying text from another source without using quotations marks and without citing that source in the text; (4) paraphrasing text from another source without providing an in-text citation; (5) summarizing material from another source without clearly connecting the summary to that source; and (6) using copyrighted materials without author/publisher permission (East 2006 ; Lester and Lester Jr. 1992 ).

Additional types of plagiarism include ambiguous use of citations. For instance, an individual includes a citation in a paragraph but does not clearly indicate which content in the paragraph is from the cited work. Another type of plagiarism is self-plagiarism . Self-plagiarism occurs when an individual includes published work of their own for which they do not own the copyright (e.g., reprinting a table from one of their previously published papers); repeating verbatim text from a previously published article. Permission to reprint material from the publisher must be obtained.

Plagiarism is a serious ethical breach which can result in a legal penalty. Strategies for avoiding plagiarism include limiting the use of direct quotes; avoiding the use of secondary sources—it is always better to read and cite an original source when available; and restating ideas in one’s own words while providing in-text citation of the work that contains the original ideas (East 2006 ; Lambie et al. 2008 ; Lester and Lester Jr. 1992 ). When in doubt regarding the originality of one’s words, it is best to cite the source(s) on which they are based. In this regard, it may help to bear in mind that readers will assume all words in the paper are the author’s unless the source(s) are cited.

Subject Confidentiality

Published papers must be written in a way that no subjects can be recognized by others without their written consent (Gavey and Braun 1997 ). Given the unique nature of genetics, family members may also need to provide written consent (McCarthy Veach et al. 2001 ). When possible, identifying information should be removed or disguised (e.g., use of pseudonyms) and data based on multiple subjects should be reported in aggregate (group) form. Institutional review boards (IRBs) play a critical role in assuring protection of subject confidentiality. Many journals require authors to indicate either in the paper or a cover letter that they have obtained institutional review board approval to conduct their animal or human subjects study. In some cases, an ethics board may have been consulted regarding ethical dilemmas reported in a clinical paper and this should be acknowledged in the paper.

Accuracy of Information

Authors are responsible for rigorously checking the accuracy of their facts, data, and conclusions. However, despite one’s best efforts, substantial errors sometimes are not discovered until after a paper is published. In that case, the corresponding author should contact the journal immediately and ask that an erratum be published. On a related note, authors have a professional responsibility to make data sets reported in published papers available to other professionals. This practice allows for verification of the findings and conclusions, and it also makes possible research replications and extensions of the original study. The length of time for retaining research records depends on institutional policy and sponsor policy, so it is important to be aware of how these policies apply to the research generated by a master’s thesis. Often institutional review boards require researchers to state how long they will maintain a data set, and the researchers must adhere to that time frame.

Another accuracy issue concerns modifying and reporting the use of published material (e.g., an interview protocol, psychological instrument, curriculum) without clearly describing the precise nature of the modifications. Interpretation of findings and their comparison to other studies using the “same” instrumentation may be severely compromised when an author fails to report modifications. Further, professional courtesy suggests that permission be sought from the author before changing her or his material. Also, use of published material requires crediting the author(s) of that material by including relevant citations.

Publishing in Multiple Sources

In the sciences, a manuscript should not be under review by more than one journal at a time. It is, however, acceptable to submit material for presentation at a conference prior to its actual publication in a journal, as the authors in case examples 1 and 3 did. Some conferences publish proceedings , and some journals will not publish work that is already published in a Proceedings unless the two papers differ substantially. When in doubt, it is good practice to contact a journal’s editor to determine the journal’s policy. Journals typically only publish original work, but on occasion there may be interest in reprinting an article. Reprinting a previously published paper requires written permission from the owner of the publication copyright. As a matter of courtesy, one should also seek the corresponding author’s permission, even if the author does not own the copyright.

Examples of Success

The benefits of sharing knowledge within the medical community and with the public via publication have been delineated. The publication of original work contributes to the advancement of the genetic counseling field overall, and at the individual level, authorship establishes a level of professional credibility, enhancing opportunities for future employability, funding and job satisfaction. The opportunity to develop a genetic counseling master’s thesis into a manuscript should therefore not be overlooked. Below are the personal accounts of three recent graduates who successfully transformed their individual master’s theses into published manuscripts. These examples were not systematically ascertained, and as such, do not necessarily represent all experiences with trying to publish a master’s thesis. These stories provide “first-hand accounts” of the authors’ experiences and, while acknowledging the challenges, demonstrate commitment to publishing their own projects throughout their careers. Table  3 contains a list of helpful hints gleaned from these cases.

Table 3

Helpful Hints for First Time Authors

Case 1: Consider Writing Your Thesis and Journal Article Concurrently

As a result of personal determination, and above all, strong mentorship, I was able to turn my master’s thesis work into a manuscript published in Patient Education and Counseling , titled “Satisfaction with genetic counseling for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations among African American women” (Charles et al. 2006 ). My work was a small component of an existing research project being conducted within a university academically affiliated with my genetic counseling training program. The project was an evaluation of the overall effects of “Culturally Tailored vs. Standard Genetic Counseling Protocol” among African American women.

I started by reviewing previous publications this group of researchers had produced and using these as a guide for my first draft, followed by multiple revisions. Approximately 17 months elapsed between first submission and publication. We submitted the manuscript in its original form in May 2005. We received the reviewers’ comments later that summer, and submitted revisions five months later. The article was accepted in that same month, published online five months later and in print seven months after the online version appeared. Shortly after graduating from my program I submitted an abstract of the work to NSGC for presentation at the 2005 Annual Education Conference, and subsequently learned that it was selected for the NSGC Beth Fine Student Abstract award.

My experience may be unusual because I worked on the manuscript and thesis project concurrently. Composing separate but related documents while still juggling second year genetic counseling student responsibilities was certainly a challenge. Preparing a comprehensive thesis project is a very different task than manuscript composition, the latter of which is more focused and narrow in scope. Challenges posed by this concurrent approach included ensuring that text requirements and deadlines specific to each document were met, as well as incorporating and addressing the reviews of both the training program and peer-reviewers. The main benefits of this approach were that I was still in school and therefore geographically close to my mentors, which facilitated ongoing communication throughout the process, and that the manuscript was under review by a journal before I started my new job.

Factors contributing to the successful publication of this project include mentorship, accountability, and commitment to publication by every author. Supportive, constructively critical, and well published, my mentors had high standards and knew the process. Frankly, I did not want to disappoint them. I found setting deadlines and meeting them, along with the accountability of in-person meetings (as opposed to email), to be effective approaches. Finally, publishing the project was a stated goal of the authors at the initiation of the project. I will not claim that the process was easy, but the goal is certainly attainable and worthwhile.

Case 2: You Need Not Publish Every Thesis Finding—Pick The Most Interesting and Relevant

As is the case for many graduate students, the first time I attempted to publish was after I completed my thesis. My thesis concerned the development of a minority research recruitment database and was the result of my graduate research on underserved populations.

Following graduation, I started my first job as a genetic counselor in a new city. During the overwhelming process of adjusting to “my new life,” my thesis advisor asked me to submit a manuscript to the American Journal of Public Health in response to a call for abstracts on genetics topics. Unfortunately, the deadline was only one week away. I scrambled to cut down my lengthy thesis to a reasonable length and submitted it, knowing that it was not my best work given the time constraint. Needless to say, it was rejected.

I decided that before resubmitting the manuscript to a different journal, I would need to take a different approach to the paper, more or less starting over. While my research results were interesting, they were limited in their application. I decided to publish instead on the success of our research initiative, as other researchers could learn from our process. Since I was changing the focus of the manuscript, I had to do an additional literature search and produce much of the writing from scratch. Most of this work had to be completed in my free time. While it was difficult to stay motivated, working on my manuscript when first starting a job was manageable as my caseload was lightest in the beginning. After several weeks of hard work, I submitted the manuscript to Health Promotion Practice .

About one month later, the editor contacted me and asked me to resubmit my manuscript with revisions. Three different reviewers provided feedback. Initially, it was overwhelming to read through their comments and frustrating, particularly when the reviewers contradicted each other. Despite my frustration, with my co-authors’ guidance I forged ahead and resubmitted, only to have the editor and reviewers ask for additional revisions. There were comments from the same three reviewers, however, far fewer in number. Still, I was beginning to think they would never accept the manuscript. I once again called upon my co-authors for guidance and was able to address the reviewers’ comments and resubmit the manuscript once again.

This time when I heard from the editor, the manuscript was finally accepted. What started out as a 120 page thesis ended up being published as an eight page paper (Vogel et al. 2007 ). It took approximately 8 months of writing and revising before the manuscript was finally accepted and an additional year before it came out in print. While the entire process was a true test of patience and determination, it was ultimately worth it. The experience gave me the foundation to carry on my research career and continue to publish successfully.

Case 3: Expectations and Mentorship are Crucial

I defended my thesis, received my Master’s degree, and was about to move back to the Midwest to start my new job as a genetic counselor, but my long “To-Do” list had one remaining item: Publish master’s thesis. I started the initial master’s thesis process with the expectation from one of my thesis advisors, and now a co-author, that research is not “put down and set aside” until published. I never questioned the process; if I was going to work with this advisor, I would be publishing. I was excited to undertake this challenge and impressed by my thesis advisor’s dedication, mentorship, and desire to see our hard work recognized. Nearly two years later, I could proudly say that this expectation, held by all of my thesis advisors and me, was accomplished. The manuscript, published in the JOGC , describes qualitative research regarding communication of genetic test results within a family (Blase et al. 2007 ).

In the beginning, I was unfamiliar with the publication process, but because of the support and guidance of my advisors, I began to learn the process, and so the frustrations and uncertainties were minimal. I also had a great working relationship with my co-authors that included communicating regularly and setting and meeting deadlines. After deciding the JOGC was the most appropriate venue for my research, I spent a good deal of time reducing and reformatting the 80 page thesis to a 20–25 page manuscript to meet the journal’s guidelines. Given the page constraints, this process necessitated determining which data to focus on and re-framing some information to appropriately fit the readers of my selected journal. Conversations with my advisors were instrumental in this phase.

There was nothing quick about publishing my master’s thesis. I graduated in June 2005, received an email shortly thereafter from one of my advisors about how to begin constructing a first draft of a manuscript, and began working on the manuscript in July 2005. I submitted the manuscript to JOGC in May 2006 and subsequently was informed by the editor that based on the reviews, revisions were required before the manuscript could be considered for publication. In September 2006, after two rounds of revisions, my manuscript was accepted, and by June 2007 it was published in the journal.

Although ultimately I was successful in publishing my master’s thesis, the process had its moments of frustration. I remember getting my first round of comments from the reviewers; I thought I was never going to get to the point of publication. My co-authors supported and encouraged me by explaining that revisions are truly part of the process. I was overwhelmed by the reviewers’ list of questions and changes after my initial submission, followed by additional reviews and revisions. Not only did I have to figure out how to keep the manuscript a priority in light of my new job, but I had to weed through and address the reviewers’ comments, and the suggestions of each co-author. The guidance of my thesis advisors, now co-authors, helped me navigate this process.

I have gained much through this experience. The process has opened doors for me including opportunities to work with other professionals with impressive publishing experiences, as well as speaking and poster presentation opportunities at national conferences. I also have greater confidence about the publishing process. What seemed like such a daunting and impossible task is now an attainable outcome. Although my master’s thesis was my most recent publication, the thought of taking on the publication process again is not nearly as intimidating as I once thought.

Publication of original research, clinical experience, and literature reviews are vital to the growth of the genetic counseling field and to the delivery of genetic counseling services. Publishing also promotes personal growth by counting toward maintenance of ABGC-certification as well as establishing the author as a credible and respected authority both within and outside the genetic counseling field. This professional recognition in turn can lead to employment opportunities, speaking engagements, research funding, and career advancement.

Submitting a manuscript for publication also can be an intellectually challenging, emotionally trying, and time-consuming task. But similar to life’s other difficult tasks, the rewards and satisfaction are commensurately great—to see your name in print, have your work cited by other authors, and know that you have contributed in a meaningful way to the practice and understanding of genetic counseling. Transforming a master’s thesis into a journal article is an obvious first step in developing and sustaining a commitment to publishing for our genetic counseling profession. Common themes in the three success experiences include the importance of mentorship and clear expectations for publishing, recognition of the length of the process and concomitant need for perseverance in the face of revisions, awareness of personal and professional benefits in terms of presentations at national meetings, awards, and motivation to continue publishing. Hopefully the information provided in this article will help to de-mystify the publishing process, promote consideration of ethical issues in publishing, and stimulate genetic counseling students and new graduates to embrace a “Publish for Success” philosophy.

Acknowledgments

This paper was developed from an Educational Breakout Session (EBS) sponsored by the Jane Engelberg Memorial Fellowship Advisory Group at the 2008 NSGC Annual Education Conference.

Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.

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• Writing Tips

The Ultimate Guide to Getting Your Thesis Published in a Journal

• 7-minute read
• 25th February 2023

Writing your thesis and getting it published are huge accomplishments. However, publishing your thesis in an academic journal is another journey for scholars. Beyond how much hard work, time, and research you invest, having your findings published in a scholarly journal is vital for your reputation as a scholar and also advances research findings within your field.

This guide will walk you through how to make sure your thesis is ready for publication in a journal. We’ll go over how to prepare for pre-publication, how to submit your research, and what to do after acceptance.

Pre-Publication Preparations

Understanding the publishing process.

Ideally, you have already considered what type of publication outlet you want your thesis research to appear in. If not, it’s best to do this so you can tailor your writing and overall presentation to fit that publication outlet’s expectations. When selecting an outlet for your research, consider the following:

●  How well will my research fit the journal?

●  Are the reputation and quality of this journal high?

●  Who is this journal’s readership/audience?

●  How long does it take the journal to respond to a submission?

●  What’s the journal’s rejection rate?

Once you finish writing, revising, editing, and proofreading your work (which can take months or years), expect the publication process to be an additional three months or so.

Revising Your Thesis

Your thesis will need to be thoroughly revised, reworked, reorganized, and edited before a journal will accept it. Journals have specific requirements for all submissions, so read everything on a journal’s submission requirements page before you submit. Make a checklist of all the requirements to be sure you don’t overlook anything. Failing to meet the submission requirements could result in your paper being rejected.

Areas for Improvement

No doubt, the biggest challenge academics face in this journey is reducing the word count of their thesis to meet journal publication requirements. Remember that the average thesis is between 60,000 and 80,000 words, not including footnotes, appendices, and references. On the other hand, the average academic journal article is 4,000 to 7,000 words. Reducing the number of words this much may seem impossible when you are staring at the year or more of research your thesis required, but remember, many have done this before, and many will do it again. You can do it too. Be patient with the process.

Additional areas of improvement include>

·   having to reorganize your thesis to meet the section requirements of the journal you submit to ( abstract, intro , methods, results, and discussion).

·   Possibly changing your reference system to match the journal requirements or reducing the number of references.

·   Reformatting tables and figures.

·   Going through an extensive editing process to make sure everything is in place and ready.

Identifying Potential Publishers

Many options exist for publishing your academic research in a journal. However, along with the many credible and legitimate publishers available online, just as many predatory publishers are out there looking to take advantage of academics. Be sure to always check unfamiliar publishers’ credentials before commencing the process. If in doubt, ask your mentor or peer whether they think the publisher is legitimate, or you can use Think. Check. Submit .

If you need help identifying which journals your research is best suited to, there are many tools to help. Here’s a short list:

○  Elsevier JournalFinder

○  EndNote Matcher

○  Journal/Author Name Estimator (JANE)

○  Publish & Flourish Open Access

·   The topics the journal publishes and whether your research will be a good fit.

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·   The journal’s audience (whom you want to read your research).

·   The types of articles the journal publishes (e.g., reviews, case studies).

·   Your personal requirements (e.g., whether you’re willing to wait a long time to see your research published).

Submitting Your Thesis

Now that you have thoroughly prepared, it’s time to submit your thesis for publication. This can also be a long process, depending on peer review feedback.

Preparing Your Submission

Many publishers require you to write and submit a cover letter along with your research. The cover letter is your sales pitch to the journal’s editor. In the letter, you should not only introduce your work but also emphasize why it’s new, important, and worth the journal’s time to publish. Be sure to check the journal’s website to see whether submission requires you to include specific information in your cover letter, such as a list of reviewers.

Whenever you submit your thesis for publication in a journal article, it should be in its “final form” – that is, completely ready for publication. Do not submit your thesis if it has not been thoroughly edited, formatted, and proofread. Specifically, check that you’ve met all the journal-specific requirements to avoid rejection.

Navigating the Peer Review Process

Once you submit your thesis to the journal, it will undergo the peer review process. This process may vary among journals, but in general, peer reviews all address the same points. Once submitted, your paper will go through the relevant editors and offices at the journal, then one or more scholars will peer-review it. They will submit their reviews to the journal, which will use the information in its final decision (to accept or reject your submission).

While many academics wait for an acceptance letter that says “no revisions necessary,” this verdict does not appear very often. Instead, the publisher will likely give you a list of necessary revisions based on peer review feedback (these revisions could be major, minor, or a combination of the two). The purpose of the feedback is to verify and strengthen your research. When you respond to the feedback , keep these tips in mind:

●  Always be respectful and polite in your responses, even if you disagree.

●  If you do disagree, be prepared to provide supporting evidence.

●  Respond to all the comments, questions, and feedback in a clear and organized manner.

●  Make sure you have sufficient time to make any changes (e.g., whether you will need to conduct additional experiments).

After Publication

Once the journal accepts your article officially, with no further revisions needed, take a moment to enjoy the fruits of your hard work. After all, having your work appear in a distinguished journal is not an easy feat. Once you’ve finished celebrating, it’s time to promote your work. Here’s how you can do that:

●  Connect with other experts online (like their posts, follow them, and comment on their work).

●  Email your academic mentors.

●  Share your article on social media so others in your field may see your work.

●  Add the article to your LinkedIn publications.

●  Respond to any comments with a “Thank you.”

Getting your thesis research published in a journal is a long process that goes from reworking your thesis to promoting your article online. Be sure you take your time in the pre-publication process so you don’t have to make lots of revisions. You can do this by thoroughly revising, editing, formatting, and proofreading your article.

During this process, make sure you and your co-authors (if any) are going over one another’s work and having outsiders read it to make sure no comma is out of place.

What are the benefits of getting your thesis published?

Having your thesis published builds your reputation as a scholar in your field. It also means you are contributing to the body of work in your field by promoting research and communication with other scholars.

How long does it typically take to get a thesis published?

Once you have finished writing, revising, editing, formatting, and proofreading your thesis – processes that can add up to months or years of work – publication can take around three months. The exact length of time will depend on the journal you submit your work to and the peer review feedback timeline.

How can I ensure the quality of my thesis when attempting to get it published?

If you want to make sure your thesis is of the highest quality, consider having professionals proofread it before submission (some journals even require submissions to be professionally proofread). Proofed has helped thousands of researchers proofread their theses. Check out our free trial today.

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Research Guides

Submit and publish your thesis.

• The Graduate Thesis: What is it?
• Thesis Defences
• Deadlines and Fees
• Formatting in MS Word
• Formatting in LaTeX
• Making Thesis Accessible
• Thesis Embargo
• Review and Release
• Your Rights as an Author
• Re-using Third Party Materials
• Creative Commons Licenses for Theses
• Turning Thesis into an Article
• Turning Thesis into a Book
• Other Venues of Publication

Publishing from your thesis before or after graduation

"Will repository submission affect my publishing plans?"

... this is a common question for someone looking to publish from their thesis before or after graduation.

Most journals welcome submissions based on a thesis or dissertation. Some may have additional requirements, such as to:

• Let them know about the university’s requirement to make your thesis publicly available
• Submit a manuscript that is substantially different than the thesis content
• Embargo the thesis until after publication, etc.

Your steps will depend on the following scenarios:

Scenario 1 - you ARE NOT planning on publishing your thesis before or after graduation

In this case:

• You can submit your thesis without an embargo
• Your thesis will become publicly available in TSpace  and Library and Archives Canada after your convocation and will be widely indexed via search engines and indexes
• Use the TSpace-generated permanent URL to share and cite your thesis - see example of such citation below

Tajdaran, K. (2015). Enhancement of Peripheral Nerve Regeneration with Controlled Release of Glial Cell Line-derived Neurotrophic Factor (GDNF) (Master’s Thesis, University of Toronto). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1807/74747

Scenario 2 - You ARE planning on publishing your thesis AFTER graduation

Most journals are interested in “original, previously unpublished” research. Some journals consider theses as a form of “prior publications”, others do not, and the majority does not have a clear definition. It will be best to check journal policy before you submit your thesis.

Nature Research will consider submissions containing material that has previously formed part of a PhD or other academic thesis which has been published according to the requirements of the institution awarding the qualification.

►►►How to check journal policies:

• MIT Libraries' list of policy excerpts from major publishers
• Journal’s website - usually under Information for Authors or Copyright / Permissions or Editorial Policy; or in the publication agreement if available online
• If such information cannot be located online, contact the editors directly
• If the journal requires that you place an embargo on your thesis until after publication, see the SGS instructions on how to request an embargo on your thesis .

Scenario 3 - You ARE planning on publishing (or have already published) from your thesis BEFORE graduation

You may want or be expected to publish parts of your thesis before your thesis is submitted, such as with an integrated/publication-based/sandwich thesis. The most important thing to keep in mind here is copyright. You own copyright of your written materials, and a publisher may require copyright transfer of your manuscript.

You need to ensure you retain certain rights or obtain permission in order to satisfy the university’s requirement of making your thesis openly accessible via TSpace, ProQuest and Library and Archives Canada (LAC). For more details on these repositories, see the  Review and Release  section of this guide.

Check whether the journal requires prior notification about U of T’s open access requirement for theses. Some journals want to be notified of this mandate whether or not they restrict the re-use of articles in theses.

Check whether the publisher requires copyright transfer . This should be stated on their website, in the publication agreement, or you can inquire directly with the journal.

If the publisher does not require copyright transfer , i.e. author retains copyright, then you can reuse your article/chapter in your thesis; no permission needed.

If the publisher requires copyright transfer , follow these steps:

Check if the publisher has special provisions for reusing your published work in your thesis. They may permit the inclusion of a non-final version, such as your submitted or accepted manuscript. See more below on understanding different article versions for sharing .

►►►How to check journal policies:  See MIT Libraries' list of policy excerpts from major publishers or the journal/publisher website.

For example, Taylor and Francis policy allows to:

Include your article Author’s Original Manuscript (AOM) or Accepted Manuscript(AM) , depending on the embargo period in your thesis or dissertation. The Version of Record cannot be used. https://authorservices.taylorandfrancis.com/copyright-and-you/

Check if the article is distributed under a Creative Commons license. This may allow re-use.

►►►How to check journal's CC license:  See the journal/publisher website or contact the journal directly.

If the publisher requires copyright transfer, has no special provisions and does not publish under a CC license, you will need to contact them to request permission to include your article in your thesis. You can:

• Negotiate making the article available as part of the thesis in TSpace, ProQuest, and LAC Theses Portal; 
• Request an embargo [link to Lisa’ section on embargo] if the publisher only permits open sharing after some time post-publication;
• If permission is denied you may include in place of the chapter an abstract and a link to the article on the journal website.

If you have specific questions about your situation, publisher policy or author rights, contact the Scholarly Communications and Copyright Office at [email protected] for a consultation (best before you publish!)

Understanding different versions of a published article

A publisher may distinguish between the versions of an article that you may be allowed to include in your thesis:

• Submitted manuscript / pre-print - version you initially send in (often permitted)
• Accepted manuscript / post-print - version after peer review but before copyediting, layout editing, formatting, etc. (sometimes permitted; publisher may require an embargo/access restriction for a period of time)
• Version of record / final publisher’s PDF - version that appears in the journal (many publishers do not permit sharing this version)

►►►How to check article versions permitted for sharing:

• MIT Libraries’s list of policy excerpts from major publishers
• Sherpa/RoMEO database of publisher policies
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Benefits of Publishing Your Master's Thesis

What's Next after Your Thesis?

Publishing their master's thesis is usually not in the minds of many master’s students when they start their degree programmes, except for those who are interested in an academic career. Technically, nobody really bothers about the thesis once he/she steps out of the university, but little did students know that a published work enhances a graduate’s professional credentials. Having a master’s degree is common nowadays, but a published thesis will be your competitive edge over other potential job candidates. You may not be the cream of the crop of your cohort, but your publication will surely be the cherry on top of your master's degree.

Employers are always on the lookout for new employees who are not only hardworking but also have an inclination for academic knowledge and professional development. A published thesis shows that you have got that edge, because to get something published, especially in a credible journal, needs dedication, hard work and a certain level of expertise in a particular topic. Besides that, a published thesis will surely boost your eligibility for a PhD candidacy, should you intend to pursue one.

Another benefit that comes out of a published thesis is that all your hard work will not go to waste. Why keep the results of your efforts hidden when you can put them to good, even valuable use, by sharing with the research community and outside world? First of all, you carry out research on a topic that piqued your interest that many others might have the same interest in too. Your research may help to close some gaps in knowledge in the respective field and it makes other researchers aware that some research has already been done. Your research might even benefit various other members of the public, like article/book authors, business entities or government agencies.

Wittenborg sets to increase publication of master's theses

Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences is not exactly shy of lecturers who are PhD holders and experienced researchers. One such example is Dr Gilbert Silvius, who is not only a lecturer and pioneer, but also an active researcher and book author. To date, Silvius has published over a hundred academic papers and several books, and one of his master students’ theses has just been published. (You can find the article about this here ). When asked whether it is important to sensitise Wittenborg students/graduates on the importance of presenting their research findings in journals, Silvius said that it is indeed important for Wittenborg because academic output is an important aspect of being a university of applied sciences. Indeed it is true, and for the new academic year, Wittenborg has put in place some initiatives to increase applied research in its curriculum, such as getting lecturers to actively identify excellent students who have the potential to be involved in research.

The key to getting your work published

It is common knowledge, though, that getting your work published is not a walk in the park either. And many students are also put off by this aspect, as it requires further hard work and nerves of steel after graduation. But according to Silvius, the key is to start from the very beginning. Silvius advised that students who wish to publish their theses should work with a supervisor who is regularly publishing on the topic they are interested in. They are the best persons to guide them and ensure that the thesis is of a publishable quality. They should agree on the topic both are interested in and inclined towards. Students need also to work closely with the supervisor in the development of their theses and be open to the supervisor’s ideas, and able to integrate these ideas into their own study.

Knowledge is valuable only when shared

To sum up, getting your work published will reward you with a sense of satisfaction and self-actualisation. Commenting on this, Silvius agreed and said that for students, a publication, whether professional or academic, is stimulating and something to be proud of. That is true, even for experienced authors or researchers, as it helps to boost confidence and encourages more inspirational work. Even if you get critical reviews on your research, it is perfectly natural and it may pave the way for the betterment of your skills or for future research opportunities.

So think about it. Work hard on your thesis and share it with others. As Euan Semple asserts in his book ‘Organizations Don’t Tweet, People Do’,  tacit knowledge has no value but explicit knowledge has value because it is shared. He adds, “The more we all open up and share our thinking … the more we will all learn.”

WUP 5/11/2020 by Hanna Abdelwahab © Wittenborg University Press

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Publishing a master's thesis: a guide for novice authors

Affiliation.

• 1 Swedish Cancer Institute, Swedish Medical Center, Seattle, WA, USA.
• PMID: 20076994
• PMCID: PMC2874663
• DOI: 10.1007/s10897-009-9276-2

Publication of original research, clinical experiences, and critical reviews of literature are vital to the growth of the genetic counseling field, delivery of genetic counseling services, and professional development of genetic counselors. Busy clinical schedules, lack of time and funding, and training that emphasizes clinical skills over research skills may make it difficult for new genetic counselors to turn their thesis projects into publications. This paper summarizes and elaborates upon a presentation aimed at de-mystifying the publishing process given at the 2008 National Society of Genetic Counselors Annual Education Conference. Specific topics include familiarizing prospective authors, particularly genetic counseling students, with the basics of the publication process and related ethical considerations. Former students' experiences with publishing master's theses also are described in hopes of encouraging new genetic counselors to submit for publication papers based on their thesis projects.

Publication types

• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
• Authorship*
• Education, Graduate*
• Ethics, Professional
• Genetic Counseling*
• Peer Review, Research
• Periodicals as Topic
• Publishing*

Francesco Lelli

Should i publish my thesis the good, the bad, the ugly.

The question “should I publish my thesis” is a bit too generic and requires some clarification. We may want to start from understanding what do you mean by “publish” and continue with “where”, “when”, “with who” and “how much it costs”.

First of all, publishing a thesis is not synonymous with releasing the thesis in open access . Open access refers to the idea to make your thesis publicly available on the web. Publish a thesis refers to use the content of your thesis for building a scientific publication and submit it to a peer-review journal or conference.

In the case you are considering making an article in a blog or in LinkedIn, that does not still goes in the category of publishing. However, it deserves special attention and I will write an article about that later.

As you may already understood that this activity will require extra work, sometimes a lot of extra work. Consequently, we may want to understand what are the benefits (if any) in your particular case. What follows are a set of generic suggestions/ considerations, however you should be aware that each case is different and you may want to think critically before taking on board these suggestions.

What are the benefits of publishing a thesis?

Lets see them point per point, a publication may:

• Differentiate you from the crowd
• Position you as a (young) expert
• Shows that you are capable of think critically and scientifically
• Good addition to have in your CV
• Improve your chances of passing a selection for a PhD fellowship

Some of these benefits may be interesting you. If that is the case you may want to consider the extra efforts and decide accordingly.

Is the work that I have done publishable?

Let’s be very honest and direct. If you are doing a bachelor thesis, the chances are very low. If you are doing a master thesis you may have a few more possibilities. You may want to be very open and direct with your supervisor and have their opinion on board. If this was your intention since the beginning (see make the most of your thesis ) you may want to make it clear during one of your first meetings. If you are maturing this idea while writing the thesis you may want to ask their opinion during one of your sessions. My suggestion is to be humble and consider the fact that building a publication will take an extensive amount of time. At the same time, maybe you are working on an existing thesis and/or your supervisor has existing material that could be combined with your work. This is one more reason for speaking freely.

Also, be aware that some thesis are just not designed for been published. Maybe you are doing it in conjunction with an internship, maybe the work that you are doing is just at the beginning or simply it will require too much additional work for making all the additional extra attentions that you need for publishing. If that is the case, just move forward to your next adventure. The alternative will be to publish it alone and the chances that you have all the expertise required are very low. Probably it will result in a lot of work for you and a rejection by a publisher in the end.

When should you publish the thesis?

This is a easy one. Strictly after the submission of the thesis. Your main goal should be obtaining a master degree and not to publish a scientific article. You are going to have limited resources at your disposal so, use them wisely and focus on what should be your main priority: graduate, possibly with a good grade.

Where should I publish the thesis?

Ask your supervisor. If your plans are not to continue to study you want to limit the additional work required to the minimum and focus on a venue of acceptable quality but not too thought. After-all there is never a guarantee when you will submit your work. Been rejected is part of the game.

With who should I publish the thesis?

As already mentioned, clearly with your supervisor as you have been mentored the all time. Your supervisor may also have additional work that could be combined with what you are doing and may have a few colleagues that could contribute to that work. In other words you may want to ask to your supervisor to take the lead of this task. In general authorship or co-authorship, position of author is an intricate topic and each community of scientist have a different approach to the question. I will probably write a dedicated post about that and you can consider this answer as the short version.

How much does it costs to publish and article?

It is relatively expensive. Conferences require a participation fee and your presence. Journal may be free (unless open access) but may require considerable additional amount of time. In general, this is yet another reason for involving your supervisor. The university usually have funds allocated to publications and, if this is the case, you do not have to worry about these aspects.

Summary: Should I Publish My Thesis?

I do not think that a general answer to this question exist. However I hope that you will use this article for reflecting about your particular case and been able to figure out your specific answer. Independently to what you will decide, focus on your thesis first and keep your supervisor in the loop and ask for his opinion and support on this task.

This article (Should I Publish My Thesis? The Good, the Bad, the Ugly) is part of the miniseries on how to do a good thesis, you can see the full list of post at the following links:

How to Do a Good Thesis: the Miniseries

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Publishing a Master’s Thesis: A Guide for Novice Authors

• Professional Issues
• Open access
• Published: 01 June 2010
• Volume 19 , pages 217–227, ( 2010 )

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• Robert G. Resta 1 ,
• Patricia McCarthy Veach 2 ,
• Sarah Charles 3 ,
• Kristen Vogel 4 ,
• Terri Blase 5 &
• Christina G. S. Palmer 6 , 7 , 8  

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Publication of original research, clinical experiences, and critical reviews of literature are vital to the growth of the genetic counseling field, delivery of genetic counseling services, and professional development of genetic counselors. Busy clinical schedules, lack of time and funding, and training that emphasizes clinical skills over research skills may make it difficult for new genetic counselors to turn their thesis projects into publications. This paper summarizes and elaborates upon a presentation aimed at de-mystifying the publishing process given at the 2008 National Society of Genetic Counselors Annual Education Conference. Specific topics include familiarizing prospective authors, particularly genetic counseling students, with the basics of the publication process and related ethical considerations. Former students’ experiences with publishing master’s theses also are described in hopes of encouraging new genetic counselors to submit for publication papers based on their thesis projects.

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Introduction

Scholarship is important for growth of a profession and for clinical care. For these reasons, the American Board of Genetic Counseling (ABGC) endorses scholarly activities through Practice Based Competency IV.5 (American Board of Genetic Counseling 2009 ). Boyer ( 1990 ) describes four types of scholarship (Scholarship of Discovery, Scholarship of Integration, Scholarship of Application, and Scholarship of Teaching), all of which are endorsed by ABGC and required of accredited genetic counseling training programs. The first three types of scholarship, which involve generating new knowledge or applying existing knowledge to an important problem, are the basis of the ABGC’s requirement that students in accredited programs engage in scholarship and complete a scholarly product. The ABGC defines a scholarly product to include: a master’s thesis, an independent research project, a literature review/case report, a formal needs assessment, design and implementation of an innovative patient, professional, or community educational program, and/or preparation of a grant proposal.

The purpose of this article is to encourage students to disseminate their scholarly work (except grant proposals) through a journal publication. This article was developed from an Educational Breakout Session (EBS) at the 2008 National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) Annual Education Conference and draws upon the experiences of a past editor and current assistant editor of the Journal of Genetic Counseling ( JOGC ), a student mentor, and recent genetic counseling graduates who successfully turned their student thesis projects into peer-reviewed publications.

Engaging in scholarship is important for increasing genetic counselors’ self-knowledge, but dissemination of scholarship is essential for the growth of the genetic counseling field. McGaghie and Webster ( 2009 ) identify a wide range of types of scholarly products that promote broad dissemination of information, including peer-reviewed journal articles (e.g., original research, case reports, review articles), book chapters, books or monographs, edited books, essays, editorials, book reviews, letters, conference reports, educational materials, reports of teaching practices, curriculum description, videos, simulations, simulators, and web-based tutorials. As evidence of the importance of disseminating scholarship to the field of genetic counseling, dissemination of scholarly products is actively promoted by the NSGC, the major professional organization for the genetic counseling profession. A prominent example of NSGC’s commitment to dissemination is the JOGC , a professional journal devoted to disseminating peer-reviewed information relevant to the practice of genetic counseling. The success of this journal over nearly two decades is a strong indicator of the value genetic counselors place on publishing journal articles as an essential product of scholarship.

Individuals who have completed a master’s thesis or equivalent should consider publication. This “call to publish” student work is based on evidence that a large proportion of students engage in a scholarly activity with publication potential. A recent survey of 531 genetic counselors suggests that 75% of respondents fulfilled their scholarly activity requirement via a master’s thesis (Clark et al. 2006 ). Among this group, 21% classified their thesis as “hypothesis driven” and 20% classified it as a “descriptive study.” Although the research may be relatively small scale given the time and resource constraints of short training programs (≤2 years), it nonetheless offers a rich and varied source of information about the practice of genetic counseling that could be shared with the broader community through publication. Yet Clark et al. ( 2006 ) found that only 21.6% of respondents who completed a master’s thesis had submitted a manuscript for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. It appears that many students do not submit their research for professional publication, perhaps due to a combination of time constraints, lack of mentoring and support, unfamiliarity with the publication process, lack of professional confidence, and fear of rejection (Clark et al. 2006 ; Cohen et al. 2008 ; Driscoll and Driscoll 2002 ; Keen 2006 ). Because this is one aspect of scholarship that has received limited attention, guidance regarding the details and vicissitudes of the publication process, and acknowledgement that master’s theses can be successfully published, are needed.

Of course, one might question why students should or would publish the results of their graduate work. The answer is complex, without a “one size fits all,” because scholarship can be intrinsically and/or extrinsically motivated. McGaghie and Webster ( 2009 ) describe intrinsic motives as including sharing knowledge, career advancement, status improvement, collegial approval, personal pleasure, and response to challenge; extrinsic motives include academic pressure, commitment to patient care, practice improvement, and promoting the use of new technologies. Although the reasons genetic counselors publish articles have not been empirically evaluated, Clark et al. ( 2006 ) (i) concluded that a substantial number of genetic counselors consider active involvement in research (a form of scholarship and precursor to publication) to be a core role, and (ii) found that respondents endorsed a range of intrinsic and extrinsic motives for their involvement in research. These reasons included interest in the subject, contributing to the field, personal development/satisfaction, diversifying job responsibilities, job requirements, lack of existing research on a particular topic, and career advancement. It is reasonable to infer that these reasons would extend to publication as well.

The work that culminates in a master’s thesis provides the basis for a professional journal article. However, writing a professional journal article differs from writing a master’s thesis. This article, therefore, provides practical ideas and considerations about the process for developing a master’s thesis into a peer-reviewed journal article and describes successful case examples. Research and publication occur in stages and include many important topics. Previous genetic counseling professional development articles have partially or comprehensively addressed the topics of developing and conducting a research project (Beeson 1997 ), writing a manuscript (Bowen 2003 ), and the peer-review process (Weil 2004 ). This paper expands on previous articles by describing the publication process and discussing publication ethics, with emphasis on aspects pertinent to publishing a master’s thesis. It is hoped that this article will encourage genetic counselors to publish their research.

The primary audience for this article is genetic counselors who are conducting a master’s thesis or equivalent or who completed a thesis in the last few years which remains unpublished. The secondary audience is other novice authors and affiliated faculty of genetic counseling training programs. Although the focus of this paper is on journal publications which are subject to a peer-review process (e.g., original research, clinical reports, and reviews), some of the basic information applies to a variety of publishing forms.

The Publication Process

Publish before it perishes.

Like produce and dairy products, data have a limited shelf life. Research results may be rendered marginal by new research, social changes, and shifts in research trends. For example, a study of patient reluctance to undergo genetic testing due to concerns about health insurance discrimination conducted in December 2007 would have been obsolete when the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (Pub.L. 110–233, 122 Stat. 881, enacted May 21, 2008) was enacted 5 months later. Or studies of whether patients think they might undergo testing if a gene for a particular condition were identified become less relevant once the gene is actually mapped and sequenced.

The hardest part about writing is actually writing. Making the time to sit down and compose a report of research findings is a very difficult first step. As noted in the three case examples, this is particularly true for a recent graduate whose time is occupied with searching for a new job, moving to a new city, and learning the details of a new job. However, the longer you wait, the more difficult it becomes, and the greater the risk that your data will grow stale. If you do not write it, the paper will likely not get written. The three case examples identify strong mentorship, ongoing communication with co-authors, constructive criticism, and commitment to publication by every author as key elements for successfully preparing a manuscript. The following sections describe basic processes for preparing a paper. See also Table  1 for helpful references about technical aspects of manuscript preparation.

Choosing a Journal

Research delivered to an inappropriate audience is ignored. Many journals publish genetic counseling research—as demonstrated by the three case examples—and therefore, choosing the right journal is critical (Thompson 2007 ). The first step is to decide who the audience should be. Is it important to reach genetic counselors? Medical geneticists? Or is the audience outside of the genetic counseling community? Some genetic counseling research is of interest to researchers in patient education, decision-making, or the social sciences. Clinicians such as surgeons, radiology technicians, psychologists, and family practice physicians might benefit from a greater understanding of genetic counseling and how it interfaces with their specialties.

The next step is to decide whether the journal is interested in the type of research conducted. For example, does the journal publish articles mostly on medical and clinical issues? Does it publish qualitative research? A description of the scope, aims, and types of research that are published is located in the “Instructions to Contributors” section on the web page of most journals. A look at the journal’s editorial board might also provide a good idea of a journal’s theoretical approaches, philosophical orientation, and research interests. Another strategy is to contact the journal’s editor or a member of the editorial board prior to submitting a manuscript to discuss the appropriateness of the manuscript for the journal. Many editors welcome such pre-submission contact since it reduces their workload of reading inappropriate manuscripts.

A journal’s “impact factor” may be important to some authors when considering where to publish a manuscript. The impact factor is a—perhaps imperfect—statistical measure of a journal’s importance. The impact factor was developed in the early 1960s by Eugene Garfield and Irving Sher and is technically defined as A/B, where A = the number of times articles published in that journal were cited and B = the number of citable articles published by the journal (letters and editorials are not usually citable articles) (Garfield 1994 ). An impact factor of one indicates that on average, articles published in the journal were cited once by other authors.

A journal’s impact factor can vary greatly from year to year, and its practical utility is widely debated (Andersen et al. 2006 ; Chew et al. 2006 ; Greenwood 2007 ; Ha et al. 2006 ; The PLoS Medicine Editors 2006 ). Genetic counselors often publish small studies and case reports. The journals that might publish such papers usually have impact factors of ten or less. Thus the impact factor may be a less important consideration for many genetic counselors when deciding where to publish.

A publisher’s copyright policy may also influence the choice of where to publish. The majority of publishers own the copyright (United States Copyright Office 2008 ) and authors do not have the right to copy, re-use, or distribute their own publications without buying reprints, which can be a significant source of income for publishers. Some journals, like the Public Library of Science (PLoS), are completely Open Access and make all articles fully available online. Other journals have Delayed Open Access, which makes articles publicly available after a specified period of time, often a year or two. Many journals, such as the JOGC , promote Hybrid Open Access in which authors, for a fee, can make their articles publicly available. Some journals will make select articles publicly available, usually those that attract media attention. For grant-funded research, consider the requirements of the funding source; some granting agencies require that the research results be made publicly available at some point.

Peer Review

Peer review is the process in which two or three experts evaluate a manuscript to determine whether it is worthy of publication. Peer review is the backbone of scholarly publishing; no research manuscript gets published until a team of reviewers and journal editors vets it. Ideally, reviewers are objective, constructively critical, open-minded, fair, and insightful. Some journals blind the reviewer to the author’s identity, in hopes that the authors’ reputations or professional relationships will not influence the review. Some journals will let authors suggest reviewers or request that certain people not review a manuscript. A journal’s peer review policies may be another important consideration in choosing where to submit a manuscript.

In practice, peer review is not always ideal (Benose et al. 2007 ; Curfman et al. 2008 ; Hames 2007 ; Wager et al. 2006 ). Nonetheless, no better or viable alternative has been proposed. Reviews may sometimes appear to be arbitrary, unfair, and poorly performed. Reading such reviews can be very difficult and frustrating, even for experienced authors. However, it is a reviewer’s job to be critical, and there may be elements of truth in even the most negative reviews. Some editors may be willing to send a manuscript to another reviewer if an original reviewer produces a harshly critical or poorly thought out critique. Some journals have a formal appeals process if a manuscript is rejected or an author feels a review is inaccurate, inappropriate, or biased. However, sometimes it is simply easier to submit the manuscript to a different journal. Case # 2 describes a successful example where submitting a manuscript to a different journal led to publication.

The manuscript rejection rate varies widely across journals, but about half of all manuscripts are rejected or require significant revisions (Armstrong et al. 2008 ; Hall and Wilcox 2007 ; Liesegang et al. 2007 ). About half of rejected manuscripts are published in other journals (Armstrong et al. 2008 ; Hall and Wilcox 2007 ; Liesegang et al. 2007 ). Even among articles that are accepted for publication, the vast majority will require significant revisions. All three case examples describe manuscripts that underwent significant revision. Thus, prospective authors should not be disheartened if a manuscript is rejected or needs extensive re-writing; this is the rule rather than the exception . Many editors are willing to work with authors who have questions about specific comments or how best to incorporate the reviewers’ suggestions. Busy journal editors would rather answer questions up front than have to laboriously edit a revised manuscript and send it back for further revisions.

Peer review, and the subsequent manuscript revisions, along with the number of manuscripts submitted to the journal, are probably the most critical bottlenecks in determining how long it takes before a manuscript appears in print. Typically, a year or more may pass from the time of submission to the publication date. The three case examples include their timeframes to highlight the need for perseverance and patience with the publication process.

The clearest way for authors to respond to editors’ and reviewers’ comments is to prepare a table that lists each comment and how the authors addressed them, item by item. Some reviewers’ comments may be inaccurate or simply unrealistic (e.g. “The authors should re-do the entire research study...”); these can be discussed in the table or in the cover letter that accompanies the table. Additional information about the peer-review process can be found in Weil ( 2004 ).

Acceptance!

Once a manuscript is accepted for publication, the publisher or the journal editor will send a copyright transfer statement that spells out ownership of the article. This statement must be signed and returned in short order before the manuscript will be published. The corresponding author will receive page proofs, usually electronically, which must be read by the author for accuracy and returned fairly quickly (usually 2–3 days). Many publishers are reluctant to make significant changes in the page proofs, and they may charge for substantial revisions. Thus, the version of the manuscript that is submitted to the journal before the page proofs are generated should be very close to what the author wishes to see in print. Usually at this time publishers will offer the author the option to purchase reprints to allow the author to share the publication with other researchers, co-authors, and colleagues. Some journals will provide a limited number of free reprints or a complimentary copy of the issue of the journal in which the paper appears. The steps in the publication process are summarized in Table  2 .

Ethics of Publishing

“Scholarship (like life) is not always fair or precise.” (Thompson 1994 )

Manuscript preparation and submission for publication can be complicated by ethical issues. Many authors may not be aware of these ethical conundrums, let alone have a plan for addressing them. Ethics is not a stagnant concept. As research methodologies and research questions evolve, new ethical issues in publishing arise. This section contains a description of several issues broadly relevant to the publishing practice of genetic counselors, particularly as students or recent graduates. However, it is important for genetic counselors-as-authors to keep abreast of ethical issues relevant to their own work.

“Ethics” are principles that govern the behavior of individuals or groups (Merriam-Webster 1974 ). Ethical codes of conduct exist in order to preserve the integrity of a profession, ensure the public’s welfare, and protect scholars. Ethical issues particularly relevant to writing for publication, include: (1) authorship determination, (2) disclosure and conflicts of interest, (3) plagiarism, (4) subject confidentiality, (5) accuracy of information, and (6) publishing in multiple sources.

Authorship Determination

Consider the following situation: A student conducted an excellent study for her master’s thesis project. At the beginning of the project, her supervisor promised her that she would have first authorship on any manuscripts based on the project. However, when the time came to write the paper, the student procrastinated. Finally, after the supervisor repeatedly “nagged” her, she submitted a draft to her, but it was very poorly written. The supervisor decided the only way to salvage the paper was to totally rewrite it herself. Now the supervisor thinks that she deserves to be the first author. Is this ethical? Does it matter if the project was the student’s master’s thesis rather than a project in which she was voluntarily involved? Are there guidelines that might be implemented in advance to handle this kind of situation?

This complex situation may be all too familiar for many supervisors and students. It raises issues about valuing contributions to the publication process, the power differential between supervisors and students, determining when renegotiation of authorship is warranted, and setting expectations and priorities up front. Whenever manuscripts are authored by more than one individual, order of authorship should be negotiated as early in the process as possible. Only individuals who have actually contributed to the work should be listed as authors. Their order should indicate “...the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status” (Shadish 1994 ) (p. 1096). In the sciences, the first and last authors typically are the individuals that made the greatest contributions to the project (Laflin et al. 2005 ). Many journals require a listing of each author’s contribution to the manuscript in order to make sure each person meets the journal’s requirements to be listed as an author.

Student authors pose a special situation. Doctoral students usually are the first authors of papers based on their dissertation research (Nguyen and Nguyen 2006 ). Authorship order is less clear for masters’ projects because masters’ students may lack sufficient knowledge and skills to conduct a project and prepare a manuscript of publishable quality without considerable input from their supervisor (Shadish 1994 ). Thompson ( 1994 ) recommends that when there is any question as to who made the primary contribution, the student should receive higher authorship. His recommendation helps to protect the person who has less power in the situation. Often students are involved in studies that are not based on their own master’s or doctoral research, but rather are connected to an existing research program, such as case examples 1 and 2. In those situations, some authors contend that their involvement should be creative and intellectual in order to warrant authorship; otherwise, student input can be credited in an acknowledgement section (Fine and Kurdek 1993 ; Holaday and Yost 1995 ; Thompson 1994 ).

Negotiating authorship is an important step that should begin in the initial stages of a project. This step usually involves assessing and agreeing upon each person’s tasks, contributions, and efforts. The amount of supervision required for an individual’s contributions is usually considered as well (Fine and Kurdek 1993 ). Sometimes renegotiation of authorship order is necessary due to unexpected changes and/or substantial revision of the manuscript. The key is to remember that authorship is negotiated. Questions to consider throughout this negotiation process include: Who had the original idea for the basis of the publication? Who designed and conducted the study that generated the data? Who will write most of the first draft of the paper? Is the study part of someone’s research lab? Students should maintain early and on-going communication with their co-authors about their investment of time and efforts and the outcomes of those efforts (Sandler and Russell 2005 ). However, scholarly contribution is more important than actual time and effort expended when determining authorship. For more information regarding authorship determination, it may be useful to review guidelines for discussing and clarifying authorship order (Gibelman and Gelman 1999 ) or developing individualized contracts for research collaboration (Stith et al. 1992 ). These guidelines also may be useful for initiating discussion of authorship as part of the curriculum in genetic counseling training programs.

Take another look at the authorship scenario. At the time of the original negotiation of authorship, it is likely that the supervisor (and other parties) believed the student warranted first authorship due to her creative contributions and time allotted to the study. In most authors’ minds, first authorship is equated with substantial contribution to writing the manuscript, usually the first draft, so it is important the student understand this is part of the responsibilities of being first author. Typically students have no experience writing a journal article, and so some procrastination is likely. In this scenario, the authorship dilemma may have been averted by having in place a plan to mentor the student, providing support, and delineating a specific process for writing the first draft of the manuscript.

Manuscripts invariably undergo substantial revision as co-authors and reviewers weigh in, so it is not unusual that the supervisor would revise the student’s first draft. This activity does not prima facie warrant a change in authorship order. However, by developing a specific plan to support the student’s writing, it may minimize the extent of the supervisor’s revisions. It is possible, though, that the student’s procrastination and poor writing should initiate a renegotiation of authorship order because the level and nature of her contributions to the work may be changing. The supervisor and student should discuss the reasons for changing authorship order; the supervisor should not unilaterally make this change without discussion. Keep in mind that the bar for changing authorship should be much higher if the paper is based on the student’s master’s thesis than if it is based on a project in which she was voluntarily involved. It is also important to inform students early in the process that most research is a collaborative effort, requiring time, energy, and sometimes funding, and therefore their collaborators have expectations that their contributions will be rewarded through publication. Developing an a priori policy for renegotiation may often reduce misunderstandings and minimize conflict.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Consider the following situation: A student conducted a study to evaluate a new program that her clinic is offering to its patients. She interviewed ten patients who participated in the program about their experience. Nine of these patients were in general agreement about the value of the program, while the 10th patient was quite negative about her experience. The student’s impression of this patient is that she is a generally negative person. The student believes that the patient came into the program expecting not to like it. Furthermore, the student is concerned her clinic will lose funding for this program if she reports this patient’s responses. The student decides to exclude her data from the paper. Is this decision ethical? Why or why not?

One ethical issue raised in this scenario involves determining when it is appropriate to exclude data points. Data collected from research can be messy, and it is not unusual for some data points to be excluded from analyses. However, there must be an explicit methodology for excluding data points or subjects, and this information usually is reported in the manuscript. Examples for exclusions include: missing data (e.g., a participant did not complete a majority of the items on a questionnaire); measurement error (e.g., the recorded measurement of a biological process or part of the anatomy is simply impossible); small sample sizes (e.g., an insufficient number of individuals from a minority group participated in the research resulting in numbers too small for meaningful analysis). In the scenario described above, the rationale provided for excluding the 10th patient’s experience is not sufficient to warrant exclusion. Instead, it appears that exclusion of this individual is based on a desire to promote the new program in the student’s clinic. In order to eliminate this form of conflict of interest, one could consider involving a clinic outsider in the analysis and interpretation of the data. By including a clinic outsider in the project, editor and reviewer concerns about the integrity of the data, analyses, and conclusions will be allayed.

Most journals provide another “safeguard,” by requiring a statement about possible conflicts of interest. A conflict of interest statement requires the author to acknowledge in writing the nature of any circumstances that might bias the process and/or outcome of their work. For example, any project and published report that might result in direct financial gains for an author(s) should be disclosed to a journal’s editor and to the readership. Examples of possible conflicts of interest include conducting a study of the effectiveness of a genetic test funded by the company that developed and is marketing the test, or a program evaluation study whose outcome would determine the continuation of the investigators/authors’ jobs.

Plagiarism is a familiar concept to most people. Everyone generally understands the importance of “giving credit where credit is due.” Yet, the National Science Foundation estimates that the prevalence of plagiarism may be as high as 50% (Roig 2001 ). Probably many of these incidents are unintentional and/or occur because the authors were unaware of some of the nuances regarding plagiarism. Although there is some variability within and across disciplines about the specific behaviors that constitute plagiarism, there is general agreement about two broad types (Roig 2001 ): cryptamnesia -an individual thinks their idea is original when it actually was presented by someone else previously; and inappropriate paraphrasing —an individual uses another person’s published text without properly citing that use, and/or using their statements with little or no modification. Specific examples of inappropriate paraphrasing include: (1) publishing another person’s work as one’s own; (2) copying part of another author’s paper and claiming it as one’s own; (3) copying text from another source without using quotations marks and without citing that source in the text; (4) paraphrasing text from another source without providing an in-text citation; (5) summarizing material from another source without clearly connecting the summary to that source; and (6) using copyrighted materials without author/publisher permission (East 2006 ; Lester and Lester Jr. 1992 ).

Additional types of plagiarism include ambiguous use of citations. For instance, an individual includes a citation in a paragraph but does not clearly indicate which content in the paragraph is from the cited work. Another type of plagiarism is self-plagiarism . Self-plagiarism occurs when an individual includes published work of their own for which they do not own the copyright (e.g., reprinting a table from one of their previously published papers); repeating verbatim text from a previously published article. Permission to reprint material from the publisher must be obtained.

Plagiarism is a serious ethical breach which can result in a legal penalty. Strategies for avoiding plagiarism include limiting the use of direct quotes; avoiding the use of secondary sources—it is always better to read and cite an original source when available; and restating ideas in one’s own words while providing in-text citation of the work that contains the original ideas (East 2006 ; Lambie et al. 2008 ; Lester and Lester Jr. 1992 ). When in doubt regarding the originality of one’s words, it is best to cite the source(s) on which they are based. In this regard, it may help to bear in mind that readers will assume all words in the paper are the author’s unless the source(s) are cited.

Subject Confidentiality

Published papers must be written in a way that no subjects can be recognized by others without their written consent (Gavey and Braun 1997 ). Given the unique nature of genetics, family members may also need to provide written consent (McCarthy Veach et al. 2001 ). When possible, identifying information should be removed or disguised (e.g., use of pseudonyms) and data based on multiple subjects should be reported in aggregate (group) form. Institutional review boards (IRBs) play a critical role in assuring protection of subject confidentiality. Many journals require authors to indicate either in the paper or a cover letter that they have obtained institutional review board approval to conduct their animal or human subjects study. In some cases, an ethics board may have been consulted regarding ethical dilemmas reported in a clinical paper and this should be acknowledged in the paper.

Accuracy of Information

Authors are responsible for rigorously checking the accuracy of their facts, data, and conclusions. However, despite one’s best efforts, substantial errors sometimes are not discovered until after a paper is published. In that case, the corresponding author should contact the journal immediately and ask that an erratum be published. On a related note, authors have a professional responsibility to make data sets reported in published papers available to other professionals. This practice allows for verification of the findings and conclusions, and it also makes possible research replications and extensions of the original study. The length of time for retaining research records depends on institutional policy and sponsor policy, so it is important to be aware of how these policies apply to the research generated by a master’s thesis. Often institutional review boards require researchers to state how long they will maintain a data set, and the researchers must adhere to that time frame.

Another accuracy issue concerns modifying and reporting the use of published material (e.g., an interview protocol, psychological instrument, curriculum) without clearly describing the precise nature of the modifications. Interpretation of findings and their comparison to other studies using the “same” instrumentation may be severely compromised when an author fails to report modifications. Further, professional courtesy suggests that permission be sought from the author before changing her or his material. Also, use of published material requires crediting the author(s) of that material by including relevant citations.

Publishing in Multiple Sources

In the sciences, a manuscript should not be under review by more than one journal at a time. It is, however, acceptable to submit material for presentation at a conference prior to its actual publication in a journal, as the authors in case examples 1 and 3 did. Some conferences publish proceedings , and some journals will not publish work that is already published in a Proceedings unless the two papers differ substantially. When in doubt, it is good practice to contact a journal’s editor to determine the journal’s policy. Journals typically only publish original work, but on occasion there may be interest in reprinting an article. Reprinting a previously published paper requires written permission from the owner of the publication copyright. As a matter of courtesy, one should also seek the corresponding author’s permission, even if the author does not own the copyright.

Examples of Success

The benefits of sharing knowledge within the medical community and with the public via publication have been delineated. The publication of original work contributes to the advancement of the genetic counseling field overall, and at the individual level, authorship establishes a level of professional credibility, enhancing opportunities for future employability, funding and job satisfaction. The opportunity to develop a genetic counseling master’s thesis into a manuscript should therefore not be overlooked. Below are the personal accounts of three recent graduates who successfully transformed their individual master’s theses into published manuscripts. These examples were not systematically ascertained, and as such, do not necessarily represent all experiences with trying to publish a master’s thesis. These stories provide “first-hand accounts” of the authors’ experiences and, while acknowledging the challenges, demonstrate commitment to publishing their own projects throughout their careers. Table  3 contains a list of helpful hints gleaned from these cases.

Case 1: Consider Writing Your Thesis and Journal Article Concurrently

As a result of personal determination, and above all, strong mentorship, I was able to turn my master’s thesis work into a manuscript published in Patient Education and Counseling , titled “Satisfaction with genetic counseling for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations among African American women” (Charles et al. 2006 ). My work was a small component of an existing research project being conducted within a university academically affiliated with my genetic counseling training program. The project was an evaluation of the overall effects of “Culturally Tailored vs. Standard Genetic Counseling Protocol” among African American women.

I started by reviewing previous publications this group of researchers had produced and using these as a guide for my first draft, followed by multiple revisions. Approximately 17 months elapsed between first submission and publication. We submitted the manuscript in its original form in May 2005. We received the reviewers’ comments later that summer, and submitted revisions five months later. The article was accepted in that same month, published online five months later and in print seven months after the online version appeared. Shortly after graduating from my program I submitted an abstract of the work to NSGC for presentation at the 2005 Annual Education Conference, and subsequently learned that it was selected for the NSGC Beth Fine Student Abstract award.

My experience may be unusual because I worked on the manuscript and thesis project concurrently. Composing separate but related documents while still juggling second year genetic counseling student responsibilities was certainly a challenge. Preparing a comprehensive thesis project is a very different task than manuscript composition, the latter of which is more focused and narrow in scope. Challenges posed by this concurrent approach included ensuring that text requirements and deadlines specific to each document were met, as well as incorporating and addressing the reviews of both the training program and peer-reviewers. The main benefits of this approach were that I was still in school and therefore geographically close to my mentors, which facilitated ongoing communication throughout the process, and that the manuscript was under review by a journal before I started my new job.

Factors contributing to the successful publication of this project include mentorship, accountability, and commitment to publication by every author. Supportive, constructively critical, and well published, my mentors had high standards and knew the process. Frankly, I did not want to disappoint them. I found setting deadlines and meeting them, along with the accountability of in-person meetings (as opposed to email), to be effective approaches. Finally, publishing the project was a stated goal of the authors at the initiation of the project. I will not claim that the process was easy, but the goal is certainly attainable and worthwhile.

Case 2: You Need Not Publish Every Thesis Finding—Pick The Most Interesting and Relevant

As is the case for many graduate students, the first time I attempted to publish was after I completed my thesis. My thesis concerned the development of a minority research recruitment database and was the result of my graduate research on underserved populations.

Following graduation, I started my first job as a genetic counselor in a new city. During the overwhelming process of adjusting to “my new life,” my thesis advisor asked me to submit a manuscript to the American Journal of Public Health in response to a call for abstracts on genetics topics. Unfortunately, the deadline was only one week away. I scrambled to cut down my lengthy thesis to a reasonable length and submitted it, knowing that it was not my best work given the time constraint. Needless to say, it was rejected.

I decided that before resubmitting the manuscript to a different journal, I would need to take a different approach to the paper, more or less starting over. While my research results were interesting, they were limited in their application. I decided to publish instead on the success of our research initiative, as other researchers could learn from our process. Since I was changing the focus of the manuscript, I had to do an additional literature search and produce much of the writing from scratch. Most of this work had to be completed in my free time. While it was difficult to stay motivated, working on my manuscript when first starting a job was manageable as my caseload was lightest in the beginning. After several weeks of hard work, I submitted the manuscript to Health Promotion Practice .

About one month later, the editor contacted me and asked me to resubmit my manuscript with revisions. Three different reviewers provided feedback. Initially, it was overwhelming to read through their comments and frustrating, particularly when the reviewers contradicted each other. Despite my frustration, with my co-authors’ guidance I forged ahead and resubmitted, only to have the editor and reviewers ask for additional revisions. There were comments from the same three reviewers, however, far fewer in number. Still, I was beginning to think they would never accept the manuscript. I once again called upon my co-authors for guidance and was able to address the reviewers’ comments and resubmit the manuscript once again.

This time when I heard from the editor, the manuscript was finally accepted. What started out as a 120 page thesis ended up being published as an eight page paper (Vogel et al. 2007 ). It took approximately 8 months of writing and revising before the manuscript was finally accepted and an additional year before it came out in print. While the entire process was a true test of patience and determination, it was ultimately worth it. The experience gave me the foundation to carry on my research career and continue to publish successfully.

Case 3: Expectations and Mentorship are Crucial

I defended my thesis, received my Master’s degree, and was about to move back to the Midwest to start my new job as a genetic counselor, but my long “To-Do” list had one remaining item: Publish master’s thesis. I started the initial master’s thesis process with the expectation from one of my thesis advisors, and now a co-author, that research is not “put down and set aside” until published. I never questioned the process; if I was going to work with this advisor, I would be publishing. I was excited to undertake this challenge and impressed by my thesis advisor’s dedication, mentorship, and desire to see our hard work recognized. Nearly two years later, I could proudly say that this expectation, held by all of my thesis advisors and me, was accomplished. The manuscript, published in the JOGC , describes qualitative research regarding communication of genetic test results within a family (Blase et al. 2007 ).

In the beginning, I was unfamiliar with the publication process, but because of the support and guidance of my advisors, I began to learn the process, and so the frustrations and uncertainties were minimal. I also had a great working relationship with my co-authors that included communicating regularly and setting and meeting deadlines. After deciding the JOGC was the most appropriate venue for my research, I spent a good deal of time reducing and reformatting the 80 page thesis to a 20–25 page manuscript to meet the journal’s guidelines. Given the page constraints, this process necessitated determining which data to focus on and re-framing some information to appropriately fit the readers of my selected journal. Conversations with my advisors were instrumental in this phase.

There was nothing quick about publishing my master’s thesis. I graduated in June 2005, received an email shortly thereafter from one of my advisors about how to begin constructing a first draft of a manuscript, and began working on the manuscript in July 2005. I submitted the manuscript to JOGC in May 2006 and subsequently was informed by the editor that based on the reviews, revisions were required before the manuscript could be considered for publication. In September 2006, after two rounds of revisions, my manuscript was accepted, and by June 2007 it was published in the journal.

Although ultimately I was successful in publishing my master’s thesis, the process had its moments of frustration. I remember getting my first round of comments from the reviewers; I thought I was never going to get to the point of publication. My co-authors supported and encouraged me by explaining that revisions are truly part of the process. I was overwhelmed by the reviewers’ list of questions and changes after my initial submission, followed by additional reviews and revisions. Not only did I have to figure out how to keep the manuscript a priority in light of my new job, but I had to weed through and address the reviewers’ comments, and the suggestions of each co-author. The guidance of my thesis advisors, now co-authors, helped me navigate this process.

I have gained much through this experience. The process has opened doors for me including opportunities to work with other professionals with impressive publishing experiences, as well as speaking and poster presentation opportunities at national conferences. I also have greater confidence about the publishing process. What seemed like such a daunting and impossible task is now an attainable outcome. Although my master’s thesis was my most recent publication, the thought of taking on the publication process again is not nearly as intimidating as I once thought.

Publication of original research, clinical experience, and literature reviews are vital to the growth of the genetic counseling field and to the delivery of genetic counseling services. Publishing also promotes personal growth by counting toward maintenance of ABGC-certification as well as establishing the author as a credible and respected authority both within and outside the genetic counseling field. This professional recognition in turn can lead to employment opportunities, speaking engagements, research funding, and career advancement.

Submitting a manuscript for publication also can be an intellectually challenging, emotionally trying, and time-consuming task. But similar to life’s other difficult tasks, the rewards and satisfaction are commensurately great—to see your name in print, have your work cited by other authors, and know that you have contributed in a meaningful way to the practice and understanding of genetic counseling. Transforming a master’s thesis into a journal article is an obvious first step in developing and sustaining a commitment to publishing for our genetic counseling profession. Common themes in the three success experiences include the importance of mentorship and clear expectations for publishing, recognition of the length of the process and concomitant need for perseverance in the face of revisions, awareness of personal and professional benefits in terms of presentations at national meetings, awards, and motivation to continue publishing. Hopefully the information provided in this article will help to de-mystify the publishing process, promote consideration of ethical issues in publishing, and stimulate genetic counseling students and new graduates to embrace a “Publish for Success” philosophy.

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Acknowledgments

This paper was developed from an Educational Breakout Session (EBS) sponsored by the Jane Engelberg Memorial Fellowship Advisory Group at the 2008 NSGC Annual Education Conference.

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Resta, R.G., McCarthy Veach, P., Charles, S. et al. Publishing a Master’s Thesis: A Guide for Novice Authors. J Genet Counsel 19 , 217–227 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10897-009-9276-2

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Master’s Theses

If you are in a Plan A Master’s program, your submitted thesis needs to be well written, stylistically appropriate, and edited. Your thesis committee is unlikely to approve your thesis (by signing the cover sheet) until it meets those standards.

After your submission is approved for formatting consistency by the MP Reviewer, thesis publication is the final graduation requirement. Even if all your coursework is completed, your Plan A Master’s program requires thesis publication prior to awarding the degree. The thesis is considered to be “published” after your thesis document formatting has been reviewed and approved, and all publishing fees have been paid.

Here are the formatting guidelines that apply to all Master’s degrees University-wide, which will be reviewed by Montezuma Publishing.

After thesis or dissertation committee approval, most students complete the remaining stylistic and formatting adjustments themselves. The remainder choose to hire a professional formatter for these services. The style and formatting requirements are presented here so that you will have the best chance of passing format review with minimal mistakes.

Your Thesis Style

Theses need to be submitted in a consistent and predictable style. Your Master’s program has pre-approved one or more specific styles that can be verified in this style list . If your thesis chair and advisor believe a different style should be approved for you as an exception, then your graduate advisor can notify Montezuma Publishing (MP) via email to [email protected] , stating what reference style you are to use. If the style does not appear on our existing style list , the graduate advisor will also need to provide a sample article and/or author formatting instructions for us to refer to during your review.

Your Thesis Formatting

In addition to adhering to your program’s chosen style, all Master’s theses need to follow some simple universal formatting guidelines. See the SDSU Thesis template for instructions, samples, and formatting assistance. There are 13 rules:

• 1. Your document must follow your program formatting requirements for text organization, in-text citations, and reference pages. See your department guidelines for information about your approved reference style guide and other program-specific requirements.
• 2. Margins: Set your margins at 1.25 inches for the left margin, and 1 inch for the right, top, and bottom margins. Margins may be reduced on some pages to .875 inches all around to accommodate oversized tables or figures.
• 3. Use a professional font in 12pt size. Do not use an ornamental font based on script, cursive, or calligraphic styles. For tables, footnotes, or other material outside of the main text, a font size as low as 8pt may be used. Use black for all text. Figures, tables, and computer code may include color at your discretion (but not captions, legends or titles).
• 4. Line spacing: 1.5 is preferred for the text body, but 2.0 (double-spacing) is acceptable. Exceptions: tables, lists, block quotations, footnotes/endnotes, figure captions, table titles, and bibliographic entries; these must be single line spaced. The transition back to normal text spacing will happen automatically if you use the provided template.
• 5. Start the first page of each section (Acknowledgements, Table of Contents, Lists, Appendix, etc.) and each Chapter on a new page and increase the top margin on that page to 2 inches. The top margin spacing will be applied automatically if you use the provided template.
• 6. Place your Bibliography or Reference section(s) at the end of each chapter or at the end of the main document text (but before the Appendices). The placement will correspond to your department’s style guidelines. Use single line spacing with normal spacing between each entry.
• 7. If your thesis has more than one of these features: figure, table, illustration, plate, etc., then each type of item requires a separate sequential number scheme. Label each item in the category (tables, figures, etc.) uniquely and consecutively.
• 8. Similarly, if your thesis has more than one of these features: figure, table, illustration, plate, etc., then each type of item requires a separate list in the preliminary pages. As you will see in the template, each preliminary page list includes the figure/table number, figure caption/table title and the page number on which it begins.
• 9. The thesis electronic file size may not exceed 1GB. The recommended image resolution for embedded figures and images is 300 dpi. Supplementary electronic documents (such as audio or video) are not part of the 1 GB total.
• 10. Your name, committee members, and degree title must match University records.
• 11. The Table of Contents (TOC) lists each chapter number, chapter title, and the page on which each chapter begins. In the TOC, the word “Chapter” must appear as a heading before listing the numbers and titles of each chapter below. See a sample Table of Contents here.
• 12. Preliminary page numbers are lowercase Roman numerals, starting with page iii. The title page and signature page (representing i and ii) will not have printed numbers.
• 13. Preliminary pages appear in the following order (first numbered page must be page iii):
• Title page : Mandatory; no page number.
• Signature page : Mandatory; no page number.
• Copyright page : Mandatory; numbered iii.
• Dedication : Optional; must have page number.
• Epigraph : Optional; must have page number.
• Abstract : Mandatory; up to 350 words, single-spaced; must have page number.
• Table of Contents : Mandatory; must have page number.
• List of Tables, List of Figures, etc. : Mandatory when the document includes more than one table, figure, etc. (e.g., if you have 2 tables, include a List of Tables; 2 figures, include a List of Figures); must have page number.
• List of Abbreviations, List of Acronyms, List of Symbols : Optional; must have page number.
• Preface : Optional; must have page number.
• Acknowledgements : Optional; must have page number (Department of Biology guidelines requires acknowledgements to appear after the last chapter and before the reference pages).

Download a copy of these SDSU Formatting Guidelines here.

Download a copy of the style guide for the Chicago Author-Number System here.

The Master’s Thesis Formatting Review Checklist

Before submitting your thesis to our office for review, refer to this review checklist to verify that you have addressed the most common formatting errors, and applied the correct format to your document. If you have followed all 13 rules and passed the checklist, then your thesis should pass MP review.

Master’s Thesis & EdD Dissertation Formatting Templates

Nearly all students find it easiest to meet the universal formatting requirements by using the SDSU Thesis Template . The template contains all of the correct formatting for preliminary pages, a page to auto-generate the table of contents and lists of figures or tables, and all of the necessary styles for headings, text, images, and references.

Here are links to download the appropriate template for your discipline:

1a. SDSU Thesis Template

This main template is an MS Word file. It contains styles that will assist you with formatting according to the University guidelines. It contains all the required preliminary page formatting necessary to prepare your thesis. Here are a few extra notes:

• When using the SDSU Thesis Template with Word 2013 or later, you should check the option to “maintain compatibility with previous versions of word,” or may need to save your file in the Word 97-2003 document file type. Failure to do so may create drop margin errors in your document, although this does not occur for all students.
• If your document has any landscape pages, then you’ll need to use this SDSU Dissertation Template for Landscape Pages . The included instructions will tell you how to correctly copy and paste into the main template.
• The SDSU Thesis template is set up to create a Table of Contents (TOC) after you've applied the correct styles to your headings in text. Instructions are included in the template. If you need additional help, see these screenshots and notes for TOC creation .
• The TOC creation notes will also be useful if you are having difficulties with generating the List of Tables and the List of Figures.

1b. SDSU LaTeX Template (for the entire thesis)

Some graduate programs have been approved to use LaTeX rather than MS Word to write the thesis. (See the style list and discuss with your thesis chair if you are unsure.) For those programs, this LaTeX template complies with the SDSU formatting requirements. The template can be found on the Math Department Resources web page, if you follow this link . Downloads are available for Windows or Linux/Unix. If you need guidance beyond the documents on that web page, a good third-party resource on using LaTeX is the LaTeX Wikibook .

1c. Hybrid MS Word - LaTeX Thesis

Some graduate programs require their students to write their thesis using the MS Word SDSU Thesis Template , but format the in-text citations and references pages according to the LaTex requirements. If your program has this “hybrid” requirement, then after writing your thesis in the MS Word template, download the “PDF - sdsu thesis latex” from this web site . Manually edit each citation and each reference so that they all meet the LaTeX requirements.

2a. SDSU Thesis Signature Page Template with 3 Committee Members

If you have a 3-member committee, use this signature page template to fill in your committee information. Print it out to get your committee signatures.

2b. SDSU Thesis Signature Page Template with 4 Committee Members

If you have a 4-member committee, use this signature page template to fill in your committee information. Print it out to get your committee signatures.

2c. SDSU Thesis Signature Page Template with 5 Committee Members

If you have a 5-member committee, replace the main template's signature page with this one. You may use the copy and paste function to do this.

EdD Dissertation Formatting Template

EdD students should use the SDSU APA EdD Dissertation Template , which was developed in partnership with the EdD directors. Here are some additional notes:

• The SDSU APA EdD Dissertation template is set up to create a Table of Contents (TOC) after you've applied the correct styles to your headings in text. Instructions are included in the template. If you need additional help, see these additional screenshots and notes for TOC creation

I Started Without the Template, But Now I Changed My Mind

If you are writing your thesis without the SDSU template and now want to switch, you will not need to start over from the beginning. Follow these instructions or video tutorial for “subdocument import” to safely copy your existing documents into the SDSU template (screenshots are taken from MS Word in Windows). Follow these instructions for “subdocument import” and/or Video Tutorial will ensure that the thesis template styles are not corrupted by conflicting formatting that you could accidentally bring over with a simple copy/paste. on our website to be amended to say the following

Thesis Q&A Sessions and Companion Guide

Montezuma Publishing hosts multiple Zoom Q&A sessions each February for the spring semester and October for the fall semester. Here are the spring session dates and Zoom links:

February 6, 2024 - 11:00 am

Register for Zoom Meeting

https://SDSU.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEtf-yhrjgsHNHsvbgNwhQtYnKg_89WJdcX

February 7, 2024 - 11:00 am

https://SDSU.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0odOiupjIrE9Wjaib-_jX0xNGWjKdk-t_N

February 8, 2024 - 2:00 pm

https://SDSU.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZctcuCprTIoHdTH-zOkR8qEZQYr27g-WIV4

These sessions cover everything you will need to know from submission to publication. A copy of the material discussed in each session can be found in our Thesis Companion Guide .

Dissertation Q&A Sessions and Companion Guide

February 6, 2024 - 2:00 pm

https://SDSU.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMud-GqqDwjG930GTwegv8qBqDp6j6cHzfa

February 8, 2024 - 11:00 am

https://SDSU.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIlceCuqTkrHNWhcPvrJxUbVISHXw_KJfr3

These sessions cover everything you will need to know from submission to publication. A copy of the material discussed in each session can be found in our Dissertation Companion Guide .

Although thesis/dissertation content and writing are the sole responsibility of the student, some students do not believe that final formatting is an effective use of their personal time. If the thesis has met all of your committee’s expectations, you are permitted to hire another individual for final formatting. If a formatter is hired, please note that you are still responsible for assuring that the thesis does not violate academic standards.

Optional formatting services are available from freelance formatters, or from Montezuma Formatting. Montezuma Formatting is an optional on-campus, fee-based formatting service, and a separate department from Montezuma Publishing (the unit that conducts required thesis review and publication). Montezuma Formatting and Montezuma Publishing have separate staff. However, a supervisor from Montezuma Publishing does train Montezuma Formatting staff to assure that their services are aligned with campus requirements.

If you elect to use Montezuma Formatting services, MP will ensure that the document passes MP internal review, and you will not be charged a separate review fee to validate the formatting. When you hire a freelance formatter (not MP), you will be working with them directly for turnaround time and associated costs. When the freelance formatter provides you with a final draft, you will submit your document to MP for review.

Contact information for freelance formatters (who are not Aztec Shops or SDSU employees) can be found here: Professional Support .

To hire formatters from the Montezuma Formatting department, see this section of our web page . Their current prices are $3 per page. A 50% deposit is required at the time of submission.

Master’s Student Milestones and Typical Timeline

Graduate Studies posts graduation deadline fliers for each term on this web page: https://grad.sdsu.edu/announcements-and-deadlines

Here is a typical Master's student timeline:

This flowchart shows a typical sequence for review: Flowchart - Review . Each round of formatting review takes 2-4 weeks, and an average student passes review on their first or second attempt. Overall, a typical timeline for two reviews might be:

Submission → 1st Review: 4 weeks Review → Resubmission: <2 weeks Resubmission → 2nd Review → MP approval: 4 weeks First submission → MP approval ≈ 10 weeks total

• The review process is initiated upon receipt of payment. Contact our office by phone or in person to make your payment between 9:00 am - 3:45 pm, Monday through Friday. Each review payment covers two rounds of review. The review fees are:1st Review (pays for two reviews)$503rd Review (pays for two reviews)$255th Review (pays for two reviews)$25
• After the formatting is approved, thesis or dissertation publishing with ProQuest is an additional $45 fee (Prices are subject to change without notice.) The SDSU library no longer maintains physical copies of theses and dissertations.
• You may wish to purchase a print copy for yourself. Information and pricing for print copies through MP can be found here . It is also possible to purchase a personal copy from ProQuest.
• Your department, graduate program or thesis committee members may require you to purchase additional copies for their libraries. Discuss with these individuals, and also review your graduate program’s entry in the department style list to verify. To maintain consistency with prior submissions, departments and graduate programs usually request that their copy be published by MP with a specific binding.

Disclaimer: You must be enrolled in 799 A or B at the time of your initial document submission to MP, see The College of Graduate Studies for more information .

Are you ready to submit?

If your committee-approved thesis does not yet meet the 13 SDSU formatting guidelines described above, then you should not submit it to Montezuma Publishing for formatting review. For example, we cannot accept the thesis if any mandatory preliminary pages are missing (Title page, Signature page, Copyright page, Abstract, Table of Contents, List of Figures/Tables if applicable), or if it has been written in a style your department does not approve of. We also cannot accept your submission if it is not organized into a single Word Document or PDF.

Some students are unable to complete all formatting requirements themselves due to competing time constraints. If you fall into this category, please see the “Optional Montezuma Formatting” section below.

Spring 2024 Deadlines

Submission Deadline: March 15, 2024, by 3:45 pm

Publication Deadline: May 10, 2024, by 3:45 pm

Avoid Re-enrollment in 799B: May 16, 2024 at 3:45 pm

Summer 2024 Deadlines

Submission Deadline: June 21, 2024, by 3:45 pm

Publication Deadline: August 9, 2024, by 3:45 pm

Avoid Re-enrollment in 799B: August 14, 2024, at 3:45 pm

Fall 2024 Deadlines

Submission Deadline: October 25, 2024, by 3:45 pm

Publication Deadline: December 13, 2024, by 3:45 pm

Avoid Re-enrollment in 799B: December 20, 2024, at 12:00 pm

Submission Deadlines

If you submit your well-written and properly formatted thesis and complete payment ($50) to Montezuma Publishing (MP) by this deadline, MP will review your thesis within 2-4 weeks. If you need to make formatting corrections and resubmit within 2 weeks, your next round of formatting review will be given priority status.

To have the best possibility for graduation during the current semester, work with your thesis chair and committee to meet the Submission Deadline. Thesis submission is not received until payment is made, and our register is open to process payments Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 3:45 pm. Sent emails are not considered to be submissions until payment is made.

Publication Deadlines

If your thesis receives final formatting approval from MP and you pay the $45 ProQuest publishing fee by the 3:45pm deadline, you are eligible for the Master’s degree in the current semester. If your department requires you to purchase a thesis copy for the department library, this payment must be made at the same time as the ProQuest fee. Students who miss the Publication Deadline (even by one day) are eligible for the Master’s degree in a future semester.

Thesis publication is not approved until payment is made, and our register is open to process payments Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 3:45 pm. Emails sent overnight are not considered for publication until payment is made the following day.

Avoid Re-enrollment in 799B Deadline (Last Day of Term)

The last day of the term is the “avoid re-enrollment in 799B” deadline. If you submit your thesis on any day prior to the “avoid re-enrollment in 799B” deadline, you will not have to register for 799B in the following term. Note that your thesis cannot be accepted for review if it does not meet the requirements listed above. Pay special attention to the “Are you ready to submit?” section before attempting submission.

Thesis submission is not received until payment is made, and our register is open to process payments Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 3:45 pm. Emails sent overnight are not considered to be submissions until payment is made the following day.

For more information, visit our YouTube channel for our "San Diego State University Thesis Deadlines Explained" video.

Master’s Thesis Submission Procedure

To submit for review, please supply your signed signature page(s), old RED ID, new my.SDSU EMPL ID, and the attached thesis file in one email to [email protected] . If supplementary materials are needed (such as audio, video, oversized tables/figures), then these must be submitted at the same time as the thesis. Upon receipt of these documents, we will verify your enrollment in 799 and create a record for you in our system. You will then receive an email with instructions on how to make payments in person or by phone.

Please review the Submission Deadline information above. Our business hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Our register is open to process payments Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 3:45 pm. Hours of operation are subject to change.

The Committee Signature Page

The thesis committee signature page is one of the most important parts of the thesis. The signed committee page is confirmation that all committee members approve of your scholarly work. Montezuma Publishing can accept electronic or physical signatures for the thesis signature page.

Download a signature page template from the Templates section above. Fill in your personal and thesis information. When your committee members are ready to approve, here are the options:

• You can email your completed signature page to each committee member. They can print the document, sign it, scan it, and email it back to you. It is not necessary that all signatures appear on the same document; you can instead collect the scanned documents with one signature each.
• Your committee members can electronically sign your signature page in sequence via Adobe Sign, if you or your committee chair know how to initiate this process.
• You may print the thesis committee page and obtain physical signatures from one or more committee members. You can submit the paper document in person or scan it and save a pdf.

Regardless of which approach you choose, submit all signatures to MP in person or by pdf email attachment. If you submit multiple documents, our staff will combine them into a single committee signature page for publication.

Our business hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Our register is open to process payments Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 3:45 pm. Hours of operation are subject to change.

The Review Process

Note: You must be enrolled in Thesis 799A or 799B, or Dissertation 899 at SDSU at the time of your initial document submission before MP will accept your manuscript for format review.

• If you are using LaTex formatting, ask your Master’s program graduate advisor if special review procedures are needed after thesis committee approval, but before Montezuma Publishing submission.
• Email your thesis file to [email protected] . Attach your signed signature page(s) to the same email. If you are unable to email the signature pages, you can submit them in person to our office in ED 107 during business hours. Your email must include contact information: your new (my.SDSU) EMPLID, old Red ID if you have one, primary email address*, billing address, and phone number. *Provide an email address that you frequently check. Email is our primary means of communication. We will be sending you essential information that may require a quick response or action on your part. Please monitor your spam folder so that emails from [email protected] are not lost. Please know that SDSU email addresses are deactivated for students who stop registering for classes, lose matriculation, or graduate. Your email address must remain active throughout the entire review and publishing process. MP will do our best to contact you through all available means, but cannot be responsible for emails that you do not receive or do not read.
• After submitting the electronic thesis document and signed committee page, call (619) 594-7551 or visit our office (ED-107) to pay the required $50 review fee. MP must verify your enrollment in 799A or 799B, prior to accepting your review payment.Your submission is not complete until your review payment has been received. *All Doctoral Students must consult the College of Graduate Studies before submitting their dissertation to Montezuma Publishing.
• Your thesis is now in the queue to be reviewed. The MP Reviewer will check your document for style and formatting as described above. *If your thesis requires corrections after the first review, see the steps below. If it is approved on the first review, skip to step #12.
• If corrections are needed, you will receive an email with your thesis document attached. It will have comments from the reviewer, and specific instructions for each error.
• Read all comments, and make all required corrections. Check your entire document for all errors in accordance with the SDSU 13 rules , your department style guide , and the review checklist before resubmission. Your thorough examination of the entire thesis is especially important if your review includes the following comment: We have stopped reviewing at this point in the document, as there are too many style and/or formatting discrepancies in the remainder of the thesis to continue reviewing…
• After completing all necessary stylistic and formatting corrections, resubmit your thesis via email to [email protected] .
• Your thesis is now in the queue to be reviewed again for formatting. * If your thesis requires corrections after a second review, repeat steps 5-6. If it’s approved on the second review, skip to step #12.
• Be advised: An additional $25 review fee is required before the third review will be conducted. Your thesis is now in the queue to be reviewed a third time. * If your thesis requires corrections after the third review, repeat steps 5-6. If it’s approved on the third review, skip to step #12.
• Very rarely, a thesis must be reviewed four or more times for formatting errors. * If your thesis requires corrections after the fourth review, repeat steps 5-6. If it’s approved on the fourth review, skip to step #12.
• Be advised: An additional $25 review fee is required before the fifth review will be conducted. Your thesis is now in the queue to be reviewed a fifth time. * If your thesis requires corrections after the fifth review, repeat steps 5-6. If it’s approved on fifth review, skip to step #12.
• Your thesis is now in the queue to be reviewed a sixth time. * If it’s approved on sixth review, move to step #12. Very rarely, a thesis does not pass the sixth review. If this happens, you will need to either hire a professional formatter to assist, or possibly re-enroll in 799 and begin the process again from step #2. Contact your thesis chair and MP for further instructions before resubmitting.  
• Upon review approval, you will be emailed final instructions and a quote for the ProQuest required publishing fees (currently $45). Once the publishing fees are paid, MP will notify the College of Graduate Studies that you have published your thesis. Orders for personal copies can be placed at this time.

You can download a copy of the Review Flowchart here: Flowchart - Review

What is Checked During Formatting Review?

Your submitted thesis needs to be well written, stylistically appropriate, and edited. Your thesis committee is unlikely to approve your thesis (by signing the cover sheet) until it meets those standards. However, even with careful preparation, most students have minor formatting errors due to the complexity of the document. Your thesis will be a globally published document through ProQuest, and the MP reviewers are tasked with assuring formatting consistency for these publications. They will ensure that both your department style requirements and the SDSU Master’s formatting guidelines (or EdD Dissertation formatting guidelines ) are met.

A comment will be placed in your thesis file where each correction is needed. For repetitions of the same mistake, you can expect to receive comments only the first two times. After that, you will need to personally review the entire document to ensure that the error does not appear again. As a reminder, you can refer to this review checklist for the most common formatting errors.

If your thesis has more than 20 errors, the reviewer will stop prior to the end of your thesis. In these cases, the student must complete all corrections and thoroughly review the thesis to its end, in order to minimize additional rounds of review.

After the Thesis or EdD Dissertation is Approved for Publication

Master’s thesis or EdD dissertation publication is the final graduation requirement. Even if all your coursework is completed and your thesis/dissertation committee has signed the cover page, thesis publication is necessary to award the degree. The thesis or dissertation is considered to be “published” after document formatting has been reviewed and approved, and all publishing fees have been paid.

All fees must be paid by the Publication Deadline in order to graduate during the current semester. After formatting review is approved, you will be emailed a quote for the ProQuest publishing fee and payment instructions. Once all fees are paid, MP will notify the College of Graduate Studies that you have completed publication.

Please visit the Thesis Publishing section below for costs associated with print copies, if you choose to purchase these.

EdD students should follow the graduation and dissertation steps posted on the

Graduate Studies website

as a “Graduation and Dissertation Steps for Ed. D Students” flyer.

After successfully defending their dissertation and obtaining committee approval, EdD students submit their dissertation packet through the SDSU Doctoral Dissertation Submission Form . Pat Walls ( [email protected] ) in Graduate Studies will evaluate the packet and transcripts, and then send the dissertation and associated documents to Montezuma Publishing. You will be emailed submission confirmation.

EdD Dissertation Formatting and Review

If you format the dissertation yourself, MP will review it for consistency with APA formatting and your program’s preliminary page requirements. These requirements are described in the SDSU APA EdD Dissertation Template . You can use the APA manual checklist or the SDSU Dissertation Review Checklist to find potential errors before submission.

Your Dissertation Formatting

In addition to adhering to your program’s chosen style, all Master’s theses need to follow some simple universal formatting guidelines. See the SDSU APA EdD Dissertation Template for instructions, samples, and formatting assistance. There are 13 rules:

• Your name, committee members and degree title must match University records.
• Follow the current APA formatting style guide (7 th ed.).
• Set your margins at 1.25 inches for the left margin, and 1 inch on the right, top, and bottom margins. Margins may be reduced to .875 inches all around to accommodate oversized tables or figures.
• Use a professional font in 12pt size. Do not use an ornamental font based on script, cursive, or calligraphic styles. For tables, footnotes, or other material outside of the main text, a font size as low as 8pts may be used. Use black for all text apart from figures, tables, and computer code, which may include color.
• Line spacing: Double-spaced, with the exception of tables, lists, block quotations, footnotes/endnotes, figure captions, table titles, and bibliographic entries, which are to be single-line spaced.
• Start the first page of each section (Acknowledgements, Table of Contents, Lists, etc.), chapter, and appendix on a new page and increase the top margin on that page to 2 inches.
• Place your Reference section(s) at the end of the main document text (but before the Appendices). Use single-line spacing.
• If including more than one figure, table, or illustration, create a separate list for each type of item, which includes the figure/table number, figure caption/table title and the page number on which it begins.
• Label tables, figures, illustrations, etc. uniquely and number each consecutively throughout your document.
• Recommend image resolution: 300 dpi. Supplementary materials such as audio, video, and oversized tables/figures must be submitted to Montezuma Publishing at the same time the thesis is submitted.
• The Table of Contents lists each chapter number, chapter title, and the page on which each chapter begins. Type the word “Chapter” as a heading before listing the numbers and titles of each chapter below. See the template for examples.
• Preliminary page numbers are lowercase Roman numerals, starting with page iii (preferably centered at the bottom of the page).
• Preliminary pages appear in the following order (first numbered page must be page iii):

Title page : Mandatory; no page number

Signature page : Mandatory; no page number Copyright page : Mandatory; numbered iii Dedication : Optional; must have page number

Abstract : Mandatory; up to 350 words, single-spaced; must have page number

Table of Contents : Mandatory; must have page number

List of Tables, List of Figures, etc. : Mandatory when the document includes more than one table, figure, etc. (e.g., if you have 2 tables, include a List of Tables; 2 figures, include a List of Figures); must have page number

Acknowledgements : Optional; must have page number

Download a copy of these SDSU APA EdD Formatting Guidelines here.

If you choose not to format the approved dissertation yourself, please see the Optional Montezuma Formatting section below. You can also find contact information for freelance formatters (who are not Aztec Shops or SDSU employees) here: Professional Support

For publishing information, please visit the Publishing section on this page.

PhD students should follow the graduation and dissertation steps posted on the Graduate Studies website as a “Graduation and Dissertation Steps for Ph. D Students” flyer.

After publication at the partner campus, PhD students must complete the SDSU Doctoral Dissertation Submission Form . As of May 2020, all official SDSU communications must use official SDSU emails. The form requires being logged into your SDSU email account. Within five business days of submitting the form, Pat Walls ( [email protected] ) in Graduate Studies will evaluate the packet and transcripts, and then send the dissertation and associated documents to Montezuma Publishing. You will be emailed submission confirmation.

PhD Dissertation Formatting and Review

Students in joint PhD programs must follow their partner campus dissertation defense deadlines, formatting requirements, and submission procedures. Please visit the College of Graduate Studies website for more information.

University Requirements

A $45.00 processing fee includes ProQuest submission, an electronic file, metadata file, and abstract for SDSU Library.

As of Fall 2013, SDSU has partnered with ProQuest, an online archival database. It provides full text dissertations and theses from over 700 academic institutions, allowing students and researchers to access and share relevant material quickly and conveniently.

Visit ProQuest or the SDSU Library website to access currently published dissertations and theses.

An “embargo” is a restriction of access to the use of a thesis, dissertation, or project. Embargoed theses and dissertations will only feature the author’s abstract and the document title.

If you and/or your committee chair would like to request protection for potential copyrights or patents of the thesis or dissertation, a memorandum must be submitted to the College of Graduate Studies for the Associate Dean’s approval. If the Associate Dean approves the delay of publication, a signed copy of the request must be submitted to MP at the time of thesis submission. The embargo must be supplied to MP before the thesis formatting is approved and publication fees are paid.

Department Requirements/Personal Copies

Some departments require a hard-bound copy for their own department libraries. Check with your department for specific requirements. For your personal copy, you have a choice of binding, cover color,* and paper type for your thesis.

*Due to variances among color monitors, the colors on your computer monitor may appear differently than the actual products. If color is important to you, please stop by the Montezuma Publishing office to make your selection.

Hard Bound $45.00

Soft (vinyl) Bound $15.00

Paper Options

Cotton bond: $0.12 per page Regular paper: $0.08 per page Color copies: $1.00 per page

Pages are printed single sided unless double sided printing is requested.

MP can bind original copies. Binding charges apply.

Pricing Example:

This example includes the University Requirements and 1 personal hardbound cotton copy for a 130-page thesis.

Item Cost Hard Bind$45.00Cotton Copy Fees (130 pg. x $0.12 per page)$15.60Processing Fee$45.00Subtotal$105.60Tax (7.75%)$4.70Total$110.30

Hard-bound copies take 6-8 weeks.

Soft-bound copies take 2-4 weeks.

Students purchasing their thesis closer to deadlines or the winter holiday season may experience a longer waiting period. MP will email you when your copies are ready. If printed copies are required by your department, then the publishing requirement is dependent only on the final publishing payment; you do not have to wait for copies to arrive in order to be cleared for graduation.

Pick-Up & Shipping

Department copies will be delivered to the designated department, free of charge. Personal copies can be either picked up at our office or shipped to your address. We use USPS flat-rate shipping. As such, the shipping fee is determined by the length of your document and subsequent size of your book. MP will email you with the tracking information once the copies are shipped.

• Re-Submission/Publication Policy

Copyright Policy

• Theses in Foreign Languages

Rejection of Theses/Dissertations

• Restricted Use of Thesis Request

*Policies are established by the College of Graduate Studies. If you have questions, call (619) 594-5213.

If a student submits for review before the "Avoid Re-enrollment in 799B" deadline but does not pass, the student can resubmit at any point until the "Avoid Re-enrollment in 799B" deadline or within 45 days of receiving a corrections email, whichever comes later. If the student does not pass or resubmit within this time frame, the thesis will be rejected and the student will have to register in 799B the following semester and re-apply for graduation.

A student must pay for publication within 90 days of the notification that they have passed review. If a student fails to pay for publishing within this timeframe, the thesis will be rejected and the student will have to register in 799B the following semester and re-apply for graduation.

Copyright law is highly complex and what follows is offered as only a general guide. This information is not a substitute for a legal opinion.

Ownership of a dissertation, thesis or project begins at the moment the manuscript or "object" is created. Although no further act of the author is required, the law does provide some advantages in giving formal notice and registration of a copyright.

Formal notice of copyright is given by including a copyright page in the manuscript. This notice does not establish any copyright privileges, but it does signal acknowledgment of a legal right and copyright ownership. Registration with the U.S. Copyright Office is optional, but it provides a record of the work, the fact of copyright, and the author's name and address. Registration would probably be most important if the author wished to file in the future a lawsuit over copyright infringement.

The University assumes that a dissertation, thesis or project approved by a faculty committee is primarily the product of the student's efforts. Thus, the student will usually be considered the owner of the copyrights associated with the manuscript. Students should be aware, however, that the dissertation, thesis, or project is the actual product submitted in satisfaction of one of the requirements for an advanced degree rather than the basic research or the results of which it reports. In some instances, therefore, individual faculty members may retain some copyright or patent interest in the data or other jointly developed work included in the thesis or dissertation. Students are, therefore, strongly advised to resolve any questions about ownership rights to data or other elements of the thesis/dissertation in which the faculty committee chair may have an interest. Agreement over such issues should be obtained in writing before beginning research on the dissertation, thesis, or project.

In order to foster broad dissemination of the results of scholarly research, the student, upon submission of the dissertation, thesis, or project to the SDSU Graduate Division, agrees to convey to the University a license for the following uses of the product:

• Copying of the work for distribution to other libraries upon the request of those libraries
• Inter-library loans of the work
• Display and use of the work in the University Library
• Circulation of the work by the University Library. These rights become effective upon the shelving of the work in the SDSU University Library. The shelving of the work may be postponed for a period of usually up to one year upon written request of the student and consent of the Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate Division, Office of Graduate and Research Affairs. (See Requests for Restricted Use of Theses.)

Students wanting more information should access a copy of the U.S. Copyright Office Circular 1, "Copyright Basics" on campus via the SDSU library web site.

The federal government has a very good website - Copyright.gov with complete copyright information including application forms. To speak with an information specialist, call (202) 707-3000. Lastly, students or faculty requiring additional information about copyrights may contact the SDSU Foundation Technology Transfer Office at (619) 594-0516.

Thesis in Foriegn Languages

As presentations of original research to the academic community, theses are ordinarily prepared for the University in the English language. In certain cases, however, for a foreign language degree, a student's thesis in the history and literary analysis of non-English languages and literatures may be presented in the subject’s language. When the departmental graduate adviser and the prospective thesis committee deem this academically appropriate for the specific research topic, the appointment of the student's thesis committee and authorization of the thesis research by the graduate dean shall be based on the provisions that:

• An abstract of the thesis shall be presented in English;
• All members of the thesis committee shall be fluent in the subject language; and
• Student competency in standard written English shall be demonstrated through satisfactory completion of a departmental procedure that has been approved by the graduate dean.

To botain approval by the Graduate Dean:

• The "thesis in a foreign language" box must be checked on the appointment of thesis committee form; and
• Written verification by the departmental graduate adviser that provisions 2 and 3 above have been met must be attached to the appointment of thesis committee form when it is submitted to the Division of Graduate Affairs.

Your submitted thesis needs to be well written, stylistically appropriate, and edited. Your thesis committee is unlikely to approve your thesis (by signing the cover sheet) until it meets those standards. Dissertations and theses should be fully formatted as described above prior to their submission for review. As stated in the Bulletin of the Graduate Division under "Thesis Submission," manuscripts deemed unready for submission (those with "gross deficiencies of format or presentation") will be rejected at the time of submission for review, and returned to the student. The Rejection Form lists the criteria for rejection. When a thesis is rejected, the names of the thesis chair and graduate adviser will be listed at the bottom of the form and both will receive copies; a copy will also be placed in your file with MP.

If, because of rejection, you cannot meet the original semester's deadline for the Avoid Re-enrollment in 799B, you will be required to re-enroll in Dissertation/Thesis 899/799.

Restricted Use of Thesis Request - Embargo

On rare occasions, and to protect potential copyrights or patents, thesis accessibility can be restricted on a short-term basis.

Library & Information Access will restrict the use of a thesis or project if the author and the chair of the thesis committee request such action and the Graduate Dean approves. The purpose of the restriction is to protect the author's right to publish or otherwise exploit the new knowledge before making it available to others.

The display of a thesis, dissertation, or project may be embargoed for a period of up to two years upon written request of the student and consent of the Dean of the Graduate Division. In the case of Joint Doctoral degrees, students must notify both schools and comply with each school's policies.

To designate restricted use of a thesis, the author and the thesis committee chair should send a memorandum requesting restricted use to the Dean of the Graduate Division. If the dean approves, a signed copy of the request with approval is provided to Montezuma Publishing at the time of thesis submission. The embargo must be supplied to Montezuma Publishing before the thesis formatting is approved and publication fees are paid. The request is then sent to the Monograph Cataloging Unit, who in turn will withhold from use all copies of the restricted thesis when they are received in the Library & Information Access.

The author's memorandum to the Dean of the Graduate Division requesting restricted use of a thesis should state the following:

• The reason of the request
• THe period of restriction (up to two years)
• The author's address and telephone number. These will be used by the University's achrival librarian in requesting poermission for a reader to consult, borrow, or copy the thesis during the period of restriction. Authors may request a renewal of the restriction period for a second year by sending a memorandum to the Associate Dean of the Graduate Division specifying the reason for the renewal.

Authors may request a renewal of the restriction period for a second year by sending a memorandum to the Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate Division specifying the reason for the renewal.

How hard is it to format my thesis myself?

That depends on the complexity of your work. You must be familiar with your department reference style, the SDSU formatting rules, and be an adept Microsoft Word user with regard to the Thesis Template (i.e., you must know how to import your document into the template, apply/remove template styles, change page orientation without losing proper pagination placement, generate a table of contents, work with different types of page breaks, etc.).

I am going to format my thesis myself. How much time should I set aside for this process?

In general, you should plan to spend a minimum of two weeks formatting your thesis. You will need time to:

• Learn how to apply the SDSU formatting rules
• Understand how the Thesis Template works along with the embedded formatting styles
• Do the actual formatting
• Proofread and edit your thesis.

What are the top mistakes people make when formatting their theses?

• Sources on the reference page are not cited in the text, or vice versa
• References are incomplete or do not follow department-required style
• Student's name doesn't match what is on record with the university
• Name of degree, professor's names and/or department names are misspelled or incorrect
• Page numbers are missing or incorrect
• Line items do not match what is given in text
• Page numbers are either missing, out of order, or placed on the page incorrectly
• Not numbered correctly
• Missing captions (figures) or titles (tables)
• Lines or pages are broken in odd places
• Block quotations and/or enumerated lists are not formatted correctly
• The template is altered which affects the entire document in adverse ways

Do you have any information on the Chicago Author-Number System?

Yes. Information can be found here: Chicago Author-Number System .

Whose name should I put on my copyright page: My name or my professor's name?

You need to have your name on the copyright page in the same manner as it is on the title and signature pages. For more information on publication rights, please see the Copyright Policy .

What are the deadlines this semester and can you explain what they are?

See the Thesis Deadlines page ; it contains a list of deadlines for this semester with explanations of each of deadline.

Do we need to take the Submission Deadline seriously?

YES! Never count on graduating if you submit after that deadline.

What are my chances for having my thesis reviewed in time to graduate this semester if I submit it after the submission deadline?

Your chances of having your thesis reviewed after the submission deadline depend on how many theses have been submitted ahead of yours. Additionally, if your thesis is reviewed and returned to you with needed corrections, this will decrease your chances of graduating on-time as your work will need to be revised and reviewed again.

You can increase your chances of getting your thesis approved by using the thesis template and following the SDSU formatting rules precisely or by using Montezuma Publishing.

Do you have any idea how many people will be submitting their theses this semester?

On average, between 100 and 200 students submit their thesis EACH semester. Using the Spring 2022 semester as an example, please note the following statistics:

• Total theses submitted: 156
• Total submitted before the submission deadline: 44
• Total submitted during the at risk timeframe: 73
• Total submitted after publication deadline: 39
• Total studetns that met the Publication Deadline: 118

Does the signature page need to be on special paper (100% cotton or other acid-free paper)?

No. Although an original signature page is required at the time of submission, a scanned and re-printed copy will be bound with your manuscript.

Ink Color: One of my professors signed in blue ink. Will I have to get a new signature page signed?

Black ink is strongly recommended, but blue ink is acceptable as long as the signature is dark enough to be clearly read.

If I use the signature page provided in the Thesis Template, will everything be automatically formatted correctly?

No. The page is formatted for you, but you must type in your name and thesis title correctly as well as your faculty member's names and their department names correctly. Also, the order in which the faculty names appear must be correct and in the same order as on the Thesis Committee Form.

What if my professors sign different signature pages? Do all the signatures need to be on one page?

No. Once your thesis has been approved through Montezuma Publishing, the reviewer will transfer signatures onto one page and create a digital copy. Each signature can be on a separate page if it's easier for you to get it signed that way.

What happens after I submit my thesis?

After your thesis is submitted, it will be put in line to be reviewed in order of submission. If the thesis passes review, it will proceed to the publishing phase. If it does not pass, the thesis will be returned to you with comments regarding revisions that are necessary to bring the work into compliance with the University's formatting rules. You will then need to resubmit your thesis once you complete your revisions, beginning the review process again. See the Review Procedures section for more information.

I am using Montezuma Formatting to format my thesis. What can I do to speed up the process to make sure I graduate on time?

• Don't delay and plan ahead. Finish your thesis and get committee approval as soon as possible to provide enough time for formatting and approval – it often takes longer than you think. Waiting two to three weeks before the final deadline to submit your thesis will put your graduation at risk.
• References cited in-text must be cited on the reference page and vice versa
• Provide all information for each reference (e.g., author names, titles, publication year, publisher name, page numbers, etc.) – you can never provide too much information. You can use the Bibliography Form as a guide.
• Make sure each figure has a caption and each table and appendix has a title.

Document formatting pertains to how the document appears on the page as well as in-text citations and reference department requirements. This includes things like margins, font size, line spacing, etc. Formatting does not involve making changes to the content of the document or correcting typos. Editing involves reading the thesis to correct improper spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and readability. Editing needs to be completed prior to formatting.

Montezuma Formatting offers an optional thesis and dissertation formatting service. We are here to assist you if you do not want to complete the formatting yourself or a freelance formatter is not available. This service is in demand so we do implement a cut-off date for accepting orders to be completed during the current semester. This cut-off date is typically near the Submission Deadline. Our formatting turnaround time depends on the length and complexity of your document, your response time when a correction email is necessary, and the time of the semester that you hire us. Formatting orders placed near the Submission Deadline may take more time to complete as we receive an influx of orders at that time. If we accept your order for the current semester, we will have it formatted and approved in time for you to make your final payments on or before the Publication Deadline. Be sure to respond to any correspondence emails that are sent to you as quickly as possible so we can approve your document formatting in time for you to make the required publishing payments on or before the Publication Deadline.

How to Begin

Note: You must be enrolled in Thesis 799A or 799B, or Dissertation 899 at SDSU at the time of your initial document submission before Montezuma Formatting will accept your manuscript for formatting.

To submit for formatting, please supply your signed signature page(s), RED ID, and thesis or dissertation Microsoft Word file in one email to [email protected] . Upon receipt of these documents, we will verify your enrollment in 799 and create a record for you in our system. You will then receive an email with instructions on how to make payments in person or by phone.

We cannot format your document from a PDF, Google Doc, or LaTex template file. We are only able to use Microsoft Word.

A 50% formatting deposit is due at the time of submission. The remaining balance is due after the formatting is approved and the final page count is determined.

Format Pricing

$3.00 per page*

We do not offer partial formatting. We charge for the entire document from the first page to the last. This includes appendices.

$50.00 non-refundable fee will be subtracted from deposit if formatting is canceled.

*Price includes a PDF file of your formatted thesis.

When you hire us to format your thesis or dissertation, we will ensure your document meets the San Diego State University Formatting Guidelines . In addition to meeting the SDSU Formatting Guidelines, we will exceed these standards at no additional charge, providing you with a consistent and professional document.

It is important to note that unless you specifically request an exception before you make your formatting deposit Montezuma Formatting will use:

• 1.5 line spacing
• Times New Roman 12pt font
• Left alignment
• Your department’s preferred reference style for all bibliographic entries, in-text citations, and for other items (like enumerated lists) not covered by the SDSU Formatting Guidelines
• Your department’s preferred text format (chapter, section, or technical style)
• The SDSU Template style for preliminary pages, including the Table of Contents, List of Tables, and List of Figures
• The SDSU Template style for all chapter labels and subsection headings
• The SDSU Template style for equations
• 12 pts above and 18 pts below offset spacing for Tables and Figures

Let us know upfront if there are any special considerations (e.g., oversized pages, maps, landscape pages needed, etc.).

While Montezuma Formatting does work with your document beyond the SDSU formatting requirements, we do not edit for content or grammar unless you have paid for this additional service. Furthermore, once the formatting process has begun, we will not make any grammatical or content changes to your document or accept a new document from you with grammatical or content changes. If you need assistance editing your document, be sure to consult an editor before submitting your file to us.

We format theses and dissertations in the order received; however, the length of time it takes to format your document will depend primarily on its length, complexity, and your response time when a correction email is necessary. If we accept your document for formatting for the current semester, it will be completed in time to meet the Publication Deadline (provided you respond to all correspondence in a timely manner). The average order is completed within 2 months. In some cases it may take longer but will not exceed the Publication Deadline for the semester that you hire us for. If questions arise during the formatting of your document, the formatter assigned to you will send you an email requesting assistance. It is important that you respond as quickly as possible to maintain priority status. Failure to respond may put your graduation at risk.

Completed Formatting

Once we are done formatting your document, it will be placed in line for internal review. Once the formatting is approved, we will contact you to arrange for payment of the formatting balance ($3 per page) and publishing costs ($45 + any required department copies). See the Publishing section for more details.

Editing Pricing

*$3.00 per page (250 words = 1 page)

50% deposit is required at the time of initial order

Editing/Formatting Pricing: $6 per page**

*Editing page count only includes the body of your thesis/dissertation. This does not include preliminary pages, references, figures, or tables.

**Price includes a PDF file of your formatted thesis/dissertation.

Editing Standards

Thye editor will check for the following:

• Punctuation
• Effective use of language
• Dissertations will be edited to follow APA format

The time it takes to complete the editing of your file will be determined on a case-by-case basis. Variables such as document length, the number of edits required, response rate, and your date of submission will affect this timeline. If your defense is after the Submission Deadline, it may impact your ability to graduate during the current semester.

Michael Cook SJSU Graduate Publishing Lead

Bridget Cole SDSU Graduate Publishing Lead

Gabriela Calvo Front Office Assistant

Karalyne Porter Assistant Manager

Steve Murawka Production Manager

Lia Dearborn General Manager

Kathy Brown Division of Campus Stores Director

Phone: (619) 594-7551

Email: [email protected]

Mail: Montezuma Publishing San Diego State University San Diego, CA 92182-1701

In person: Education Building, ED-107 Thesis orders are accepted 9:00am - 3:45pm, Monday through Friday.

Other Websites

Graduate Division

Graduate Division – Doctoral Program

LaTeX website

LaTeX Wikibook

Thesis Companion Guide

Review Checklist

Department Guidelines

Learn how to insert an existing thesis into the template

Learn how to generate a TOC automatically

Chicago Author-Number system

SDSU Thesis Template

SDSU Thesis Template for Landscape Pages

SDSU Thesis Signature Page Template with 3 Committee Members

SDSU Thesis Signature Page Template with 4 Committee Members

SDSU Thesis Signature Page Template with 5 Committee Members

Thesis orders are accepted Monday through Friday, 9:00am - 3:45pm.

Note: When using the SDSU Thesis Template with Word 2013 or later, you must save your file in the Word 97-2003 Document file type. Failure to do so will create errors in your document.

Documents in Word format (DOC) require Microsoft Viewer. Download Word .

How to Get Your Thesis Published

Writing a thesis is tough. Current or recent graduate students understand the time and effort required to successfully complete their research program. Indeed, graduate training involves extensive amounts of research that often reflects years of failures and successes. This research often leads to some type of novel insight, which is organized into either a t hesis paper or dissertation.

When writing a dissertation or a thesis , there is much to consider. Both require extensive amounts of work and reflect the years of research conducted by the student. Some universities require that students publish this final research in peer-reviewed journals prior to being considered eligible to graduate. Meanwhile, others do not require the thesis to be officially published. Ultimately, regardless of the graduation requirements, certain career tracks for PhDs or Master’s students require publication in peer-reviewed journals.

Graduate Writing

The type of graduate writing that is required by a student’s university depends upon where the graduate student has studied. In Europe, a doctoral thesis reflects original research, whereas, in the USA, a thesis is often a shorter document associated with a Master’s degree.

Whatever the title, extensive research projects are organized into a final document. Some of these written documents can be formatted into a book. Before publishing, a graduate student should consider several factors prior to publishing. Namely, the student should ask, is my research

• Rigorous: Is it methodical, scholarly work?
• Significant: Why does it matter to your potential audience?
• Original: Is it novel and unique?
• Marketable: Are there potential customers?

When to Publish?

In the past, universities have published theses graduation research summaries in only a hard copy format, such as a bound book. Now, some theses or dissertations are available online, often with a Creative Commons license. This can be a problem due to the requirement by journals that manuscripts contain only unpublished and original data. However, generally, a thesis or dissertation consisting of original, previously unpublished research that has been made available by your home institution does not prevent you from publishing. Rather, journals will consider these theses and dissertations that were published by universities as, understandably, still sufficiently novel data. Furthermore, peer review is an integral component of publication. To pass the muster of peer review, it is important to consider the feedback of dissertation or thesis committee. The critiques of your committee will often mirror the potential concerns of your peer reviewers.

Related: Planning to publish your Ph.D. research in a good journal?  Check these journal selection guidelines now!

Tips and Common Concerns

When going to publish your dissertation, there are generally some common errors made by graduate students.

First, it is generally a good practice to reference or acknowledge the thesis. Since the dissertation may be available publicly, it is important to be transparent about the source of the data.  Similarly, always inform journals that some research contained within a thesis or dissertation was published either in a print-only version or in an online repository.

You can publish your thesis as a monograph or a series of articles. It can depend on the type of thesis.

• Traditional thesis: It is usually in the form of chapters and is an original work written by an individual student.
• Thesis by publication: It consists of papers that have already been published in a journal.

According to COPE guidelines , when thesis contains original unpublished work, it should not be considered as prior publication. Therefore, it is acceptable to be published as a manuscript or a monograph in a journal, even if it is available freely in university repositories and Creative Common license may or may not apply.  However, if the thesis is of the second type, then the papers will be considered as prior publication and are not acceptable as original works for publication. As a research lab hosts student’s work, it is important to first review the policies of your host university. Similarly, since fields transform rapidly, don’t wait too long before publishing. If you do, you run the risk of your literature review or methodology becoming outdated.

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From Masters dissertation to publication

In this post, Grace Lewis, an Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research PhD student at the University of Leeds, shares her experience of writing a journal article from her MPH dissertation completed with the Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh.

Having completed the MPH online programme in 2019, I was invited to write a blog post about the experience of writing a journal article from my masters dissertation. I hope to share a few tips based on my learning from this experience. My background is as an Orthoptist in the NHS (many people look puzzled at the Orthoptist title - you can find out more here ).

I had been fortunate early in my career to be seconded as a research assistant working on a crosssectional study and so I had some experience as a co-author in amongst a list of much more experienced authors. In this blog, I’ll tell you a little about my experience of a first author role. 

I had been keen to take the dissertation route right from the start of the MPH to help with my goal of returning to research. Whilst studying MPH modules I developed an interest in tobacco-related health research. Like many ‘topics’ in public health, tobacco can be linked to numerous diseases and poses continuing challenges globally. With multiple complex factors involved in tobacco control, such as the publics’ choices and the psychology around smoking, the addiction factor, the policies for smoking reduction and legislation, and politico-legal will (only to name a few!) - this mix fascinated me and made me reflect on my childhood, pre-indoor non-smoking legislation, when public smoking was common-place indoors.

I had a challenging time with choosing a dissertation or study type. I was living overseas with limited local language skills and no real local network to develop a primary study from scratch. I had decided a systematic review or policy brief were not my first choices. On discussion with the dissertation leader and my eventual supervisor our interests in tobacco research and smoke free home promotion were aligned. I was invited to analyse newly emerging qualitative data from a smoke-free home study in Edinburgh and take my analysis in whichever direction I saw fit (with discussion), based upon the data. I was nervous to embark on this remotely whilst also being new to qualitative research. However, the connection to a live smoke-free home promotion project seemed like the perfect fit for me. In short, the dissertation explored parents’ experiences of stigma when using nicotine replacement therapy during a feasibility study to enable smoke-free homes for their families.

The journey to publication

With my dissertation almost done and dusted, Neneh asked if I might consider writing for publication. This was a little scary, as I’ve always struggled with writing concisely- how was I going to get all of the important points across from my dissertation, in a shortened version and still have it to a standard acceptable to reviewers and editors? Of course, the answer was lots of drafts and editing.

So, what was my writing process?/how did I get started?

I decided I should write a first draft in a generic journal-like format and see how it turned out. I knew it would be too long to begin with, but it gave me a starting point and stopped me from procrastinating! It is worth having an abstract that you and your co-authors are really happy with early on, in case you are asked for this prior to a full draft.

I had fortunately hoarded my dissertation notes, such as reflective diaries and memos, which helped me to remember my train of thought from months earlier.

Write a draft or choose a journal first?

It could be argued best to decide on the journal you’d like to submit to first. You’ll probably have an idea of some journals that might be a good fit, based on your MPH reading. Your supervisor will be able to suggest some and may have experience of the process involved for each journal, their likely turn-around time and such.

I did not want to rush my choice of journal to submit to first, as choosing what might turn out to be a bad fit would likely mean having to re-draft for submission to another journal. This meant I had a draft written before choosing a journal. There isn’t a right or wrong way (as far as I know, but I’m still learning), just things to consider.

Some points to think about

Impact factors

Having been out on a career break before starting the MPH, I was not too familiar with journal impact factors, and whilst not all journals publish an impact factor, some authors consider these important and you may wish to look at this when choosing a journal to submit to.

Most open access journals will add a publication fee known as an article processing charge (APC). For students especially, these are not cheap. If you had funding for your masters, there may be some funds available to you for an APC. It was suggested to me to write to the editors and ask if they might waive the APC as I was still a student and had moved onto a different university. This is where having your abstract ready will be useful.

Instructions for manuscripts

Most journals have instructions available online. It’s worth prereading these to be sure you are happy to write in their prescribed way, as some are more prescriptive than others.

Project managing

You will become a mini project manager as first author. You will write the first draft and ask for co-author comments and edits, arrange meetings, if needed, to discuss drafts and write re-drafts until you are all agreed on a final pre-submission draft. You will be dealing with all admin associated with your submission process and liaising with your co-authors, sometimes under journal timelines. This will include things like writing cover letters to editors, writing responses to reviewers and re-drafting, if needed, for re-review. Followed by re-drafting again for other journals should you need to move on from your first choice, if the article is not accepted.

Time management is something you may be thinking about if considering writing for publication (I certainly had questions about this a year or so ago)- So, how long does the whole process take? Each writing experience will be different, but I fitted mine in around a full-time job followed by a fulltime PhD, by writing mostly on Saturday mornings whilst my kids were at sports clubs. The article was published about one year after I had submitted my dissertation.

The right-journal-fit for your article should make life easier

I really agonised over which journal to submit to first. In searching and re-searching I found a special issue calling for papers that fitted my dissertation project perfectly and I was very glad that I had not rushed into submitting it elsewhere  prior to that (another point worth remembering is that many journals will not accept a manuscript that is under consideration elsewhere).

Remember your co-authors will likely have been through the writing and submission process many times as first and co-authors. Ask the questions that seem “silly” to put your mind at ease and allow you to focus rather than spend time unduly worrying about any doubts you may have. Co-author comments, feedback, and discussions with you about the article will be vital and will help build your confidence for the final submission.

Is it worth it?

You will need to invest time and potentially money if you cannot secure funds for the APC. As MPH students or graduates you will know that research waste is, well, potentially wasteful on many levels  and that there is an ever-increasing focus on sharing findings (and data, where appropriate) to maximise impact. Being a first author and/or co-author is great for your CV and applications- one of my PhD interview questions was along the lines of “are you planning to publish anything from your masters dissertation?” If you plan to stay in research or start a career in research it is a great starting point. Even if you aren’t staying in research, having a publication shows dedication and commitment to seeing a project through to another level and it can give a great sense of achievement.

Every experience is different, so it is worth speaking to contacts and colleagues for advice too, at least to be aware of potential pitfalls. My experience was positive and although it is easy to get swayed by hearing others’ negative experiences with journal reviews and rejections, there are positive stories out there too and a lot to be learned during the process.

If you decide this is for you, try to stay positive, and be willing to learn as you go. Good luck!

About Grace Lewis

"I am the current Student Representative on the Advocacy Committee at the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research. I graduated from the University of Sheffield with a BMedSci (Hons) in Orthoptics and have seven years’ experience as a clinical Orthoptist in the NHS. I have some experience in quantitative and qualitative research methodology, and an interest in improving health-related quality of life. I completed a Master’s in Public Health (distinction) at the University of Edinburgh. During my master’s dissertation I developed an interest in novel familial interventions to improve child and family health, particularly respiratory health." 

Academic Publishing

Are master’s theses getting published?

When it comes to academic research, many people wonder if their Master’s thesis will be published. The answer is that it depends on several factors, including the field of study, the quality of the research, and the goals of the student. In some fields, it is common for Master’s theses to be published. For example, in scientific and technical fields, it is common for students to publish their research in academic journals or conference proceedings. This can help students establish themselves as experts in their field, and can also help them secure future research opportunities or employment.

In other fields, such as the humanities, social sciences, or arts, it may be less common for Master’s theses to be published. However, this does not mean that the research is not valuable or important. In these fields, it is often more common for students to present their research at conferences, or to use their research as a basis for future publications.

Another factor that can impact whether or not a Master’s thesis is published is the quality of the research. If the research is innovative, well-designed, and produces significant findings, it is more likely to be published. On the other hand, if the research is poorly executed or does not produce significant results, it may not be worth publishing.

Finally, the decision to publish a Master’s thesis ultimately lies with the student. If the student feels that their research is of high quality and that it could benefit others in their field, they may choose to publish it. However, if the student does not feel that their research is strong enough to be published, or if they have other career goals that do not involve publishing research, they may choose not to pursue publication.

In conclusion, whether or not a Master’s thesis is published depends on several factors, including the field of study, the quality of the research, and the goals of the student. While it can be a valuable step in establishing oneself as an expert in their field, it is not the only way to demonstrate the value of one’s research. Ultimately, the decision to publish should be based on the individual circumstances of the student and their career goals.

How to make money by publishing my thesis?

Publishing a thesis can be a great way to earn money and generate passive income. Here are some ways to make money by publishing your thesis:

• Self-publish your thesis : One of the easiest ways to make money from your thesis is to self-publish it as an ebook or a physical book. You can sell it on online platforms such as Amazon or Google Play, or you can create your own website and sell it directly to readers. You will need to invest some time and money to market and promote your book, but it can generate long-term income.
• Publish your thesis in a journal: If your thesis is in a specific field of study, you may consider submitting it to academic journals for publication. Many journals offer payment for published articles or may offer a portion of their subscription fees to the author.
• Use your thesis as a basis for consulting: If your thesis is in a field where you have expertise, you can use it as a basis for consulting services. You can offer your services to organizations or individuals who need help with the subject matter.
• Sell the rights to your thesis: Another option is to sell the rights to your thesis to a publishing company. The company can then publish it as a book or article, and you can receive a percentage of the profits.
• Create an online course: If your thesis is in a subject where people need to learn about, you can turn it into an online course. You can use online platforms such as Udemy or Teachable to create and sell your course to students.

In conclusion, publishing your thesis can be an excellent way to make money and generate passive income. By considering the options above and choosing the one that works best for your subject and your goals, you can turn your hard work into a source of ongoing income.

Is there a publishing company that will take care of marketing for me?

Yes, there are publishing companies that can take care of marketing for you. These companies are called hybrid publishers, and they offer a combination of traditional and self-publishing services. Hybrid publishers are a good option for authors who want the benefits of traditional publishing, such as professional editing and design, but also want to maintain control over their work. There are some of the top hybrid publishing companies that provide marketing services for their authors, such as Lambert publishing .

Are you a researcher or an author struggling to get your thesis published? Look no further than Lambert Academic Publishing! We offer an easy and affordable publishing process that allows you to share your research with a global audience. With no publishing contract required and professional editing and formatting services included, publishing your thesis with us has never been easier. Plus, our worldwide distribution network ensures that your work will be seen by a wider audience. Don’t let your research go unnoticed – publish your thesis with Lambert Academic Publishing today and take the first step towards sharing your findings with the world!

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