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•       Resources       Publish or Perish: Graduate Students' Guide to Publishing

Publish or Perish: Graduate Students' Guide to Publishing

In addition to endless piles of reading, demanding expectations in the classroom, student teaching responsibilities, and the always-looming awareness that they need to research, write, and edit a high-quality dissertation before graduating, today’s Ph.D. students also commonly feel stress about another topic: publishing. As more prospective employers expect degree seekers to get their names in academic journals and conferences while still in school, many learners feel overwhelmed by the prospects of making the grade. The following guide answers some of their most pressing questions, provides guidance on the ins and outs of publishing while still in school, and offers expert advice from a professor who knows better than most what it takes to publish rather than perish.

Understanding Publishing in Graduate School

Getting published as a grad student can feel overwhelming at first, because there’s so much to learn about the process and expectations surrounding it. With a bit of research, however, students can familiarize themselves with the specific language surrounding publishing and make in-roads towards getting their first paper published.

What Does it Mean to Get Published?

Within the context of graduate school, publishing refers to getting essays, papers, and research findings published in one of the academic journals or related forms seen as a leader in the field. As jobs in academia continue to become more competitive, it isn’t enough for learners to simply do well in their coursework. The degree seeker who hopes to land an important post-doctoral fellowship or find a teaching position at a college or university must make themselves stand out in other ways.

When Should a Ph.D. Candidate Get Published?

Getting a paper published takes a lot of time and effort, and those students who wait until the final year or two of a doctoral program may fail to actually have any published materials by the time they graduate. According to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Graduate Connections program , getting a paper published – especially if it’s your first – can take up to three years. In addition to the fact that most journals publish quarterly, the panel review process typically takes a significant amount of time and those submitting for the first or second time usually need to make a large number of edits and complete rewrites in order to reach a publishable standard.

How to Get Published

In order to get published, students submit their work to the journal or conference of their choosing. They frequently also provide a cover letter outlining their research interests. Most journals put out generic calls for submissions once or twice a year, while some may ask for papers addressing specific topics that have a much shorter turnaround time. Grad students may find it intimidating to go up against more seasoned academics, but another option revolves around partnering with their dissertation supervisor or another professor with whom they work closely with to co-author a paper. This not only helps ensure the validity of their findings, but alerts the academic world know that this other, more recognized faculty member believes in the research the student is doing.

Who Should Get Published?

Learners most anxious to get published are those who see their future careers in teaching and research. Because the world of academia is relatively small when divided into individual subjects, it’s important for students who want to break into these ambitious arenas to make a name for themselves early on and create a curriculum vitae that captures the attention of hiring committees.

Where Should Students Get Published?

When deciding which publications to pursue, students should consider the research aims of each and their likelihood of getting published. Newer journals tend to take more submissions as they are still working on building up their roster of contributors. While less venerated than other publications, getting printed in these can help build up name recognition and make it easier to break into the top-tier publications over time.

In terms of where work is published, the majority of students look to academic journals when sending out cover letters and examples of their work. But other options exist as well. Presenting papers at conferences is a popular avenue, as are chapters in books. The following sections takes a more in-depth look at how and where to publish.

Realities & Challenges of Getting Published

Getting published, especially while still in grad school, takes tenacity, focus, and a thick skin. Those who continue working on their craft, presenting at conferences, collaborating with others, and not taking no for an answer, however, frequently find success. Some of the challenges students may encounter include:

Lack of time

It’s no secret that doctoral students have busy schedules that seldom allow for outside – or sometimes, even related – interests to take up much of their days. Because publishing is not a degree requirement, carving out the time needed to research, write, and edit the type of paper required for publishing can feel impossible. With this in mind, student should look for ways to multitask. If presenting at a conference, think about how that paper could be transformed into a journal article.

Lack of confidence

Studies have shown that mental stress and illness frequently increase in grad school as students feel intense pressure to stand out from their peers. These feelings are often intensified when considering publishing, as learners are going up against academics and researchers who have been working in the field far longer than them. It’s important to remember that each of those renowned individuals had to start somewhere.

Lack of funding

Completing the research needed for a competitive paper doesn’t only take time – it requires money. Whether traveling to archives or printing all the necessary documentation, funding for outside research can be scarce while in school. Some programs provide competitive grants for research travel to help offset these costs.

Intense competition

As discussed earlier, competition for publishing is fierce. Academic journals and conferences only have space for so many authors and trying to get noticed can feel like a losing battle. In addition to seeking out newer publications and co-authoring with more notable figures, consider taking part in symposiums at the school you attend to get your foot in the door. While research on the average number of rejections is lacking, don’t feel discouraged if it takes a long time to be chosen for publication.

Finding the right publisher

While getting your name in print within an academic journal you greatly admire is the ultimate goal, it may take some years for it to come to fruition. One of the biggest mistakes students make is applying to ill-suited publications. Look for journals with editorial board members whose names you recognize. If a professor knows one of them, don’t be afraid to ask if they can help get your paper in front of them.

Adequately addressing feedback

Getting a paper published often requires intense editing and even completely restructuring and rewriting what you conceived in the initial abstract. If an academic journal shows interest in your essay but suggests rewrites, pay close attention to their requests and try to work with an advisor to ensure you meet all the stated requirements.

What do Graduate Students Publish?

Academic journals may receive the lion’s share of discussion in the publishing world, but graduate students can actually choose from numerous outlets and paths for getting their work to a larger audience. Students should review the options listed below and think about which format might showcase their work best.

Tips for Publishing

Despite the great amount of work required to publish, students who meet the challenges and persevere stand to position themselves favorably for future job opportunities. The following section addresses some of the most common questions about the process and alleviates general fears about how publishing (or not) reflects upon them.

How many papers should a Ph.D. student try to publish before graduating?

According to scholar-practitioner Dr. Deniece Dortch, no single answer exists. “There is no hard and fast rule as to the number of publications students should have prior to graduation,” she notes. “The reality is students in STEM disciplines and those who use quantitative methods are more likely to have publications prior to graduation because they often work in research teams and labs. This is not to say that qualitative scholars or those in other disciplines aren’t, but it’s a much more standardized practice in STEM for students to graduate with two or three publications. Personally, I had one sole-authored publication accepted prior to graduation, one first-authored piece, and one second-authored piece.”

How many journal articles is it possible to publish during a PhD?

“The answer varies and is determined by factors such as length of program, research team access, and faculty relationships,” says Dr. Dortch. “I’ve seen folks finish with as many as 10 publications, although this is extreme and doesn’t happen often.” She continues, “Imagine you are in a four-year program and you get your idea to write an article in year two. You submit that article in year three after getting approval, collecting data, analyzing it, and then writing your paper. Year three you submit that paper; it may be accepted in year four after months of revisions at the request of the editor. You finally have one published paper as you graduate.”

Are there PhD students who have no journal publications? Should they be worried about that?

“It depends on the type of employment the student is seeking upon graduation,” says Dr. Dortch, “Students applying to or wanting to work in institutions and organizations with the highest levels of research productivity who have no publications may want to consider post-doctoral positions so they have the time and space to work on increasing their publication record after graduation.” She continues, “Postdocs are a very common practice in many disciplines and are used as a way to gain additional training and expertise in research and teaching.”

Is it absolutely essential to have publications to apply for a PhD program?

In a word, no. Individuals working toward doctoral degrees have many reasons for doing so, not all of which require them to publish. Admissions panels also recognize that students focus their efforts on many different goals (e.g. jobs, internships, presenting at symposiums) throughout bachelor’s and master’s programs. As long as learners can demonstrate an ongoing commitment to scholarship, publishing is not an absolute requirement.

Does publish or perish begin before starting a PhD program?

It’s true that many students begin worrying about publishing before starting a Ph.D. program, but the reality is that they have ample time during and after completing a doctorate to make their mark on the world of scholarship. According to a recent article by Inside Higher Ed , some individuals in the academy now wonder if too much emphasis is being placed on grad students publishing. Learners unsure about this should speak to a trusted advisor or mentor to figure out when to focus on getting published.

What is the difference between a published article and a Ph.D. thesis?

While a Ph.D. thesis is required for satisfactory completion of a degree, a published article is not. A Ph.D. also takes a much longer form than a published article, averaging approximately 90,000 words. Academic journal entries, conversely, are usually between 4,000 and 7,000 words.

Should I first write my Ph.D. thesis or publish journal articles?

Though publishing at the doctoral level is increasingly seen as a requirement in the job market, it is not part of degree requirements. With this in mind, students should prioritize the research and writing of their thesis above all else. If they have the time and mental clarity needed to publish journal articles, this can be a secondary focus.

From the Expert

Dr. Deniece Dortch is a scholar-practitioner known for her commitment to diversity, social justice and activism. Dr. Dortch holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an Ed.M. in Higher & Postsecondary Education from Columbia University, an M.A. in Intercultural Service, Diversity Leadership & Management from the School for International Training and a B.A. in Spanish from Eastern Michigan University. Hailed a graduate school expert by NPR, she has published numerous articles on the experiences of historically underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students. She is the creator of the African American Doctoral Scholars Initiative at the University of Utah and currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Higher Education at The George Washington University .

Publishing as a student can feel intimidating. Why is this process important for learners to go through?

Long gone are the days of getting a good job by just having a solid dissertation or an award-winning thesis. Publishing your work while in school demonstrates a commitment to answering and understanding our world’s most complex problems. Further, institutions want to know that you have the capacity to publish. Now, publishing doesn’t mean you have to be first author or that you must publish sole-authored pieces only. Collaboration is also sufficient and often encouraged. The publishing process is intimidating for folks because it involves critique and, most often, rejection.

Receiving and giving critical feedback is part of the learning process and students should not shy away from it because it will only serve them well in the end as they learn to cope with disappointment and reward. But more importantly, there is no point spending months and years conducting research if you are just going to keep your findings to yourself. What you learn is meant to be shared.

What are some common mistakes these learners make when preparing their first papers?

Common mistakes that individuals make include not adhering to the guidelines outlined in the submission process. Examples of this can include ignoring formatting requirements (e.g. APA, MLA, etc.), going over the stated word count, inadequately proofreading, and not submitting a cover letter. This is probably the most important one.

What specific advice do you have for them in terms of finding the right outlet, preparing their work, and submitting to journals?

Students should have multiple individuals read over their work before submission. Writing is a process and even after it is submitted, it will need to be revised many more times before you will read it in print. It is part of the process. To find a good outlet for your work, pay attention to where other scholars are submitting their work. If you’re subject is aligned with theirs, you have a shot. Make a list of at least three outlets that fit your article. Also look out for special calls. A special call for submissions usually goes a lot faster than the regular submission process, so if you’re a student who is about to go on the job market, submit to those first. Also, the more competitive the academic, the longer the process, so keep that in mind. If you are rejected, just re-submit to the the next journal on your list.

In addition to publishing in journals, how else might a student go about getting recognition in their field while still in school?

Apply for all fellowships, grants, and awards that are specific to you and what you do. People in the academy love an award winner and they especially love people whose work has been recognized and/or funded by outside groups. A great way to increase a student’s visibility is to publish outside academic journals and publish in other media outlets. Also attend conferences in your field. Try to get on the program as a presenter or facilitator so that people in your field will start to know who you are and your research interests.

A PhD by publication or how I got my doctorate and kept my sanity

Associate, Children's Policy Centre, Australian National University, Australian National University

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Doing a PhD is a difficult business. Long hours, personal stress, institutional pressure to complete on time – and all this for what?

Increasingly a PhD alone does not guarantee an academic career. We are expected to publish, teach and contribute to professional development. Oh and did I mention you have to publish, publish, publish?

However there is a way to publish and do a PhD - hopefully without perishing.

I recently completed my PhD by publication, which for me was a way of getting a doctorate while keeping my sanity.

What is a PhD by publication?

A PhD by Publication is just what it sounds like, instead of producing one large monograph, you produce a series of articles to be published in peer reviewed journals or as book chapters.

The normal format is four to five research papers bookended by a substantial introductory chapter and a concluding chapter. The thesis must still read as a cohesive whole and therefore despite the articles being stand alone pieces, they must also relate to each other.

The aim is that when they are read together they become more than just the sum of their parts.

It is a relatively new concept within the social sciences and humanities but has been around for a while in the hard sciences here in Australia. It is much more common in European Universities where it is often the standard approach for doctoral studies.

The advantages

There are many advantages to doing a PhD this way. One of the more self-evident ones is that it allows you to publish and finish a PhD – academically hitting two birds with one stone.

There are many pressures of doing a PhD that are taken away from publishing. PhD by publication focused my writing on achieving output and helped to avoid the trap of always pushing the publications to the side.

A PhD by publication also helps you to develop practical skills. Through my own process, I learnt how to write to journal editors, deal with rejection and pitch articles – all skills that are important for professional academic life.

This method also divides the PhD up into more manageable chunks – sometimes the hardest thing about a PhD is the enormity of the task it presents. But dividing it up into five discrete papers allowed me to see a way ahead making the PhD seem more achievable.

Last but not least, you can get both expert feedback and it can provide that “tick” factor. PhD students were usually high achieving undergraduate students used to receiving recognition and reward for their work. Entering the land of doctoral studies, you don’t get the pay off from your work until the end of many years and lack of recognition can be deeply un-motivating.

But each time something is published is a chance to celebrate and take a deep breath before moving on to the next portion.

The expert feedback you get during this process is also very helpful even it’s not always pleasant (see below). By the time your PhD goes to examiners it has already gone through a rigorous peer review process.

In times of PhD panic, it was comforting to think that my work can’t be that bad if someone had already agreed to publish it.

The disadvantages

Of course, though, there are some disadvantages to electing to do a PhD in this way.

Chief among them is the pressure to start publishing immediately. Publishing is hardly a quick process; it can sometimes take up to two years from submission to a journal long periods of fieldwork may not be compatible.

Therefore candidates taking this route need to start straight away. Aim to have your first paper finished within the first 6 months.

It’s also worth recognising that this is not a format for the faint hearted. Rejections from journals can be brutal. You need to be prepared to take this on the chin and send it out again.

That said, this is a skill you need to develop for academia. Being exposed to it early helped me develop a thick skin and be humble about my work.

With the benefit of feedback, there’s also the downside of extra work. You may often need to rewrite work for journal editors.

After all, editors have their own agenda and interests and in some respect you are writing for them and not for you. However this taught me to stand my ground with editors and defend things I wished to keep as well as framing things for different audiences.

Another thing to be wary of when considering a PhD by publication is that you need to understand that it’s not a professional Doctorate. A Professional Doctorate recognises contribution to a profession and usually doesn’t include the same level of original contribution or indeed a thesis.

PhD by publication is still examined to the same standards as a traditional PhD. However countering this assumption that it is not a “real” PhD is sometimes hard.

Finally, because you’re likely to be treading new ground in your institution, there’s not always a clear path before you.

I did my PhD in a department which was still sorting out its policy towards this format. As a consequence I needed the strong support of your supervisor and head of department to make this work (which I was lucky enough to have). You shouldn’t expect a clear set of instructions here; guidelines and policies seem to vary between departments, disciplines and universities.

The up shot

The biggest advantage is that I have come out of my doctoral studies not only with a PhD but with a healthy publication record. This I hope will assist me when taking the next step in my career.

For me, PhD with publication provided a framework, a way forward from which I could see the path to submission. It provided me with a way to get my doctorate without worrying about the process. It allowed me the opportunity to contribute to debates while developing my ideas.

If academia is to expect Australian candidates to now finish their PhD and publish, then it should promote and encourage alternative formats such as this. It can only be good for both PhD candidates and the profession at large.

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• PhD by Publication – Explained
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Introduction

Obtaining a PhD by publication is relatively uncommon in higher education. It can, however, be especially useful for established researchers who have published work but don’t yet have a PhD. This article gives information on exactly what a PhD by publication is, how it works and what the advantages and disadvantages are. Read on to learn more.

What is a PhD by Publication?

A PhD by publication is a doctoral degree awarded to a person who has several peer-reviewed publications that have been put together as separate ‘chapters’, contributing to a unified research theme within a specific field.

This format typically consists of a significant introductory chapter, up to 10,000 words, similar to a traditional thesis, followed by around five published research papers and a final chapter to bring things to a conclusion. Although these papers will be separate bodies of work, it’s important that they’re connected along one research theme.

This route to PhD can be attractive to researchers that have published a lot in their academic career but have not followed the traditional PhD path. It helps them gain recognition for their contributions to their research field and recognition that the work they have done has been of a doctoral level without having to write a separate PhD thesis.

A PhD by publication is awarded following a  viva (also known as an oral examination) with examiners, similar to the process of a traditional PhD.

What are the Advantages?

A clear advantage of a PhD by publication is that you’re submitting a portfolio of work that has already gone through extensive peer review. This means that by the time you come to defend your work at a viva, it’s much easier. For example, the questions your examiners may ask you could be very similar to the questions you were asked by your reviewers during your paper publication phase and so you will already have prepared suitable responses to these.

Another advantage of this route is that it’s a much quicker way of obtaining a PhD degree; traditional PhD programmes take between three and four years from registration to completion whereas you can get a PhD by publication within one year of registration with the University, assuming that you enrol on this degree having already published all the papers that you will include in your portfolio of work. The shorter duration means that you often will only have to pay for one year of University fees, meaning that this approach is cheaper than a traditional method. It’s often possible that you can work any part-time job alongside preparing your publication portfolio for viva examination submission.

What are the Disadvantages?

Not all research fields or questions are suitable for a PhD by publication. In some cases, it may be necessary to design, set up and run a new PhD project in the field, recording the generation of further data. Additionally, it may be difficult to expand upon your previous publications and explore different research ideas as you put together your portfolio of papers. As this approach is a relatively uncommon way to get a PhD, some institutions may be unfamiliar or not set up to facilitate a PhD by publication. While the final viva examination will be the same as that in a traditional PhD, there is always the risk that some examiners may not see this publication route as being a ‘real’ PhD.

You’re also likely to miss out on some other aspects of PhD life by going down the publication route, including opportunities to teach or supervise undergraduate students and the experience of working within a research lab alongside other PhD students.

How Long Does a PhD by Publication Take?

You should expect a PhD by publication to take six months to one year to obtain from your point of registration with a UK University. This is on the basis that you have already published work for all the material that you would plan to include within your PhD portfolio, or that it is currently going through the review process. This approach is shorter than pursuing a traditional PhD, which typically takes between three and four years as a full-time student.

What is the Application Process?

You apply using the standard process required by the university to enrol, in the same way as the traditional route of a PhD. In addition, however, you will be asked to submit a portfolio of your prior publication track record and a supporting statement outlining the work of these existing publications, detailing how they tell a coherent story with the relevant subject area you’re applying to. You won’t need to submit a formal PhD research proposal as most, if not all, of the research should already have been completed.

Do you have Supervision?

Yes, in the same way that a traditional PhD student will have a primary supervisor to oversee your project. The role of the supervisor will be to help you establish a clear narrative for the theme you’re putting together of your publications, offering critical appraisal where necessary.

He or she will advise you on how to structure the introductory and concluding bodies of work that are required before you submit your portfolio for external examination and viva. Remember that the supervisor is there to advise and not tell you how to structure your dissertation; this is the same for any research student doing a standard PhD.

With this researcher-supervisor relationship, your options may be open in terms of whether you need to be based at the University in person or if you choose to work remotely as a distance learning student, communicating with your supervisor over email or video calls.

How does Assessment Work?

The body of work that you submit will be read and assessed by two examiners that are experts within your subject area of research. This will be followed by the viva examination with the two examiners, in line with the conventional PhD approach. To be awarded this research degree you will need to demonstrate that your work has made an original contribution to furthering the subject knowledge within your field.

Finding a PhD has never been this easy – search for a PhD by keyword, location or academic area of interest.

How Much Does It Cost?

As a PhD by publication usually takes about a year to complete, most universities typically charge a fee equivalent to one year of PhD study. The exact amount will vary depending on the University, but usually, the tuition fee will be around  £4,500  for one year for UK and EU students, and considerably more if you are an international student. It’s challenging to secure funding for these types of PhD degrees and you will find that you’re unlikely to be eligible for financial support from research councils or other routes of funding.

What Kind of Publications Can I use in my Portfolio?

Universities will have specific guidance about factors such as how many publications you can include in your portfolio and there may be some restrictions on when they should have been published. Typically, you will include 5 publications in your submission to your PhD examiners, but this can in some circumstances be as low as 3 or 4 or as high as 10 separate papers. Most often these will be in the form of  journal articles accepted by peer reviewed journals but can also include published book chapters, scientific or technical reports that have been published or other forms of publication that have gone through a level of peer review.

A PhD by publication is a good way for you to graduate with a doctorate if you enter this research programme having already published several academic papers on a single research theme. You need to demonstrate that you have made a significant contribution to your field through previous research. At this stage it is likely to be the cheapest and fastest route to gaining a PhD. However, applicants should be mindful when they apply that it may be challenging to secure funding for this.

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Understanding and preparing a ‘PhD by Publication’

The importance of publication for the academic.

The reality is that to “survive” academia, publications are a must . Employers and funding bodies will review your publication history to factor into their decision-making. To better prepare for this reality, an increasing number of institutions are beginning to allow PhD students to submit their body of published literature that they have created during their PhD programme as the thesis that they would need to produce for earning their degree.

‘PhD by publication’ explained

A PhD by publication (also known as a paper-based thesis ) does what it says on the tin: it’s a mode of submission that allows the candidate to submit their body of published work created during their PhD as a thesis. The idea is to help graduates hit the ground running with a publication history that will help them on their next steps as researchers. While not universally accepted at the time of writing/publishing this article, it is an emerging model that has become more popular in certain disciplines and institutions.

Note: PhDs don’t typically focus on publications

During your PhD, while you are encouraged to actively engage with the publication process, it isn’t usually the focus. There will be a long and arduous learning curve , most likely for the first half of your PhD, where you improve your skills to take on the bulk of the PhD work. In fact, many PhD students report that the bulk of the content for their thesis was created in the final year of their degree.

Getting started with a PhD by publication

That said, if you are considering or have been advised to do a PhD by publication, then the best time to translate this into action is as early as possible. Here’s what you’ll need to think about:

• Find out i f your institution allows PhD by publication (if it’s something you’ve thought of rather than something you were advised to do).
• Identify the stage a publication needs to be at to qualify as submission for examination for your doctoral qualification. For example, some institutions do not require that the PhD candidates have actually had their papers accepted and published, but just that the papers are prepared to a sufficient standard that is ready for submission .

Considerations and challenges in preparing a PhD by publication

A. deciding on the number of papers.

While there is no set number of publications you’ll need to publish, you’ll want to think about how many papers you’ll need to prepare to adequately communicate the full extent of your research to your examiners, and think about timing accordingly . If you are in a STEM discipline, you’ll also want to factor in time for extra experimentation, if required.

b. Considering co-authorship

Make sure you also consider co-authorship as a reflection of your contribution to the research. Don’t feel the need to publish by yourself and do all of the work alone. It is not uncommon to co-author papers, particularly if you are doing your PhD as part of a larger research project and group, and so these collaboratively written papers may still be accepted as part of your submission. However, consider the contribution you made to the piece, and consult with your institution to make sure that whatever you plan to produce would be acceptable.

c. Undergoing peer review

Finally, a common thought to this mode of submission will likely be:

What if I don’t pass peer review?

While a valid concern, it’s important to remember that rejection is a part of the publication process , and d oes not necessarily reflect the quality of your work . Also bear in mind that you don’t usually need to decide on whether you would prefer to opt for a ‘PhD by publication’ at the commencement of your PhD programme. So, you will still be able to submit a more traditional thesis should your publication plans not pan out.

A thesis by publication can be a worthy undertaking to add additional challenge to your PhD journey. It will teach you to go through the motions of what researchers rely on for their next project: publications. So, if you feel up for the challenge and your institution allows it, then go for it! Just remember the key points discussed in this article and ensure that you prepare your submission according to the specific requirements of your institution .

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Demystifying Retrospective PhDs by Publication: A Collective Approach

• First Online: 28 September 2022

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• Sally Brown 3  

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The Retrospective PhD by Publication provides an attractive alternative doctoral route for colleagues wishing to gain a PhD through a largely self-directed route, usually by building up a body of publications over a period of time then uniting them through a connecting narrative showing the golden thread that provides the coherence, originality and contribution of the oeuvre in a way that is equivalent to or better than traditional doctoral study approaches. This chapter describes my original, un-funded and creative approach to supporting around a dozen candidates for Retrospective PhD by publication over a nine-year period, informally and collectively alongside my husband (and co-author) Prof Phil Race domestically.

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Smith, S. (2015). PhD by published work: A practical guide for success . Macmillan International Higher Education.

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Questions used for the informal survey of participants:

What effect did coming for a 24 hour residential reasonably regularly have on your progress towards completion of your PhD?

What impact did it have on you that you were thereby meeting other people all working towards the same goal?

What impact did the weekends have on your motivation, confidence and belief that you could finish the task?

If you have not completed your PhD as a result of the weekends, what reasons would you give (e.g. deciding this was not a course of action you wanted to take right now)?

What has been the impact on you personally of achieving the PhD if indeed you have?

Any other comments on process?

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Brown, S. (2022). Demystifying Retrospective PhDs by Publication: A Collective Approach. In: Chong, S.W., Johnson, N. (eds) Landscapes and Narratives of PhD by Publication. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04895-1_9

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Lynn Nygaard

Kristin solli, june 29th, 2023, what exactly is a phd by publication.

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A PhD by publication, that is, a PhD submitted in the form of a dossier of published papers with varying degrees of connective writing, has become an increasingly common thesis format. However, as Lynn P. Nygaard and Kristin Solli point out, there are significant variations in how these pieces are put together. Outlining these differences and providing a checklist, they show the key questions students should ask when looking to undertake this kind of PhD.

The PhD by publication is becoming an increasingly popular choice in the social sciences , especially in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Scandinavia, but also in other countries. This kind of thesis is no longer “new” in the places where it has taken hold, yet it remains an unsettled genre with striking variations across geographical regions, disciplines, and institutions. For example, there is no agreement on what to call it (thesis by publication? article-based thesis? compilation thesis? something else?) – let alone  on what it should look like. Institutional guidelines that explain to the doctoral candidates (as well as those supervising or evaluating the thesis) are not always easy to find. If you feel like you are left on your own to figure it out, you are not alone. Investigating “what is expected of me?” will always be time well spent. But first you need to know what questions to ask.

Sandwich or two-part model?

A PhD by publication consists of a series of standalone articles plus some sort of narrative (also called a synthesis, integrative chapter , or many, many other things). But it is not always obvious how these two parts fit together. For example, in the “sandwich model”, which is common in Australia and New Zealand, the articles are treated like chapters and are “sandwiched” between two narrative chapters (normally an introduction and a conclusion) that attempt to tie the various threads together. Considerable effort is made by doctoral candidates to ensure flow between the chapters (including perhaps adding additional narrative text between the article chapters) so that it reads like a book (that is, a traditional monograph). This model is perhaps more attractive in contexts where there is still a certain amount of skepticism to the PhD by publication.

In Scandinavia, where the “article-based thesis” is the default format in most social science contexts, we use a two-part model. Here, the narrative is separate from the articles, and written with its own beginning, middle, and end. The articles themselves appear as a distinct second part of the thesis – similar to appendices in the sense that they are separate both from the first part and from each other. While the candidate must demonstrate strong thematic connections between the articles, there is no expectation that the text itself should read as a coherent whole.

What kinds of articles?

The publications are the backbone of the thesis by publication, and there are huge differences between institutions when it comes to what constitutes a “publication” and how many are required. The key idea is that the publication should be aimed at academics (who are not on your committee). This naturally rules out blogposts and coursework (so, no, you cannot submit the literature review you produced in one of your classes unless you have reworked it completely to be ready for submission to a journal). Journal articles are the gold standard here, but book chapters and conference proceedings are also permissible in some contexts.

But how many do you need? Do they all have to be published? Are co-authored articles acceptable? What happens if an article gets rejected? These are all reasonable questions , and the answers to these questions depend very much on where you are located.

In Scandinavia, three solo-authored articles can be considered a basic point of departure. If you include co-authored papers (whether they are co-authored with a supervisor or someone else), then sometimes more papers are expected, or there are restrictions on the number of co-authors.

In many places, there is an expectation that most (and sometimes all) papers need to be published before thesis submission. In other contexts, it is common for only one (or even none) to be published or accepted for publication. Instead, the papers must be deemed “publishable” as judged by your supervisor or PhD program. In effect, it is possible in some places to submit a thesis by publication without any published papers. When the emphasis is on “of publishable quality” and not the status of being published, a rejection by a journal is of little consequence because the paper will simply be classified as “not yet published”.

Expectations for the narrative?

Apart from the basic distinction between the sandwich model and the two-part model, there are huge local variations in what is expected for the narrative. In some departments, we have noticed a move towards minimalism, where the articles are supposed to speak for themselves, and the narrative is becoming shorter and shorter, (5000-7000 words in some PhD programs in Economics for example). On average, however, about 20,000-25,000 words seems to be expected.

Sometimes, the narrative is little more than a cover letter that summarises the articles. In our work, we argue that the narrative should go beyond summarising your articles and draw out the main themes at a higher level of abstraction, aiming to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts. This is because the narrative serves to demonstrate various aspects of your “doctorateness” that may not be visible in the articles written for an audience that is not interested in your candidacy. It allows you to show how your different articles are connected to form a coherent whole, how (if you have co-authored with others) you were able to exercise good judgment and independent thinking, and how (if you have drawn from different disciplines) the work you have produced reflects the values of the academic community that will be granting your degree. And if you have faced specific challenges in your doctoral journey – for example, having to change your research design half-way through because the pandemic made in-person interviews impossible – the narrative allows you to show how you adapted to your situation.

Your unique situation

Writing a good thesis by publication means thinking through how to best meet the expectations of your department given the unique thesis you have written: the breadth and depth of the articles, how much you co-authored or drew from other disciplines, and the changes in your project you might have made throughout the journey.

Fig.1: What are the requirements for a thesis by publication in my PhD program? A checklist

The specific guidelines, or tacit expectations, in your institutions are not random. They usually reflect the way research is normally carried out and evaluated in that context. However, when you are new to an institution, it might not always be easy to know how to find out what “normal” is because these practices and ideas are taken for granted by those who are already insiders in that context. If your department does not provide you with clear guidelines, we hope this blogpost has given you an idea about the kinds of things you should ask about, we have also included the checklist above, which you can use as a starting point. The more you understand what is expected (and why) in the institution you are part of, the more likely you will be able to write a successful thesis by publication.

Lynn Nygaard and Kristin Solli are the authors of Strategies for writing a thesis by publication in the social sciences and humanities .

The content generated on this blog is for information purposes only. This Article gives the views and opinions of the authors and does not reflect the views and opinions of the Impact of Social Science blog (the blog), nor of the London School of Economics and Political Science.  Please review our  comments policy  if you have any concerns on posting a comment below.

Image Credit: LSE Impact Blog via Canva. 

About the author

Lynn P. Nygaard, EdD, special advisor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), provides writing support to doctoral students and researchers. She holds seminars on writing for publication, supervising the writing process, and writing the narrative for the PhD by publication not only in Norway, but also internationally.

Kristin Solli, PhD, Associate Professor at the Unit for English for Academic Purposes at OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University in Norway, teaches academic writing to students and researchers. Her research interests include doctoral education, doctoral writing, multilingual writing practices, and time and temporality in educational practices.

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The PhD by Publication is an accelerated, part-time PhD award intended for those who have carried out extensive research over a significant period of time and have a number of publications arising from this work which have already been published in high-quality journals.

This should not be confused with the standard PhD (3-4 years full-time).

If you have any questions about the PhD by Publication degree which are not answered on this page, please email us  or call us .

What should the word length of the submitted publications be?

Where written publications are being submitted as evidence in the application for admission to the PhD by Publication, the total word length of publications when combined with the critical analysis (15,000 words) should be broadly comparable to that of a submission for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, which is typically between 80,000 and 100,000 words. The quality of the journals within which publications have been published will be assessed as part of the application procedure.

Can only standard academic publications be considered?

As well as standard academic or creative publications, for Schools in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, ‘published work’ may include performance, exhibition, installation, media of various kinds as defined in the University’s Award Regulations, provided that it is made available in an appropriate digital or other recorded format.

How is the PhD by Publication assessed?

As well as submitting the published work, candidates for the PhD by Publication need to prepare a critical analysis of around 15,000 words and to undertake an oral examination (viva) on the critical analysis and the published work. The University provides supervisory support for this.

Can it be done in every subject?

UEA currently offer the PhD by Publication within all Schools and Institutes, except for the following:

• The School of Education and Lifelong Learning only accept PhD by Publication applications from current members of UEA staff subject also to further conditions listed on the Course Catalogue  page, in the Entry Requirements section.
• The School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing is not currently accepting any PhD by Publication applications.

How long does it take?

The period of study is six months part-time (0.5FTE), extendable at the discretion of the School or Institute to a maximum of twelve months part-time study.

Who is the PhD by Publication suitable for?

The PhD by Publication may be appropriate for you if:

You have been carrying out research over a long period of time (at least seven years)

This work is already published in high-quality journals (or equivalent as above), forms a coherent programme of research and represents a significant contribution to understanding

You want to seek academic recognition for this work by a doctoral award.

What are the academic requirements of the programme?

The minimum University academic requirement for a PhD by Publication degree is the same as that required for a PhD: you need the equivalent of a 2:1 in a UK Bachelor’s degree or a Master’s degree in a relevant field of study. However, depending on which School you are studying in, some may set a higher or more specific entry requirement. If English is not your first language, you may also be asked to provide evidence of proficiency in English language. This will be listed as a condition on your offer letter.

What should I do if I want to apply?

To apply for a PhD by Publication degree, we advise that you take a look at the research areas UEA offers  and then contact at least one potential academic supervisor you would be interested in working with, stating your interest. At this point it would be a good idea to read up on your potential supervisor’s research papers that are related to your interests. You will then be able to fill in an application form which needs to contain your formal research proposal. Take a look at our guidance on how to write a research degree proposal .

PhD by Publication – Explained

Published 16 October, 2023

Introduction

A PhD by publication, also known as a “publication-based PhD” or a “documentary PhD”, is a doctoral degree that is awarded on the basis of published scholarly work instead of on the completion of an original research thesis. This type of PhD is often available to mid-career researchers who have already produced a significant body of work, and it may be undertaken on a part-time or full-time basis.

This article provides an overview of the PhD by publication, including its benefits and drawbacks, the process of completing one, and what it can mean for your career.

What is a PhD by Publication?

Generating a PhD by Publication is becoming an increasingly popular option for doctoral candidates, particularly in disciplines where traditional research methods are less feasible or desirable. In essence, a PhD by Publication entails the compilation of a body of publication-worthy work that meets the standards set forth by one’s academic institution. 

The structure and requirements for a PhD by Publication can vary considerably from one institution to another. Some programs may require that candidates submit a traditional research thesis along with their portfolio of published work, while others may allow the thesis to be replaced entirely by the publications. In most cases, however, candidates will be expected to produce a certain amount of new, original research in addition to their published work.

The PhD by Publication is attractive to many candidates because it allows them to draw on their existing experience and expertise, rather than starting from scratch with a new research project. This can be particularly beneficial for mid-career researchers who already have a significant body of work to their credit. It can also be a good option for candidates who wish to pursue a PhD on a part-time basis, as they can work on their publications while continuing to work in their field.

However, the PhD by Publication is not without its drawbacks. Because it is a relatively new and uncommon type of degree, there is often less institutional support available for candidates pursuing this route. Additionally, the assessment criteria for a PhD by Publication can be difficult to define, which can make the process of completing one feel rather ambiguous.

What is the Application Process for PhD for Publication?

The application process for a PhD by Publication can vary depending on the institution. In most cases, candidates will need to submit a portfolio of their published work, along with a research proposal outlining their plans for any new, original research that needs to be undertaken. Candidates may also need to provide evidence of their teaching experience and other academic achievements.

It is important to note that the PhD by Publication is not an option for everyone. In order to be eligible, candidates must usually already have a significant body of work to their credit. This means that it is generally not possible to complete a PhD by Publication on a part-time basis; candidates usually need to be able to dedicate themselves full-time to their research in order to complete the degree in a reasonable timeframe.

How to Complete a PhD by Publication

If you are interested in pursuing a PhD by Publication, the first step is to check with your institution to see if they offer this type of degree. Some programs may have specific requirements or guidelines that you will need to follow.

Once you have determined that your institution does offer a PhD by Publication, the next step is to begin compiling your body of work. This will typically involve collecting together all of the papers, book chapters, and other publication-worthy materials that you have produced over the course of your career. The format typically consists of 10,000 words per paper/chapter, with a minimum of five papers required.

Once you have collected all of your published work, the next step is to write an overview or “map” of this work. This overview should discuss how your individual publications fit together to form a coherent whole, and how they contribute to your larger argument or research goals. The overview should also demonstrate that your work meets the standards required for a PhD-level thesis.

Once you have completed your overview, you will need to submit it along with your published work to your institution for assessment. The exact process for this will vary from one institution to another, but in most cases, you will be required to present your work to a panel of academics and defend it against their critiques. If your work is deemed to be of sufficient quality, you will be awarded your PhD.

How Much Does PhD by Publication Cost?

The cost of a PhD can be quite high, especially if you are studying in the UK. For one year of study on average universities charge £4 500 for British and European students whereas international applicants will have to pay much more due to limitations with funding sources like research council grants which may make it difficult or impossible altogether.

PhDs by Publication are no different, and can end up costing a fair amount depending on the institution you attend.

Some universities will charge a flat fee for your entire PhD program, regardless of how long it takes you to complete it. Others may charge on a per-year basis, or on a per-credit basis. In most cases, the total cost of a PhD by Publication will be somewhere between £10,000 and £30,000.

This cost can be offset somewhat by the fact that you will likely already have most of your published work in hand before you begin your PhD program. This means that you will not have to pay for the costs associated with producing new research, such as fieldwork or laboratory costs.

It is also worth noting that some universities may offer reduced fees for students who are able to complete their PhDs in a shorter timeframe. This is often the case for students who already have a large body of published work to their credit.

Can I hire a supervisor for PhD by publication?

Yes, it is possible to hire a supervisor for PhD by publication. This is typically done when the applicant already has a strong background in the field and has published extensively. The supervisor is then hired to help guide and oversee the research project.

The process of hiring a supervisor by publication can be a little more complicated than just finding someone with the right qualifications. It’s important to make sure that both the supervisor and the applicant are on board with the arrangement, and that all corresponding paperwork is in order.

Additionally, it’s important to be aware of any potential conflicts of interest that may arise from this type of arrangement. For example, if the supervisor is also the editor of a journal in which the applicant hopes to publish their work, there may be some concern about potentially biased decision-making.

What Kind of Publications Can I use in my Portfolio?

The types of publications that you can use in your PhD by Publication portfolio will vary depending on the requirements of your institution. However, in general, most institutions will accept a wide range of publication types, including:

• Journal articles
• Book chapters
• Conference papers

What Completing a PhD by Publication Can Mean for Your Career

Successfully completing a PhD by Publication can open up a number of new career opportunities. In many cases, it can lead to tenure and promotion within your current institution. It can also make you more competitive for senior academic positions at other institutions.

Additionally, completing a PhD by Publication can give you a certain level of visibility and prestige within your field, which can help you to attract new students and collaborators.

And finally, it can provide you with a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that comes from knowing you have made a significant contribution to your field of study.

With the PhD by Publication becoming an increasingly popular option for candidates seeking to earn their doctorate, it is important to understand what this type of degree entails. This overview should give you a better understanding of what the PhD by Publication is, how it differs from a traditional PhD, and what completing one can mean for your career.

Advantages of Choosing PhD by publication

The advantages of a PhD by the publication include:

• Recognition of your existing work: A PhD by publication allows you to have your existing work recognised and accredited as part of your doctoral studies, rather than starting from scratch.
• A shorter path to a PhD: Because you are not required to conduct original research, a PhD by publication can be completed in a shorter time frame than a traditional PhD.
• Increased visibility: As your work is already published, it is more likely to be seen and read by others in your field, which can help to raise your profile.
• A sense of accomplishment: Completing a PhD by publication can provide you with a great sense of satisfaction and achievement.

Disadvantages of PhD by Publication

The various disadvantages of a PhD by Publication include:

• Your work must meet certain standards: in order to be awarded a PhD by publication, your work must meet the same high standards as that required for a traditional PhD.
• You may need to write an overview: depending on your institution’s requirements, you may need to write an overview or “map” of your work, which can be a daunting task.
• There is no guarantee of success: because your work will be assessed by a panel of experts, there is no guarantee that you will be awarded your PhD.

Difference Between Traditional PhD & PhD by Publication

Choosing to complete a PhD by publication should not be taken lightly. It is a significant decision that will have an impact on your career, so it is important to understand the difference between a traditional PhD and a PhD by publication.

The main differences between a traditional PhD and a PhD by publication include:

Earning a PhD by publication can offer many benefits, but it is not the right choice for everyone. It is important to carefully consider your decision and make sure you understand the difference between a traditional PhD and a PhD by publication. If you decide that a PhD by publication is the right choice for you, be prepared to work hard to ensure that your work meets the high standards required.

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PhD by publication

PhD awards for published researchers

Explore how you can turn your existing peer reviewed research publications into a PhD qualification

What is a PhD by publication?

A PhD by publication is a postgraduate research degree that's based on research you've already undertaken and had published (excluding self-publishing) before registering with us.

Depending on the subject area, peer reviewed  academic papers, complete books, chapters in anthologies, or equivalent materials accepted for publication, exhibited or performed  may be  eligibl e. You'll have to submit these materials for examination between 6–12 months after registering with us.

These materials will be accompanied by a commentary of 5,000–10,000 words, which outlines your work's coherence, significance and contribution to knowledge, and you'll be examined through an oral defence of your research, known as a viva voce. Applicants must have held a first or higher degree from a UK higher education institute – or a recognised equivalent non-UK degree of the same standard – for at least 5 years.

Once you've been awarded a PhD by publication, you'll be in a great position to move onto further research or to use your new postgraduate qualification to progress your career.

The cost of getting a PhD by publication in most of our subject areas is £4,500 for external candidates – check your research subject area page  for more details.

How to apply

To be considered for a PhD by publication, you'll need to have held an undergraduate or postgraduate degree – awarded either by a UK higher education institute or a recognised non-UK equivalent – for at least 5 years.

To apply you'll need:

• A CV and the names of two referees
• A title of the proposed PhD
• A listing of the published work on which the application is based
• A statement of not more than 1000 words setting out your view of the nature and significance of the work submitted

Apply from the relevant subject area page .

If your application is successful, you'll need to submit the already-published materials – those that you wish to be considered as part of your PhD by publication award – between 6–12 months after registering with us.

The Savvy Scientist

Experiences of a London PhD student and beyond

When to submit your PhD research to a journal

It can be difficult deciding when to submit your research to a journal. For your first paper in particular, the whole publishing process can be daunting.

Is what you have so far good enough? What if someone else publishes first? Could more data make for a higher impact paper? These are all good questions, but you do have to decide to submit your work at some point. Otherwise it will never get published!

Hopefully this post will help you decide if you’re ready to take the leap.

Note: This post forms part of my series about publishing your first paper . I suggest first reading the instalment about deciding what to publish since it ties in closely with this topic of when to publish.

The fear of rejection

I’m sure many of us have an ingrained fear of rejection and failure. The thought of getting your paper declined may therefore tempt you to delay submission, in order to make the paper as robust as possible and increase your chances of getting the article accepted.

This sounds sensible. Avoiding a rejection saves you the effort of resubmitting the paper elsewhere. But inevitably you can’t put off submitting forever!

Leading your first paper submission can seem like a mammoth task. Not helped by how mysterious the process can feel. Although I’d co-authored a few papers myself before leading a first-author submission during my PhD, I hadn’t really had much of an insight into the publishing process.

Having now been through the process, I know that I could have saved weeks or even months of time and energy on my first paper before submission. Time I could have spent on other things!

I’d encourage you to try and get involved with the publishing process early on. I know of academics who encourage their first year PhD students to write review articles, which sounds like a great idea. The earlier you start and get comfortable with publishing, the better.

Deciding when to publish

During your PhD you should always have publishing in mind. A few reasons why are explained here . In fact, I strongly suggest you start thinking about publishing earlier than you might feel ready. In the UK, where theses are the most common form of PhD assessment, it is not always a requirement to have publications by the time you finish your PhD. Even so, they can help enormously. I was so thankful to have at least one first-author paper for my viva!

If you’ve already discussed with your supervisor that you have a finding worth publishing , you’ll need to decide when you want to publish the research.

The quick answer for when to publish your research is once you have enough data to convince reviewers of your conclusions. However, it can be hard to know when that point has been reached.

Once you believe you have something publishable, you can decide between:

• Publishing soon with what you have already, potentially with toned-down conclusions and a more narrow scope. – With this option you effectively submit what you already have, choosing to not conduct more experiments or analysis. – Any further experiments are minor and only answer questions which reviewers are sure to quickly pick up on. – You may not be able to have such far-reaching conclusions, for example if you’ve shown something works only under a limited set of conditions. This could limit the impact of your findings, but saves you time which could be spent on another publication.
• Delaying publication to either expand the scope or make the paper more robust with more analysis/experiments. – If you are not satisfied with your paper having a narrow scope, you may elect to conduct further work. This isn’t always a bad idea, if it serves a purpose. – It could mean increasing the impact of your work: with more researchers finding your work useful (therefore citing it more frequently) and you could aim for more prestigious journals.

It’s really important to know that even if you carry out loads more experiments, acceptance by a journal is never guaranteed. For either route you may be asked by reviewers to carry out further experiments. Therefore be cautious in delaying publication unless it clearly improves the paper.

My experience: For my first paper we had demonstrated our technique with some bovine (cow) tissue. An obvious improvement, for my field, would have been to expand the work to include human tissue. We could have delayed submission to add this data, but it wouldn’t have been feasible to repeat all of the experiments with human samples. And what would we have done if these results didn’t share the message with our cow tissue? Instead we decided to go ahead and submit it just with the bovine work, clearly highlighting in the discussion section that this was a limitation and we recommended further work with human samples. There was some initial resistance from reviewers, but we got it accepted by justifying our position and making the limitation even clearer in the text.

I’ve mentioned it a few times already, but definitely do read the closely-related post discussing what to publish:

Deciding what to publish from your PhD work

Publication quantity vs quality

For better or worse publications are the life blood of academia. They’re the yardstick that productivity and the quality of researchers’ work are judged against. There is always a discussion around how to divide up research into publications, because experiments don’t often divide neatly into separate bodies of work.

If you’re not looking to stay on in academia, I’d suggest not worrying too much about how your research is divided up into publications, as long as you do try and publish it. Even if you’re going into industry please do publish so that other researchers can use your findings. This is especially true if your PhD was publicly funded!

If you’re considering staying on in academia, then you should consider the quantity vs quality of your publications. You can try to add more and more research to a paper in an attempt to increase the quality of your publication*. But chucking more and more experiments at a paper doesn’t always make it stronger. You must always be thinking of your key message. Sometimes it can make sense to split a body of work into two publications if they then both create stronger messages.

*What researchers often usually actually mean by this is aim for a more prestigious journal!

I personally believe that to keep the message of each paper focussed, you should only combine studies if they can together create a bigger story with wider scope. This way you can also get started submitting a body of work once it is finished rather than indefinitely delaying it for more and more future studies to be completed. Otherwise, before you know it you’ll be finishing up your PhD having not made a start on a paper!

Publishing priorities

Deciding how to divide your work between publications is a discussion for you to have with your supervisor and co-authors. However, be aware that although your supervisor should be looking out for you, they do have their own career development to think about, which may not always align with how you want to publish:

• Junior researchers including PhDs & postdocs in a very general sense will prefer a high quantity of [first author] publications to demonstrate productivity. Simply put: more publications on a CV helps future job applications. The quality of publications does still matter and feeds into metrics such as the h-index , but less so than for your boss.

Of course every PhD student would love to be first author for a huge study published in Nature, but this is rarely feasible. If you have an urge to try and publish in top journals, maybe give this option a go!

• Senior researchers who already have loads of papers, would often prefer fewer but higher impact (and more prestigious) publications. Having papers that are highly cited leads to international recognition and will do more for increasing one’s h-index than an extra paper. An additional pressure for senior staff is that research departments are assessed between universities by their research output ( REF in the UK) which is important for league tables. More citations and more publications in top journals boosts each academic’s contribution.

At the very bottom of this article I have a separate section discussing considerations for combining separate studies into even bigger papers. It isn’t relevant for most people but give it a read if you’re discussing combining work with colleagues.

Do you need to rush to publish quickly?

You may be worried about competing against other groups around the world. What if they publish first?

It may seem like a game of cards: the longer you wait to publish the larger the reward (with a more impactful study), but the larger the risks of someone else publishing first and perhaps stealing your thunder.

Unless you’re working on something very specific, where it really is a winner-takes-all scenario, I’d argue that publishing in academia doesn’t usually work like this.

• If you know of other groups working towards the same goal it should be reassuring that you’re on to something worth pursuing!
• When submitting your paper, it’s good in your cover letter to mention recent advances and how your work fits in. Very recent publications by other groups demonstrates it is a hot topic with appeal for active researchers from groups around the world.
• Perhaps there could even be scope to collaborate in the future? It could be a nice secondment for you to visit another lab.

Are you keen to be the first to publish a discovery? Perhaps it would make sense to rapidly submit a smaller article. As discussed earlier, this may mean toning down the conclusions.

Many journals will accept publications in categories such as short communications , or letters to the editor , which may suit your work if you want to publish quickly.

For most of us, even in the sciences, this type of discovery work is abnormal. So publishing really quickly doesn’t matter quite so much. Usually we’ll be developing methods based on previous findings.

It therefore isn’t generally much of a problem if something similar gets published because it doesn’t take away from the novelty of your contribution.

There is so little likelihood that they’ll have done exactly the same thing that it is not worth worrying about. Just because they’re publishing using their technique, does not at all invalidate your findings.

Why you may wish to delay publication

Spending time on additional analysis or data collection may be worth considering if it would:

• Make for a more robust argument. See here
• Increase the scope, and therefore the impact, of the study

There are always going to be extra experiments that you can think of to add. A bigger paper isn’t necessarily a better paper.

It’s important to weigh up the positives of adding more data against the downsides:

• It takes more of your time, energy and money. All of which you could be using on other things.
• The main message may get lost. The extra experiments may not compliment the existing ones.
• It delays publication. You might not be in a race against other researchers, but getting your research out quickly means that other researchers can implement it sooner.

When should you start writing your paper?

You can of course start writing your introduction and methods while you are conducting your experiments (or even before!) but it’s not always easy to know which direction your research is going in. I suggest to just sticking to notes until you roughly understand your key message.

If you are already happy with the story your research tells, have a look at previous papers with a similar scope to yours. This not only provides a framework for what to include but also gives an idea of when you’re ready to submit.

Looking at previously accepted papers. These will show you what standard your research has to be up to, in order to get published. Look at sample size and validation techniques which are commonly included. Is your work of a similar level to published research in your field? If so, I’d recommend you start preparing a manuscript!

Fitting writing a paper into your PhD

I appreciate that it can be difficult finding time to write a paper amongst the more immediate demands of a PhD. Usually you’re under pressure to conduct more experiments, analyse data, prepare presentations etc. All of which can push writing a paper to the bottom of your agenda.

I strongly suggest finding the time to start writing your paper soon. A few obvious reasons are as follows:

• You remember the work better now than you will in the future, making it easier to write.
• You can put text from papers in your thesis. I saved a huge amount of time doing this. Self-plagiarism rules vary by university so watch out. Even if you have to re-write sections, it’s still much easier than starting from scratch. Also, you have the data analysed and figures produced which can take ages. Start now. Really.
• It helps your viva . When I had the email come through saying my paper was accepted it was such a big relief. I suddenly knew that the viva was effectively a formality.

I hope I’ve convinced you to start writing as soon as you have a story to tell.

In an upcoming article in our publishing series we’ll be going over how to get started on your first draft.

My publishing preference

• Once you have a message you think may be publishable, start writing.
• Each paper should have a clear message. You can considering splitting work into two papers or combining studies together, but isn’t always the best route.
• As much as possible don’t be tempted to delay publication unless you know you will shortly have more data/analysis which could be added and make for a stronger paper.
• Don’t spend ages perfecting your draft paper, have other researchers look it over as soon as possible.

Bonus topic: Authorship considerations for large drawn-out studies

This consideration doesn’t often apply but I’ll discuss it here anyway:

I have seen it happen where several researchers are working independently on different parts of the same overall project. The lead academic(s) decides that it would give a nice story to combine all of this work in to one mega paper. Targeted at a high impact journal. The question is: who becomes the first author?

By combining studies to form a bigger paper, it is possible you won’t be the first author because your contribution has been diluted. This becomes even more likely if the work continues after you leave. Or the other researcher’s work is more fundamental to the project than yours. This all has the potential to turn very political!

Yes, I know that you can have joint first authors and yes it may be good for your CV to have published somewhere prestigious. But there is no beating around the bush: the order of authors matters. This has always seemed pretty fickle to me, but it is a real consideration in academia.

Having publications as second or third author is still good, but usually infers that you didn’t have that much input. Often the input from other authors is easily 10% or less of the effort put in by the first author. Instead of showing hard work to lead a project, being second author usually shows that you help others and collaborate. This is an important skill to demonstrate but this should be in addition to the project you’re working on, not instead of it.

If I were an academic who was looking for post-docs, I’d be concerned if an applicant had lots of papers but almost none were as first author. Perhaps that’s a quirk of the importance put on the order of authors?

This is all a relatively unlikely situation and the vast majority of the time stories are published separately and whomever started the research will see it through to publication.

I hope that this has helped with your paper! You can find the whole series of posts about publishing here . Next we’ll cover deciding where to submit your research. G et alerted about future posts by subscribing here:

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Study Postgraduate

Phd by published work, what is phd published work.

A PhD awarded for the submission of a portfolio of published research to the standard of a regular PhD.

Who can apply?

Candidates may apply for the PhD by published work under Regulation 38 and the associated Guidance on the Requirements for the Award of Research Degrees .

Candidates must be either:

• Members of academic staff or administrative or library staff of equivalent status of the University. Normally has been employed by the University for at least three years immediately prior to the submission of published work; or
• Graduates of at least seven year’s standing normally holding a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent.

Please note: You do not need to be a Warwick graduate to be able to apply for the PhD by published work.

Application Process

• Candidates must make a research application using the standard online Postgraduate Application Form
• Candidates must apply for the PhD most relevant to the portfolio of work that they will be submitting
• Candidates should state clearly on the form that they wish to be considered for the PhD by Published Works
• Candidates should then submit their CV (this can be uploaded with their application) and copies of the Works to be considered
• Candidates should submit between 3 - 8 publications, which will form the intellectual basis of the examination for the award, for consideration (this may vary dependent on the discipline and focus of the candidate's research)
• Submissions should include further contextual information regarding the publications, including, but not limited to, the profile of journals that articles have been published in, the candidate's individual contribution to each of their publications, the number of citations, and their significance to the field.

Consideration Process

• The Head of the relevant Department will initially consider the submission. (S)he will appoint an Academic Advisor to provide guidance to the candidate on the presentation of the published work.
• The Academic Advisor should produce a statement that outlines the Candidate's suitability for admission to a PhD programme, an assessment of the quality of publications presented, and any further relevant details regarding the Candidate, including their employment (current or past), area of expertise and profile within their discipline/field of research.
• If the Head of Department is satisfied with the submission, (s)he will ask that the Chair of the Faculty Education Committee consider the submission.
• If the Chair of the relevant Faculty Board is of the view that the Works are of the appropriate standard, (s)he will make a recommendation to the Chair of the Board of Graduate Studies that the candidate is admitted to the PhD.
• An offer can only be made once the Chair of the Board of Graduate Studies has given his/her approval following consideration of the aforementioned recommendation.
• Candidates should be aware that a successful application does not guarantee the award of the degree – candidates are required to successfully complete the examination process as set out in the Guide to Examinations for Higher Degrees by Research .

Period of Registration

• The normal period of registration will be for 12 months.
• Where the candidate is not a member of the staff of the University, submission for examination for the degree of PhD may be made after a minimum period of six months' registration.
• Where the candidate is a member of the staff of the University, submission for examination for the degree of PhD may be made after a minimum period of three months' registration.
• During the period of registration, students will additionally need to submit the Works to be assessed and a Covering Document of between 5,000 and 10,000 words setting out the relationship between the Works presented, the significance of the Works as a contribution to original knowledge within the relevant field, and, as an appendix, a full bibliography of all of the works ever published by the candidate.
• The normal fee is an amount equivalent to one year’s full-time fee for the traditional PhD in the relevant academic year and department regardless of the date of submission of the work.
• The fee for members of staff and for graduates of the University is charged at 20% of the home full-time postgraduate research fee.

Further information

• All inquiries regarding applying for a PhD by published work should be directed to the Postgraduate Admissions team.
• For detailed information on the requirements for an examination of the PhD by published work, see Regulation 38 and the associated Guidance on the Requirements for the Award of Research Degrees , and the Guide to Examinations for Higher Degrees by Research .
• For information on the fees for your registration for the PhD by published work, please consult Student Finance .

Useful Links

• Postgraduate Admissions
• Student Finance
• Regulation 38
• Guidance on the Requirements for the Award of Research Degrees  
• Guide to Examinations for Higher Degrees by Research

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How can we make PhD training fit for the modern world? Broaden its philosophical foundations

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You have highlighted how PhD training assessment has stagnated, despite evolving educational methodologies (see Nature 613 , 414 (2023) and Nature 627 , 244; 2024 ). In particular, you note the mismatch between the current PhD journey and the multifaceted demands of modern research and societal challenges.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00969-x

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Importance of Publications During PhD

• Updated on  
• Apr 20, 2023

The PhD degree is a transformative milestone in a scholar’s life. If you are on the path to becoming an academic or a research scholar,  qualifying with a doctorate brings to you a title – that of a ‘Dr.’ placed before your name. And, that is an amazing achievement! It often leads to the publication of books and subsequent research papers and invitations to speak at conferences and universities. In this blog, I will discuss everything about the importance of PhD publications.

What is the Importance of Phd Publications?

So first let us consider what a PhD. really signifies. It signifies that the scholar is an authority over a particular subject or at least a topic on which they have done deep research. 

Important point: The process of that research is as important as the findings. Therefore, some universities (both in India and abroad) may actually require doctoral candidates to publish two or three research papers before they actually submit their doctoral thesis. 

There is also a huge personal advantage to this. If you are a doctoral scholar, getting one or two (or more!) papers published while doing your PhD. works extremely well for your future career. This will give a wide reach to your work and you can begin to establish yourself in your field, even before you get your PhD degree. This can be very helpful for getting Post-doctoral appointments, faculty teaching positions and other scholarly grants and fellowships. Early publications can set the stage for you to apply for positions at research institutions, universities, international organizations, UN agencies or think tanks.

Also Read: Are LORs important for Study Abroad Applications

Tip: When aiming for publications it is important to target reputed journals which are well-ranked and peer-reviewed. These journals have a wider reach so when your research is published in such journals it will get cited by other scholars in your field. This adds huge value to your professional credentials. 

Challenges Faced in Getting Research Papers Published 

The challenges to publishing papers during your PhD journey can be of two kinds:

• The first is related to time.  While doing a doctoral dissertation there is a lot of flexibility of time and 3-4 years may seem like a long time. However, research can involve travel for data gathering. This needs to be followed by analysis. Only after that can the actual writing begin. The flexibility of time and no externally structured schedule sometimes require careful planning and self-discipline.  

Tips: Plan , Allocate time for data gathering, processing and then writing. Work out a calendar for the year and the next year too! 

• The second challenge that many young scholars face is about choosing the appropriate journals that would be the best for their research. This requires some research: you need to do online searches for journals with the appropriate keywords and then read about the subjects/ topics that those journals focus on. In addition to that, the formatting style of each journal needs to be followed. Often rejection of submissions happens in the early stages of the research article does not follow the required style of citations etc. 

Tip: Seek guidance from supervisors and research mentors about the appropriate journals. Create a shortlist. Read up the ‘Guidelines for Submissions’ for each of the journals (usually available online). This will help to decide which journals would be the best to submit to. 

Alert: Do not submit the same research article to two different journals. This is unethical you can be disqualified by both! 

Publishing papers prove extremely beneficial for a PhD student. Publications during a PhD programme help scholars establish themselves in their academic fields even before they get their degrees.

No. Any PhD programme does not mandate publications. However, the admissions committee or prospective supervisor may ask candidates applying to a PhD course to showcase their research skills.

To explore multiple study abroad PhD programmes, stay connected to Leverage Edu and Leverage Live . To learn about all aspects of abroad studies opt for a free 30-minute counselling session at 1800 572 000.

Dr. Maina Chawla Singh

A scholar, internationally published author and Higher-education consultant, Maina Chawla Singh (PhD) has over 25 years of teaching experience at universities in India, United States and Israel. She has authored two academic books and several peer-reviewed journal articles. Her research spans multiple disciplines across Liberal Arts : Gender Studies, Colonialism, History of Medicine, Migration, Identity Studies, Indian Diaspora, Jewish Anthropology and Israel Studies. Dr Singh has been an invited speaker at prestigious institutions including at Yale, Cornell, Oxford, Georgetown, University of Penn, Emory University, Ann Arbor, Michigan, NYU, Tel Aviv University (Israel) and Sciences Po (France). Having taught online university courses at American University since 2013, Dr Singh is highly skilled in Digital Pedagogies, Syllabus Design and Online teaching. She has been a peer-reviewer for several international journals and is certified in academic manuscript editing (New York university, USA). Dr Singh has lived in Russia, Israel, Japan, Ethiopia, France and the USA and has a deep comparative understanding of International Education. She is passionate about supporting student aspirations for Study Abroad. Dr Singh is an Academic Content Creator. As a freelance mentor Dr Singh offers customized career-advice to students, early- career professionals and researchers for Personal Brand-building ; Persuasive Communication, Academic Profile-building and Research Publication. Dr Singh speaks Hindi, English, Punjabi and Russian. She loves reading about Tech, Digital Marketing and Design-Thinking.

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