Two for one – publish as you go

This section of What to publish? is about a two-for-one approach to publishing your findings. Write up your PhD research as a series of papers and submit them to quality journals. Then, with minor alterations, they become the main body of your thesis. See also Two for one – exceptions

Advantages

• A PhD thesis is a lot of effort just for the degree. This way, you get publications and a thesis – two for the price of one.
• Your thesis is chunked into separate, shorter arguments
  • more manageable for you, the writer
  • easier for an examiner to follow
• Articles submitted along the way to quality journals get regular feedback from independent referees
  • lift the quality of your final thesis
  • fewer examination problems
• Greater sense of achievement as you go – gain in self-esteem
• When you graduate, you already have a publication profile – helps to get a post-doc, a job or promotion.
• In the traditional, whole thesis first approach, you have to turn a large integrated structure into separate articles – may never happen.

Publishing later

In some cases, it may not be possible to publish as you go (see, for example, Two for one – exceptions). However, keep the two-for-one approach in mind and structure your thesis accordingly. Then, with minor modifications, it contains papers ready for submission to journals later.  

Two-for-one thesis structure

• Overview chapter 1, which includes
  • aim, significance, background
  • critical literature review
  • clearly outline thesis structure
• Main body chapters
  • series of published papers, each with its own title, introduction, literature review, research question or hypothesis, method, results and discussion
  • rewrite the first and last paragraph of each published paper to turn it into a chapter that links back and forth to the surrounding chapters.
• Final chapter
  • overall discussion
  • conclusion

Further information

• Publishing during candidature workshop resources - access presentations and videos by experienced staff
• Writing the PhD and publications at the same time: two for one (PPT, 220kb) - information on:
  • Structuring a two-for-one thesis
  • Do's and don'ts of this approach
  • Writing sequence
  • Converting chapters to articles
  • Choosing journals

This page and the linked PowerPoint presentation are provided by courtesy of Professor Phyllis Tharenou, formerly Dean of Research, Division of Business, UniSA.
Thanks to Mary O'Connor, Senior Librarian, UniSA Library, for updated information on databases and ERA
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Botanic Garden