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.
Scott Eacott
Senior Lecturer, School of Education at University of Newcastle
A timely piece Mhairi. I have tried to encourage numerous students of the benefits of PhD by publication but continue to run into road blocks in the form of colleagues. As you cite, it is a great way to build a track record as you go and actually prepare for life in the academy afterwards. Well done, and hopefully we begin to see the PhD by publication as a legitimate alternate (not necessarily replacement) to the tradition thesis.
Mat Hardy
Lecturer in Middle East Studies at Deakin University
I'm interested to know how the process works in terms of judging the weight of the journals where the publications occur. ie is there a 'hit list' or something that pertains to the field of the candidate?
John Kelmar
Small Business Consultant
What a great idea. This is similar to successful persons in industry or business who are given a PhD by universities when they are near to retirement, so that they can be recognised for their achievements, which also enables then to take up a position at that same university.
Unfortunately many people at universities believe that one needs to have a PhD in order to teach and research at the University level. This is complete poppycock. There are many academics throughout the world who do not…
Read moreJames Patterson
PhD Candidate in water governance at University of Queensland
Hi Mhairi,
Thanks for your article, that's a great achievement to complete a PhD by publication in a social science field. To me it's something that has always seemed much more plausible in the 'hard' sciences (especially where your data collection consists of self-contained experiments which readily translate into paper-sized chunks). I personally have struggled to see how it can be done as commonly in the social sciences, especially qualitative social sciences, in which research often proceeds…
Read moreGeoff Taylor
Consultant
A very good idea. It allows the ideas in the research to flow out there into the intellosphere in a more timely way, even if PhD theses are more accessible now that universities put them into their e-space after they are finally accepted.
It is also a further level of contemporaneous peer review of the ongoing research.
Using papers as chapters too seems more efficient than writing papers based on sections of the thesis.
Mark Amey
logged in via Facebook
People can feel free to correct me, if I'm wrong, but I thought that most Australian medical faculties awarded MDs by publication, or thesis, or a combination.
Mary-Helen Ward
logged in via Twitter
As far as I know, most Australian medical faculties don't award MDs. They generally offer a program that leads to two (or more) bachelor's degrees, eg MBBS = Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery. Their graduates often have PhDs alongside their medical qualifications, but MD is an American term.
Mark Amey
logged in via Facebook
Most specialists, today, will do a PhD, if they want to do a doctorate, but, I think you will find that many Australian unis still offer MDs, as a proper doctorate. In the states an MD is equivalent to an MBBS.
Mary-Helen Ward
logged in via Twitter
They would be classed as professional doctoratess. By definition, a PhD has to by mostly (minimum 65%) research; an MD is usually a taught degree. A lot of people believe that medical doctors have doctorates; not all do.
Sue Ieraci
Public hospital clinician
Mark is right. MB, BS or BMed are basic medical quals in Australia (equivalent to AMerican MD), but many graduate doctors go on to to doctorates in their specialty areas - mostly by research - and achieve PhD or MD.
Peter Hobbins
PhD Scholar at University of Sydney
In many ways I think this approach has merit. I tackled my masters in a similar way - as a part-time candidate, I viewed each essay as a potential paper. Some were ultimately rejected but others were published. It meant that I could approach a PhD with both a track record of publication and a stronger sense as to how demanding reviewers and editors can be!
For an Australian PhD, though, my chief concern with setting out to gain the doctorate by publication lies in the first year. Whilst I don…
Read moreEric Anderson
Eternal Student
I largely agree with Peter Hobbins, above. However, I would go further, and argue that PhD-by-publication may be good for the individual student, but will ultimately harm a discipline.
Succinctly:
Easy PhDs are ultimately low-status PhDs – if people think any idiot can.
Too many Australian PhDs are already poorly trained when compared to their supposed US counterparts – and half-trained academics publishing in blindingly narrow fields makes this worse.
It is insane to react to an overly-competitive academic job market by making it easier to get a PhD, and thus increasing the supply.
Raising standards may make it harder for individual students but ultimately makes a stronger system. I suggest extending funding APA funding to five or six years, and requiring 3 publications AND a thesis.
Mhairi Cowden
Associate, Children's Policy Centre, Australian National University at Australian National University
Hi Eric,
I hope I didn't give the impression that my PhD was easy! I think my point was that PhD by publication produces candidates that are more competitive in the job market. But more broadly speaking not everyone who does a PhD does it to get an academic job. It is simply not the case that more PhDs equals more supply.
I also take issue with the idea that easy PhDs mean low status PhDs. You do not need to suffer in order to merit a high status PhD, the idea that postgraduate study must also equal intense pain for a student is misguided. Of course it should be challenging and hard but avoiding the mental health issues many graduate students face is surely a good thing. I would like to see more people come out of the PhD process with positive stories and not complaints!
Eric Anderson
Eternal Student
I am not particularly interested in arguing policy by anecdote.
Briefly:
Yes, more PhDs equals more supply. Hand-waving about other career options is irrelevant.
Rigour=Pain is a false equivalence and intellectually sloppy. You can do better.
As an aside: in my limited experience, Australian PhD students have a much closer relationship (mentor-like) with their primary supervisor than do US students. As a result, the success (and/or pain) of Australian students is much more connected to the student-supervisor relationship than it would be in other systems. Reforming this system might help.
As a joke: if you manage to finish with your Sanity (cf the article headline) it isn't a Real PhD. Or if you start with....
John Pickard
Eclectic naturalist
Excellent description of the virtues of a PhD by publication Mhairi.
However in the interests of historical accuracy, I have to say that I did this with my first PhD nearly 30 y ago way back in 1985 at Macquarie University ("Landscape development and vegetation of the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica"). At the time, several joint papers in the thesis caused some angst for the (then) Post-graduate Studies Committee, and I had to threaten legal action before they would accept it for examination…
Read moreSandra van der Laan
Associate Professor of Accounting at University of Sydney
The battle for legitimacy of a PhD by publication is not being fought by those that appear to have done it legitimately - by journal publication.
The real issue is standards required for PhD by publication vary. I know of one institution that accepts three conference papers. This clearly diminishes the value of the award.
Mary-Helen Ward
logged in via Twitter
One of the problems of doing a PhD by publication is that institutions have differing understandings of what this means, for example: How many publications – 3? 4? 5? Do the papers have to be certified as publishable (by whom?), accepted for publication, or actually published when the thesis is submitted? (Some institutions may even have different conventions in different departments or schools!) Do they have to be single author - if not, how is it determined that the student has done the original…
Read moreMhairi Cowden
Associate, Children's Policy Centre, Australian National University at Australian National University
Thanks for your comment Mary, at first the differing standards worried me too but in some respects I think they are necessary for the diversity of disciplines. What it means to have a PhD in Physics may be quite different (and probably rightly so!) from my own discipline of Politics and IR. For some disciplines three papers is sufficient to prove original contribution, for others it may be more. Similarly for sciences co-authored pieces are the norm and the only way to approach some research tasks, this may be different for humanities.
In the end however, all PhDs (by publication or not) must be judged and examined by experts in the field. It is they who make the assessment about whether the candidate has done sufficient original work to be awarded a PhD. The guidelines for how to achieve this should be discussed with your supervisor just as any discipline would know the standards expected for a monograph PhD.
Mary-Helen Ward
logged in via Twitter
It's true that the way to get a PhD (ie the tasks involved) vary across disciplines (although not as much as you might think). But the degree is awarded by the University, which is why the guidelines must be agreed to in an institution and clearly promulgated for everyone. And the examination system may not be as rigorous as you think. :)
Chris Boyle
Senior Lecturer in Psychology & Inclusive Education at Monash University
A very good article, Mhairi. We have brought it into the Faculty of Education at Monash and we are encouraging students to do the phd by publication for the reasons you have mentioned. Having a publication record on completion is such a productive way to complete a research degree. I wonder if this method will eventually be the most popular phd route.
Juan Vesa
student
i'm taking a phd in engineering. i suppose i fall into the phd by publication category. it's almost a necessity in my field though because if you wait 6 months it'll be out of date (ok not quite that bad but you get the idea). my supervisor says i should aim for 3 conferences and 3 journals. so far i have 0 conferences and 0 journals.doing well by the looks of it.
Juan Vesa
student
i suppose another thing is it gives solid timeline goals, say aiming for a publication every 6 months. for me it helps me stay on track i guess if i don't have a publication ready in a timely manner it's time to get my skates on again.
Chris Borthwick
Writer
And let's not overlook the other way to do this: if you've got a lot of publications, you can theoretically cash them in - though caveats apply - for a doctorate.
Not many people have lots of publications without being in the professional research stream, but there are examples.
Mary-Helen Ward
logged in via Twitter
Not usually. The normal path is to enrol, have a research proposal approved, do some research, write a thesis. A thesis is not just a bunch of publications; it has to be original work and have some kind of argument threaded through it. You can write a thesis reflecting on your publications (novelists and writers sometimes do this), but you can't just collect everything you've done and say "Here you are! Now give me a PhD".
Julie Fechner
Retired (Grumpy old woman)
Mhairi, thank you so much for this article. As a retired (grumpy old btcih) in the middle of honors, I am considering doing a PhD, but do not want to be tied down by the traditional PhD with deadlines, but to be able to complete a number of discrete but related projects appeals to me as something I could complete part time. Being able to go to university during retirement is wonderful. I just love the stimulation of the academic environment and all the nice young students. And as I tell my old friends, it keeps me out of the pub and away from the poker machines :).
Mary-Helen Ward
logged in via Twitter
You can do any PhD part-time over eight years. I am in my 60s and I have worked fulltime and done my PhD part-time since 2005 (just about to submit). The subject of my PhD is the PhD itself. :) It is the most rewarding and exciting thing I have ever done.
Julie Fechner
Retired (Grumpy old woman)
Thank you Mary. You are an inspiration. I would love to know more about your PhD. Congratulations on your achievement. I must say that I did complete a masters Degree while working full time, just took some time management and commitment.
Christopher White
PhD candidate
A very interesting and (for me) apposite article. I am just begining a PhD and have been considering the pathways that I might take during the process. Certainly, publication is a question that has arisen in two of the three seminars I have attended so far.
I'm not sure if going down the path of PhD by publication is the best option (although it's good to know that it is available), but I'd be interested to know if publishing part of the thesis can be done, even if one is not intending to publish each "section" as it is written.
Also, I have been advised to look at publishing my minor thesis (Honours). I know that publishing is important to an Acadmeic career, but it is difficult to know when ones work is good enough to deserve the attempt.
Peter Farrell
teaching-principal at Zeerust Primary School
I completed an EdD by research and coursework and I managed to publish two articles in refereed journals as well as a number of professional articles afterwards. I was the sole author.
I wrote a reflective piece about my experience and came to the view that a professional doctorate could be completed in a similar way to what you have described, but I argued that the publications could/should be in professional rather than academic journals.
http://www.zeerustps.vic.edu.au/app/webroot/uploaded_files/media/reflective_writing_on_my_doctorate_of_education.pdf
My only caution about your approach is that it needs to be acceptable to the wider academic community. This is all well and good if you get a gig with the department/faculty that examined your thesis, but if you want to take it somewhere else, say as a post-doc fellow. It may not carry the same credit.
Peter Farrell
teaching-principal at Zeerust Primary School
I should have said the department/faculty that organized the examiners of your thesis.
Lisa Robins
Natural resource management consultant
Readers may be interested in the following journal article, which may be downloaded free at http://www.jrp.icaap.org/index.php/jrp/article/view/136/154:
Robins L. and Kanowski, P. 2008. PhD by publication: A student’s perspective. Journal of Research Practice. 4 (2): article M3.
Here's the abstract:
This article presents the first author’s experiences as an Australian doctoral student undertaking a PhD by publication in the arena of the social sciences. She published nine articles in refereed…
Read moremary joseph
journalist
Dear Mhairi
First of all Congratulations on your work and Thank you for writing this article.. I was searching on google for information on how to apply for a PhD.. I was so confused and had no idea how to approach it.
Second, I would like to know how a scholar would finance a research paper before publication.. where does the researcher get the finances from?
Additionally, how do full time PhD researchers finance their work if they study full time?
Thanks for your help
Best Regards