PhD

Ellajane

Hi all,

Wondering if someone can give me a bit of advice...

I'm currently doing a PhD in the social sciences and have my fieldwork complete. Basically I just need to analyse and write up, hope to be done by Feb 2012.

So my question is - how many conference presentations and publications are expected from a PhD graduate? I know in science students are expected to present frequently (usually at a poster session) and many publications are also common. So for social science is it usually the same?

In my research group there are two students who are excellent - publishing all the time (about 5 publications each), always going to conferences etc etc but they are entering 5.5 years now... whereas there are two others who have no publications, presented very little but are almost finished at 3.5 years.

I don't want to pursue academia - of that I'm sure. I'm presuming one would need many publications etc if that was the preferred route. But I'm worried that if I have practically no publications that it will go against me in the viva....

Any comments / suggestions / advice most welcome!

jelly&icecream

Firstly I'm coming from an engineering background so things might be a bit different to you. Around here going to viva with no publications is pretty rare and wouldn't be advised. Most of the students I know would go with at least 2/3 decent level conference papers under their belt, if not more, and some would have a journal paper as well.

Tbh I think you'd be looking for trouble going into a viva with no publications. If your work if of PhD quality then there really should be enough stuff for a few publications in it. The examiner will have to examine everything a lot more closely to ensure there's enough there, whereas with a few decent publications they have reassurance that the thesis is probably fine. It also protects you to a degree as its much harder for them to fail it or give you major corrections.

Having papers written and reviewed will mean you have a good base from which to start writing your thesis and presenting your work to other academics, while a bit daunting, really forces you to clear everything in your mind and get definite about things.

The people you describe that are 5.5 years into their PhDs and have numerous publications really need a firm supervisor to tell them enough is enough! Every department has a few of these I think and I can't say I really understand the mentality at all! Why would you want to drag it out longer then necessary! They're just perfectionists I guess. Are you sure the people that are hoping to finish soon in 3.5 years haven't got stuff submitted to a conference, but that won't actually be published for another few months yet? It seems a bit bizarre.

Ellajane

Hey,

Thanks for your reply - makes a lot of sense ;-)

Just one thing - you mentioned conference papers and publications as if they were the same thing...how does that work? If you present at a conference do you count that as a publication too? I know some conferences publish a series of papers afterwards but in my experience such conferences are few and far between in the social sciences.

So by publications what do you mean? Book chapter, journal...and what else?

The area I'm working on is quite specific so I'd love to get some stuff published in the coming year.

And my LAST question (I promise) - how do you publish in a journal - do you just write up a paper, send it and hope for the best or do you look out for calls for papers or what?

I'd ask my supervisor all of these questions if she hadn't her head constantly stuck in the clouds

Ostrom

Hey,

I'm in social science also, around the same stage as you. We had five graduates from our department this year, and although most would have published something (a book chapter, contribution to an edited edition), none had published in a 'mainstream' journal - which is not unusual for us. It seems to come later, and the done thing now is working your thesis into a book after completion. It depends on the topic also how well your chapters lend themselves to individual publication, so I wouldn't worry about it. The extern should judge your thesis on its own merits, and the strength of your defense alone.

Having said that, a few publications are expected of an early career graduate, especially now. I co-authored two articles with my supervisor, and published one alone in a postgrad review. You should have a feel for what journals would best suit your topic, so have a look at their print copies for submission guidelines. You need to do your homework with regard to selecting the right journal, and after that, it really is a case of submission and awaiting comments. You will most likely be asked to revise and resubmit, as it is rare for a reviewer to pass an article first go. It is also a good exercise for your write-up!

Keep an eye out for upcoming conferences, you should be able to put a paper together from a chapter in progress (even if you cant, do what the rest of us do and pull something together the week before!!). There isn't much work in a conference paper, as you will typically have from 20-30 minutes, so there is only so much you can say. Your supervisor should have some knowledge of research groups and international conferences so get onto her!

Also use the discipline to your advantage! If you have a literature review, consider submitting a think piece to a more theoretically oriented journal, if you have some preliminary results, consider publishing it as a research note, or pitch your paper as an exploratory study.

PM if you want finer details on publishing, I dont want to post titles!

jelly&icecream

From what elfa says there does seem to be a big difference between our fields so take what I said with a pinch of salt. Decent level conferences would have good review process and the proceedings would be available online in my field. Journal papers would be the next step up the ladder I suppose. Getting a journal paper during your PhD is considered good going in our field and plenty of students get their PhD without one. We'd consider both to be publications.

It seems a bit mean for ye not too have any intermediate level between nothing and a journal paper! Its good to have something in between to force you to interact with the greater research community and get external critique during your PhD.

Ellajane wrote: »

And my LAST question (I promise) - how do you publish in a journal - do you just write up a paper, send it and hope for the best or do you look out for calls for papers or what?

Either or as far as I know.

Ellajane

Thanks guys, advice much appreciated!

Will try to get a couple of publications under my belt before the viva....now just have to find some journal or conference to accept my work! The joys of academia!

Good luck with your work too!

baby and crumble

Hey there,

I'm in social sciences too, and I recently went to a 2 hour session on getting published, it was really great. There's conferences, especially ones geared towards grad students, and they're great for not only getting your work seen and talked about, but also for meeting people that you could easily be working with in a few years.

There's the big, peer reviewed journals, but they aren't the only way to do things- there's a big upsurge in electronic publishing (but you have to be careful with this, as publishing online in something small which wont get a lot of merit can disqualify you from doing stuff with the same material later), there's magazines for interest groups in your area, which aren't peer reviewed but are stuill great to have under your belt. There are some new journals cropping up like the Journal of Social Inclusion, based down in Aus which is coming from a respected Uni, but just doesn't have the reputation yet... There are lots of options.

Also, well done OP on having so much time left to analyse and write up! Jealous!