how do you get your dissertation published

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Publishing Your Dissertation in a Scholarly Journal

So you’ve decided you want to earn a PhD. You have read about the road blocks , you’ve selected your committee, and you’ve started writing your dissertation. But why start thinking about a publication? What does that have to do with earning the ultimate degree?

Writing a dissertation without a publication is like going to the trouble of making a cake but not baking it. No one can taste your cake, no one can benefit from your hard work—of course, no one can criticize your work either. But without a publication, or two or three, the dissertation is not technically a total success. You’d be amazed at how many people don’t get a publication out of their dissertation. Without advanced planning, a publication likely won’t happen, because, once again, there are often unanticipated roadblocks.

1. Publication will be completely driven by you and no one else. A publication will not be on the priority list of your dissertation committee. And you will likely be the only one to understand where to publish.

2. Planning is the most important step and the only way to be successful. If you wait until after you go through the dissertation process, you will be too exhausted to publish, and it won’t happen for a year or two. You must plan.

3. Configure your dissertation for three separate publications. This may be three separate chapters, or it may be three different data sets or arms of your data. Link this to the selection of your committee. In my previous articles, I recommended choosing a committee wisely, with different members being associated with different jobs. Committee members should not have similar areas of expertise. Their “jobs” should not overlap. There should be a content expert or literature review expert, a methods person, a results person and a “whip.” Ideally, the “whip” (think politics, as in majority whip or minority whip in Congress) is your dissertation chair. The jobs of each member should be distinct to avoid having members fighting or making conflicting suggestions. Each article should be aligned with a separate expert. So there can be a Review article, a Methods article, and a Results article.

4. You get to decide who is listed as an author on your articles. You will be first author, and your mentor should be last author (a position of honor). If a committee member does not contribute, they ethically should not be included in the list of authors. Many journals now ask you to list the authors along with their meaningful contributions.

5. Decide ahead of time the journals in which you wish to publish. Full disclosure — I am on the board of the Journal of the American Academy of PAs (JAAPA), and I’m a reviewer for the Journal of Physician Assistant Education (JPAE). I’m going to recommend these PA journals for one of your publications. Here is my pitch (although biased): We are THE scholarly journals for the profession. If your data is completely focused on PA education, then select JPAE. Think about JAAPA for any research on PAs themselves or PA analogues. Select a PA journal for a personal touch and some really important feedback. Your article will be on a stage with your peers. This gives you the home crowd advantage.

6. Lose ownership. Remember how I said your dissertation is like your baby? Well, your baby now has gone through elementary school and the tumultuous teenage years and currently is entering college. Your publication needs you to back off and give it some space. It will leave home for a while (often for the long review process). When it comes back, it might need to do some laundry, but it should essentially not look at all like the baby you once knew. A publication should look like a publication, not a dissertation. It should be neat and mature and all grown up.

7. Try for the highest level journal you can realistically get published in. Here is the main problem: time. You cannot ethically submit the same article to multiple journals. You will need to make sure you have three completely separate articles in order to submit to multiple journals. There are many people who believe you should publish in the most prestigious journal you can make it into. I do not disagree with this philosophy; however, the alternative is that your work might not get read in a higher scholarly journal because PAs and PA educators don’t tend to read these other journals. This is for you to decide. There are websites that can help you determine where to publish. But be careful and check out Beall’s List, a list of potentially predatory “scholarly” open-access publishers.

8. Best of luck — and don’t fail to publish. Don’t bake your cake and not put it in the oven. Remember to reach out to your peers within the profession to aid in your success. Ultimately, your committee will be pleased to add a publication to their CVs. They will remember this as their reward for all the hard work that they (and you) put into your PhD.

A publication is the lasting legacy for all of your tough efforts and sacrifice. It is the “so what” of all you have put into this academic Mt. Everest. Consider the impact that your work will have on the profession. Don’t run the marathon (or climb the mountain) and not cross the finish line!

Jennifer Coombs, PhD, MPAS, PA-C

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• Writing Tips

The Ultimate Guide to Getting Your Thesis Published in a Journal

• 7-minute read
• 25th February 2023

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

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

Pre-Publication Preparations

Understanding the publishing process.

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

●  How well will my research fit the journal?

●  Are the reputation and quality of this journal high?

●  Who is this journal’s readership/audience?

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

●  What’s the journal’s rejection rate?

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

Revising Your Thesis

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

Areas for Improvement

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

Additional areas of improvement include>

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

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

·   Reformatting tables and figures.

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

Identifying Potential Publishers

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

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

○  Elsevier JournalFinder

○  EndNote Matcher

○  Journal/Author Name Estimator (JANE)

○  Publish & Flourish Open Access

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

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

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

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

Submitting Your Thesis

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

Preparing Your Submission

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

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

Navigating the Peer Review Process

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

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

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

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

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

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

After Publication

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

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

●  Email your academic mentors.

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

●  Add the article to your LinkedIn publications.

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

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

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

What are the benefits of getting your thesis published?

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

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

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

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

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

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Revising Your Dissertation for Publication

While a dissertation’s in-depth research and analysis can provide a strong foundation for a book, the dissertation itself is not a book and will not be published by an academic press without substantial revisions. Some acquisitions editors are interested first books, especially if they bring new perspectives and fresh ideas to a field, while others do not often publish first books. If you are considering submitting your dissertation for publication, we recommend that you contact editors at university presses that publish in your subject area for guidance on revising your work. Many editors prefer to be involved in the early stages of this process so they can advise you on how to structure the book and your arguments to create a publishable book. Editors generally require changes in the length, content, tone, and style of a dissertation in order to produce a book that will appeal to buyers in the academic market. Read more about submitting a proposal in our Scholarly Publishing Guide .

Below are selected resources to help you revise your dissertation for publication as a book or journal article(s).

Advice from publishers

• Harvard University Press
• Palgrave Macmillan
• Rowman & Littlefield
• Taylor & Francis
• University of North Carolina Press
• Yale University Press
• Publisher Policies on using content in both a thesis or dissertation and an article (from MIT Libraries)
• From Dissertation to Book by William Germano (Lauinger Library, 4th Floor, PN162 .G37 2013)
• Revising Your Dissertation, Updated Edition : Advice from Leading Editors (updated edition, 2008) edited by Beth Luey (online; GU NetID and password required)
• From Dissertation to Book , Duke University (February 27, 2018)
• From Dissertation to Book ( full transcript ), Harvard University (December 17, 2010)
• How To Turn Your Dissertation into a Book , Yale University (April 6, 2016)
• From Dissertation to Book by Leonard Cassuto (Chronicle of Higher Education, May 30, 2011)
• From Dissertation to Published Book (lanugageandphilosophy.com report on an American Comparative Literature Association workshop)
• Give It a Rest by Laura Portwood-Stacer (Inside Higher Ed, August 6, 2019)
• The Stages of Revising a Dissertation into a Book by Amy Benson Brown (Journal of Scholarly Publishing, vol. 52 no. 2, 2021, p. 127-140) (GU NetID and password required)
• Turning Your Dissertation into a Book (University of Washington)
• Publishing your Dissertation (American Psychological Association)

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Copyright and publishing your dissertation: step 2: seek permission if needed.

• Understand Copyright Basics
• Step 1: Consider Whether You Need Permission
• Step 2: Seek Permission If Needed
• Step 3: Address Non-Copyright Law & Policy Concerns
• Step 4: Address Publication Issues
• Additional Resources and Support

Step 2: Seek Permission if Needed

⇒ If the copyright holder's permission is needed, how do you get it?

• If you couldn't answer YES to any question in Step 1, you'll need to seek the copyright holder's permission to include his/her work in your dissertation . Step 2 explains how to seek that permission.

⇒ Research & locate the copyright holder

In many cases, requesting permission to use published materials is straightforward. It’s best to start with the article or book publishers’ websites, which often have Web forms for making such requests. For example,  here is IEEE's page  spelling out how to make publication re-use requests.

In other cases, you might need to do some digging first to identify the copyright holder. Below are some suggestions if you need help. For more background, you may also wish to check out  Peter  Hirtle's   Copyright & Cultural Institutions, Chapter 8 .

U.S. Copyright Office Database :  Search a public database of all works registered with the U.S. Copyright Office after Jan. 1, 1978.

Materials from an Archive or Library Special Collections:  It is possible (though not guaranteed) that the library or archive you used has donor information (if the donor was also the copyright holder), or transfer data that accompanied the acquisition of the collection.

WATCH File :  The Writers, Artists, and Their Copyright Holders database contains primarily the names and addresses of copyright holders or contact persons for authors and artists whose archives are housed, in whole or in part, in libraries and archives in North America and the U.K.

Copyright Clearance Center :  Commercial services like  the Copyright Clearance Center can , for a fee, streamline the process by searching for the rights holder and  securing the license for you.

⇒ Ask for permission in writing, and covering intended uses

• Remember that your dissertation will be submitted to ProQuest  and  a copy will be available online in eScholarship - the UC system's online repository. So, when you contact the rights holder for a license, be sure that the rights you obtain cover online distribution. In addition, you may wish to request in advance worldwide rights for all formats if you intend to publish a subsequent book or articles using the same material; alternatively, you could go back to the rights holder later and ask for permission for these subsequent publications.
• Be sure to ask for permission in writing and keep records for your files, just as you did with a fair use analysis. This will be important not just if the copyright holder later challenges your use, but also if your later publisher asks to see these conveyances of permission. Written requests (even if unanswered) can at times also be considered evidence of good faith should your use be challenged. 
• University of Texas Libraries: Template letter for requesting permission
• George Washington University Library: Sample permission letter
• UCLA Library: Sample permission letter
• The University of Michigan also has an excellent guide  on securing permissions for copyrighted resources--including for films, book chapters, music, fine art, photos, and more.
• Keep in mind that, even if you believe your use would be fair regardless of whether you're subsequently publishing commercially, your  publisher  may require you to secure permissions merely as a matter of policy.   Ultimately, you'll have to make a judgment call about whether, in anticipation of future book publishing needs, you choose to ask copyright holders  now  for their permission to publish both in your dissertation and all subsequent commercial endeavors.

⇒ Silence is not permission  

• If you do not hear back in response to your request, this does not mean you automatically have rights to publish the material; a copyright holder can still later challenge your use. A copyright holder's silence turns the situation into one of risk assessment for you--you'll have to consider whether to keep seeking permission, the likelihood (or not) of the rights holder challenging your use, and (possibly) whether to use different material or leave it out.

⇒ Plan ahead

• It can take weeks (or months) to hear back from rights holders. And, remember you need to go through this permission process for each copyrighted work that you're using beyond fair use. So, it's best to get started early with permissions-seeking in the research and writing process.

Jump to Workflow Steps

Step 1:  Do you need permission?

Step 2:  Seek permission if needed.

Step 3:  Address non-copyright concerns.

Step 4:  Address publication issues.

• << Previous: Step 1: Consider Whether You Need Permission
• Next: Step 3: Address Non-Copyright Law & Policy Concerns >>
• Last Updated: May 23, 2022 1:16 PM
• URL: https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/copyright-dissertation

How to Get Your Thesis Published

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

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

Graduate Writing

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

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

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

When to Publish?

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

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

Tips and Common Concerns

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

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

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

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

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

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How to Get Your Dissertation Published

by Rachel Aaron, PhD | Jan 15, 2018 | Student & Intern Resources | 1 comment

Preparing your dissertation for publication can feel overwhelming. The dissertation represents the pinnacle of many challenging years in graduate school.

By the time its defended, you have no doubt poured countless hours into its design, implementation, and writing. It has likely been formally proposed, heavily critiqued and reformatted, and “defended” to an expert audience.

After this effort, repacking the dissertation into a concise, academic-journal worthy manuscript is time consuming, but completely doable . Here are 8 steps to help you succeed:

1. Give Yourself Ample Time to Meet Your Goals

After your defense, create a realistic timeline with specific goals for publishing your dissertation. Consider impending deadlines (e.g., job applications) in devising your timeline. You may choose to take a break after the dissertation defense before revisiting the document; you have certainly earned a break, and time away can help you gain perspective as you reformat.

Give yourself ample time to complete the task. Although it may seem like reformatting something that’s already been written should be quick and easy, it often takes more time to rewrite something than to write from scratch.

2. Set Small Goals & Reward Yourself Often

Avoid sweeping writing goals: disappointing yourself by not meeting unrealistic goals will hinder your dissertation morale and foster avoidance. Avoidance is common during any writing task, and the urge to avoid can be especially strong when writing your dissertation.

In addition to the mammoth task of repackaging the document for publication, many of us have emotions associated with the process itself. Unfortunately, that PhD at the end of our names is no trade-in for the imposter syndrome many of us experienced through graduate school, and putting our dissertation work on display for our entire academic community to see can be stressful. You may also feel exhausted after all the work you have already poured into it.

Know that these feelings are normal, and set yourself up for success by setting small goals. Minute goals! Whatever keeps you engaged in the process to reduce avoidance. Some people use the technique of writing at least something (e.g., 1 sentence, 1 paragraph, 30 minutes) every day.

You can also endeavor to simply open the document every day to promote approaching the task.

Reward yourself for completing these small goals. It may take years for your dissertation publication to hit the printing press, so don’t wait until then to pop champagne.

3. Shift Your Mindset from Dissertation to Publication

The context of a dissertation is much different than that of a manuscript publication. The dissertation is a narrative: your committee is intimately aware of your thought processes over the years. You have had many opportunities to convey the impact of your work through clinical anecdotes, persuasion, and compelling visual and oral presentations. Your committee wants you to succeed and has helped you achieve that success over the years.

From your perspective, you have worked very hard to prove your knowledge to your committee: showing off the thoroughness of your literature review in a lengthy dissertation proposal and/or qualifying exam, your statistical skills in limitless dissertation pages, your critical thinking skills in liberal discussion sections.

As you refocus your introduction for publication, remember that 1) you do not need to prove yourself as a student, but 2) you do need to sell the impact of your work in a concise submission without the context of a personal narrative.

4. Revisit Your Aims

Begin the process of reformatting your dissertation by reworking your aims. This will form the heart of your rewrite. It’s likely that your aims have changed since the inception of your dissertation idea, and will need to be reframed to focus on your most important dissertation findings, or possibly divided up for the purpose of multiple submissions.

Reworking your aims will help focus the rest of your manuscript, and it will also inform decisions related to journal selection. Brainstorm a list of journals for possible submission, choosing a couple of front-runners based on the journal’s central aims and submission requirements. Your selection will help guide the rewrite of other sections of your manuscript.

5. Rework Methods & Results

After you’ve crafted a winning set of aims, determine which analyses are essential to addressing them. Many of your dissertation analyses will likely be extraneous and will not need to be included. You may need to conduct new analyses in their place.

Complete your methods section with only the information essential to understanding your project . At this point in the process, you will know your methods so well it can be difficult to adopt an outside perspective. It can be very helpful to have a co-author or friend review your methods to ensure they make sense to someone not intimately related to your dissertation.

6. Hone Your Introduction

As beautiful, carefully crafted, and thoroughly researched as your dissertation introduction surely was, you will likely have to cut down substantially for the purpose of manuscript submission.

In addition, you will need to incorporate recent literature in your field that has emerged since you completed the introduction to your dissertation, likely conducting another literature review.

Ensure that the introductory information you provide is closely aligned to your manuscript aims, and resist the urge to include extraneous information.

7. Summarize Results in a Compelling Discussion Section

Once you have drafted your introduction, methods, and results, it’s time to summarize your findings in a compelling discussion section tightly linked to your study aims. Again, you will need to rework the dissertation discussion section for the purpose of publication.

Your dissertation committee may have enjoyed your waxing narrative about the potential world-changing implications and career building future directions of your research; however, the editors and reviewers who review your work will expect a straightforward discussion section that describes how your work aligns with similar findings in the field.

They will expect to see an appreciation of the limitations of your research and inconsistencies with existing data. So, keep your discussion grounded in reality, and straight to the point!

8. Submit for Publication

If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to tailor the manuscript for submission to a specific journal. Once everything has been formatted correctly, you are ready to submit.

Once you submit, celebrate! And then, brace yourself for reviewer feedback and possible resubmission to a new journal. Such feedback, particularly on a product for which you have worked so diligently, can be difficult to face and to incorporate into a new draft. But once you have a complete publication-ready draft, it will be much easier to tinker until it is reviewer- and editor-approved.

Publishing your dissertation can be time intensive and daunting. But know that after a successful dissertation defense, the hardest work is over. Be patient with yourself throughout the rewrite process and reward yourself liberally. Eventually, you will see your hard work come to life as a peer-reviewed journal article!

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Excellent blog article! These helpful tips are just the motivation I needed to pull the dissertation out and whip it into publication shape.

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How to Turn Your Dissertation into a Book

Why write a book? There are many reasons. Writing a book helps you clarify your thinking, establishes your authority, boosts your confidence, promotes your research, expands your audience, helps other people, brings you income, and outlives you. As students at the GC, many of us write book-length dissertations at the cutting edge of our research fields.

On the other hand, your dissertation and your book proposal exist in two different genres. Whereas your dissertation is a document designed to show your work and support your candidature as a newly-minted (or soon-to-be) PhD, your book is an exercise in storytelling. You are now the expert, and you’re crafting a story for a broader audience that should take them on an intellectual as well as emotional journey.

Whether you’re considering an academic or a popular press, this blog post discusses some tips and guidelines in turning your dissertation into a book. It is adapted from advice given by the GC’s own Ken Wissoker, director of the Intellectual Publics initiative and editorial director of Duke University Press, at his recent GC event  From Dissertation to First Book: A Practical Guide .

Building the Foundation

It’s important for people to know who you are as an author for your book to have success. Try to publish a few articles based on chapters of your dissertation in journals that are relevant to the topic and area you’ve been researching. Alternatively, publish an article or two based on research you’ve done that is more peripheral to your main book argument. Try to avoid distilling all the points that will form the core of your book in a single article.

You can also establish a print presence by writing for blogs (read more about how to write and publish op-eds in our recent  blog post ), as well as local print and magazines. While this can help you to get a potential following, it also helps prospective publishers feel more confident in your brand image, as well as your expertise and ability to deliver and promote your message to a broad, academic or non-academic audience.

Today’s world is digital, so it’s a good idea to have a website and a blog. It’s also good to be active on social media like Facebook and Twitter. Consider making a professional Facebook page. You could even consider making short YouTube videos about your research findings or teaching modules. These are all ways you can think about branding yourself, and creating a broader impact that will make publishers see your presence and be more likely to want to invest in you! (Read more about how to re-brand yourself for non-academic careers in our  blog post .)

Re-working Your Dissertation

After you’ve completed your dissertation, take a step back. Ask yourself, what is my dissertation trying to do? Think about it as a film: you’re the director, so what scenes does the audience need to get to understand the film? To help yourself in this process, try to define your audience who will read the book. Focus on what your audience needs: go to their conferences, talk to people, and look at recent and widely-read publications in the field.

The books that become the most valuable and influential are those that generate their own theory. Take the time to ask yourself, “What am I going to be most quoted for by other people?” Let the theoretical concepts you’re articulating come out of the actual research work and empirical data. Don’t force it! Only add what helps to make your points clearer. It’s the way in which your story and your theory go together that will make your book compelling.

As in other styles of persuasive writing (like  grant writing ), it’s a good idea to structure your book around a “hook”. This means don’t make it a predictable narrative, but instead present the narrative as a paradox, an unexpected development, or an unresolved question that merits further inquiry. This helps to get your reader emotionally invested in your prose, and provides intellectual energy that keeps the reader’s interest over the pages that follow.

There are many ways to write a dissertation. Typically, you want to provide the historical and theoretical background to your thesis, a discussion of how you got there (your methodology), followed by chapters discussing and unpacking different facets of the experience; finally, draw your conclusions. For your first book, everything is flipped. You have to demonstrate what you want to argue at the beginning. You have to commit to that core message, and let the other pieces of the investigation fall away. Most of the literature review that took a substantive place in your dissertation will now drop down into the footnotes of your book.

When putting your proposal in front of an editor, try to anticipate the objections that will be raised in the book review process, and do the minimal work necessary to allay those objections in advance. While it may sound obvious, it’s worth restating the importance of writing confidently. You are now the expert! Because of this, the flow and style of the prose should reflect your own writing voice.

Remember that reframing your dissertation as a book is a process that takes time. For people working in full-time academic positions, it typically takes three or four years to develop the book while juggling other commitments, so don’t be too hard on yourself if progress goes more slowly than you’d like.

Getting a Book Deal

If you’re considering an academic press, consider that when it comes to getting academic tenure, all publishers are not weighted equally on the job market. Bear in mind the implications of your choice of publisher on the career you want to make for yourself. Search out prestigious university publishers, or smaller publishers that specialize directly in your area of expertise.

When courting an editor, the important things to give them when making your introduction are these. First, let them know your intervention, and what’s at stake in your work. Second, communicate what stage of completion your dissertation is currently in. Third, show them a chapter-by-chapter outline. And finally, send them a writing sample. It’s also a good idea to have on hand an introduction chapter handy, as well as a chapter from the body of the book, to send to the editor.

Your cover letter to the publishing house is the equivalent of an extended “elevator pitch,” in which you discuss the topic, methods, main findings, and broader impacts of your research in a concise manner. In terms of format, your cover letter should spend two or three paragraphs describing your project and your authorial credentials. It’s important to review the submission guidelines on a publishing agent’s website first, and make sure you tailor the description of your proposed book to their requirements.

More rarely, other things you may be asked for include a biographical sketch of the author. Depending on the publisher, you may be asked to provide a marketing proposal, along with sample publicity to promote the book, and possibly a discussion of competing books.

If you are asked to select potential readers for your book, think of people whom you think it would be helpful to receive comments from in your field.

Remember that it’s ok to have presses be in competition over your book. You can even tell the editors which other presses your book is under consideration for, and this will tend to solicit these editors to give you different feedback and advice about your manuscript.

Finally, if you’re writing for a popular press, you may want to hire an agent to promote your work. Do your research beforehand to find out if getting an agent is the right choice for you. A good way to find a suitable agent is to ask for referrals from people in your professional network, or from authors and book acknowledgments that may be topical to your own research. Consider joining the website  www.publishersmarketplace.com , where you can create a web page to promote your work and network with agents and other authors (for a monthly subscription fee of $25).

Once You’ve Been Published

Leverage your book to build your brand. Solicit positive reviews on Amazon from friends, family, colleagues, and people in your social networks. Make friends with your local bookstore/s, and volunteer to sign all their copies. They’ll be grateful, and more willing to promote your work and give you free marketing in your city. There’s nothing better than word-of-mouth advertising!

Finally… start thinking about your next book.

Further References:

Germano, William. 2013.  From Dissertation to Book . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Germano, William. 2016.  Getting it Published: A Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious about Serious Books . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

– Anders Wallace

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The Difference Between a Published & Unpublished Dissertation

How to Locate PhD Dissertations

A dissertation is the main element in completion of a Ph.D. The central element of a doctoral dissertation, and the quality that differentiates it from a master's thesis or an undergraduate thesis, is that it must make an original contribution to its field, usually using primary research. The structure and content of a completed doctoral dissertation is often very different from the structure required for articles or books that are based on it.

Unpublished Dissertations

When a Ph.D. candidate completes her dissertation, this usually results in three or four copies: one each for the candidate, the dissertation supervisor, the university library and sometimes an archive. Unless a dissertation is subsequently published, these are the only copies that are ever created. What this means in practical terms is that unpublished dissertations are almost never widely read. The vast majority of dissertations serve their purpose of gaining a Ph.D. for their author and then fade into obscurity. If you write a dissertation that you want to have an impact, you will need to revise it and publish it in some form.

One of the easiest options for getting your research into published form is to revise a single chapter into an article for a peer-reviewed journal in your field. The difference between this article and an unpublished dissertation is clear: The article is present in a journal that is printed in thousands of copies and distributed to influential academics around the world. In most cases, the editors of the journal will want the form of the dissertation chapter reworked to some extent to make it more accessible to readers who are probably not experts in that particular subject matter.

Motivated dissertation authors often seek to have their dissertations published in book form. As with journal articles, books that are based on dissertations need to be reworked. This usually takes the form of downplaying the methodology and literature-review sections, cutting down on the density of footnotes and references and generally making the text more readable to non-specialists. A published book can get your name out in your academic field and to the world in general. Having a book and some published articles in your field will be helpful to you in advancing your academic career. Within academia, an unpublished dissertation is really nothing more than a prerequisite.

Online Publishing

The Internet has opened up tremendous new opportunities for academic publishing. While having your work accessible online doesn't carry the same weight with hiring committees as an article in a peer-reviewed journal, or better yet a book, it is an effective way to make yourself and your work known, as long as you get it published in the right places. Making contacts through online publishing can be an effective stepping stone toward breaking into journals and book publishing. It's also a useful way to get feedback from other academics about your work.

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• University of California Berkeley/Graduate Division: Publishing Your Dissertation

Jagg Xaxx has been writing since 1983. His primary areas of writing include surrealism, Buddhist iconography and environmental issues. Xaxx worked as a cabinetmaker for 12 years, as well as building and renovating several houses. Xaxx holds a Doctor of Philosophy in art history from the University of Manchester in the U.K.

How to Publish in Google Scholar?

When searching for academic information or articles, there are several ways to do it. You can use Internet search engines, but the results of this search may come from unreliable sources ; or you can approach virtual libraries or academic search engines. Among all the academic search engines and databases that we can currently find, Google Scholar stands out.

Google Scholar is a search engine specialized in academic documents, whether they are articles, books, theses, etc. This documentation can come from different sources, whether publishers, universities, or journals. Google Scholar works in a very similar way to Google's own search engine, performing a search in the search bar and displaying the results following an algorithm similar to the one used in the browser.

In this article, we will explain the steps to get your article published in Google Scholar, how to perform searches and the benefits of this academic search engine.

How Do I Publish My Article in Google Scholar?

First of all, you need to access Google Scholar and log in. Generally, like with the Google browser, Google Scholar will log in with the email account that you have by default in the search engine.

If you are using Google Scholar for the first time, My profile section will appear at the top left. This section will look like this:

If you enter with your institution's email, Google will most likely give you a warning and recommend you enter a personal email, to ensure that you will always have access to your Scholar account. In the sections that appear you will be able to enter your institution's email if you want to.

Once you have filled in the required fields, you will arrive at a new section where you will have the option to search for your academic articles, so that you can easily add them to your profile.

You can select from the articles shown or search by a different name in the search bar above. It also allows you to search for articles individually or by groups of articles. To do this, select Groups or Articles at the top.

When you have selected your articles, you can move on to the next step, where you will have the option of modifying some features regarding your account.

By following these steps, you will now be able to view your articles from your own profile. Once here, you will also be able to modify your profile data, add a visible photo and specify the fields you are interested in.

Add Articles Manually

To add publications that do not appear in Google Scholar, you can go to the add article manually option in your profile.

Once you have clicked here, a window will appear where you can enter the information to use as a bibliographic reference, as it is not possible to enter the whole article.

Tip : Be sure to keep your profile updated and confirm that the articles displayed are yours and remove those that are not. In case any article is detected that is not of your authorship, penalties may be applied.

How to Search in Google Scholar?

Similar to how the Google search engine works, Google Scholar has a search bar to enter the terms you are interested in. Once you have entered them, a series of results will appear, sorted in a similar way to how the browser's algorithm does.

In this search screen, you will see different options. In the left bar, you will have the option to filter the articles by year. You will also find the option to sort the articles by relevance or by date. In addition, like Google alerts, you will be able to create your own alerts, that will notify you in case there are new articles published on a specific topic that may be of your interest.

Under each article, you can also find several options:

• Save : With this option, you can save the article in your own library to read it later or to have quicker access in case you need to come back to it.
• Cite : this option takes you to the section where you will be able to cite the specific article and in which format you want the citation. The options given are BibTex , EndNote , RefMan, and RefWorks . Right next to it, it also shows you the number of citations that the article you are consulting has and the access to those same citations.
• Related articles : related academic articles.
• Versions : not all articles have this section. In case it does, it shows you all the versions that can be found of the article.

Benefits of Google Scholar

Having explained how Google Scholar works, the question is: what advantages can we extract from its use?

• It allows you to search a wide variety of academic documentation , from scientific articles to theses, including conference papers. This gives you access to a wide range of information that can support your research.
• When using a search engine, it allows us to enter the search terms of what we are looking for. Not only that, but it also allows us to find related material that may be useful with the search engine's own suggestions.
• It shows us how many times an article has been cited (either our own or someone else's) as well as where it has been cited and the citation style that has been used for it. It can also be used to cite an article ourselves.
• You can easily save articles for later access.
• You can find documents in different languages.
• It's a very complete tool to find Open Access documentation on the Internet , without necessarily having to search for it on a specific site.
• Anyone can access this search engine and find articles on any academic topic in which they may be interested, whether they are related to the academic field or not.

Orvium Connects You to Google Scholar

Now that you know better what Google Scholar is and how it works, you can see how important it is that your article is correctly indexed and that it shows up in this search engine easily. Google Scholar is a tool that promotes Open Access to different articles and helps your document to have more reach and visibility.

Therefore, at Orvium we are indexed with both Google Scholar and OpenAire , ensuring that all articles displayed on our platform can be easily found in this search engine.

If you want to know more about how we work, do not hesitate to visit our website and get more information.

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