Microsoft Word - ROAR_ Turnign yoru dissertation into a publishable journal paper

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Tribe, R. & Tunariu, A.D. (2016) Turning your dissertation into a publishable journal

article Counselling Psychology Review, 31,1, 50-58

TURNING YOUR DISSERTATION INTO A PUBLISHABLE JOURNAL

ARTICLE

Abstract

The dissertation and a peer reviewed journal article are rather different entities, and

although there are similarities, each has their own requirements and audiences. This

paper provides guidelines to assist a doctoral candidate to write up and publish journal

articles based on their doctoral dissertation. The task of doing so requires thought and

structured preparation to ensure that the draft article is in the appropriate format and is

ready to be considered for publication in a peer reviewed journal. There are multiple

benefits for publishing peer reviewed journal articles. Apart from making a scholarly

contribution to the collective body of knowledge, it represents the possibility of making

public and celebrating the voice of the research participants and/or service users, and

so influencing practice and, potentially, effecting service provision. In addition, within

a highly competitive job market, there may be potential employability advantages of

having evidence of your work contributing to theory development or to practice in your

chosen profession or specialism. A range of recommendations and suggestions are

offered here to assist with the transition from an academic thesis to a journal ready,

publishable paper. These relate to the preparation required in advance of writing the

journal paper (an area which is often ignored), as well as issues relating to selecting an

appropriate journal, decisions about which parts of the thesis may constitute the paper,

and a variety of other issues associated with the writing up and the publication

processes.

The importance of publishing

To have been awarded a Doctorate or PhD degree, the author usually must have undertaken an

original piece of empirical research. The work has already been ‘quality stamped’ as it will

have been assessed by several academics and deemed to have been good enough to lead to the

award of a Doctorate or PhD. This in itself does not guarantee it will be accepted as a peer-

reviewed journal paper in the shape or format that it is; primarily because the thesis, its

structure and content, are shaped by requirements which differ to those required by a journal.

Put simply, the thesis is a means of assessing the candidate’s research competencies and

typically requires a comprehensive display of research methods knowledge including the

ability to design, investigate, and present well supported empirical claims about a proposed

phenomenon with a particular attention to the author as an apprentice or professional in

training.

If this work is not published in a scholarly journal it will reach a limited audience. As such, it

is highly unlikely to influence practice or thinking and it will remain largely unread except

possibly by the examiners, research supervisors, other doctoral candidates, peers; or perhaps

the occasional academic. In general, theses which remain in academic libraries are unlikely to

be accessed by service providers, service users, or commissioners of services or funders. By

publishing a journal paper, the writer is reaching out to wider and diverse audiences. These

may include, but are not limited to, academics, researchers, service users, commissioners,

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managers, colleagues, and other professionals. Undoubtedly undertaking research as part of

the requirement for obtaining academic awards is important - its findings could, however, reach

more people and so have wider benefits if published as a journal article. Although there are

other means of disseminating findings such as conference presentations, this is a different

mechanism and this paper will focus on peer-reviewed journal articles

For most graduates, publishing an academic article based on their research thesis should be

automatically viewed as the next step. The reality is that this process can seem daunting and

may bring up some apprehension – not least since it may seem time consuming and other work

or life pressures can intervene. As your research supervisor may have emphasised to you

already, through the journey of developing the thesis you have become something of an expert

on the topic investigated and so through publishing the findings of your work, others will also

become aware of this aspect of your professional profile. The publication of an academic paper

also demonstrates a range of additional, transferable skills of the author including good time

management, confidence in their ideas and knowledge base, and the ability to write coherently

and succinctly to a set structure and audience (Williams, 2005).. Many more papers are

submitted for publication than actually get published and therefore getting published is itself a

mark of achievement.

Initial preparation and timing

Time and timing are of the essence in several ways. Once a paper is submitted to a journal this

is sent, with all identifying information about the author(s) removed, to at least two independent

reviewers who are selected based on their professional affiliations and their knowledge and

expertise about the topic under review. You can only submit a paper to one journal at a time.

Sometimes, a paper will be rejected without review because of a poor fit between the article

and the journal or because the journal has already published a lot on a particular topic). The

reviewers’ comments and the journal editor’s decision about the paper tend to arrive within 1-

12 months after submission of the article. It may come back with an invitation to resubmit

subject to minor or major changes, or it may be rejected. Try not to take negative comments

personally, even though it can feel like it. If it is rejected from one journal you can then submit

to another journal. Invariably the vast majority of the comments are constructive and, if

engaged with, will improve the quality of the paper.

It is recommended that the write up is started fairly soon after the viva examination or the

award of the degree; in this way the subject matter is fresh and familiar, and the literature

review section relatively up to date. Some doctoral candidates find starting a journal paper

between the time of the hand-in of the thesis and their viva to be a good way of preparing for

their viva itself as it focuses the mind on key aspects of the thesis, controversies, and its take-

home messages. Experience shows that recently qualified graduates who postpone the write-

up tend to find it difficult to go back to it after time has passed. They feel they have “lost touch”

with its messages and they may need additional time re-familiarising themselves with it.

Getting advice and support from your supervisor or senior colleagues who have published

articles is therefore best undertaken at an early stage in the process.

Reducing your thesis

Your thesis is likely to have been between fifteen thousand and eighty thousand words in length

and a typical jou

rnal article is up to five thousand words including references; so for

publication, the thesis is going to have the word count cut considerably, however, a journal

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article still has to stand alone and contain enough background information to enable the reader

to understand the entire project. The author can, however, assume that the audience has some

familiarity with the topic. The rationale of study (why it was necessary and important) has to

be embedded and explained persuasively in relation to the literature. It must have an impact so

the readers of the journal are sufficiently interested to carry on reading.

There are a number of ways of approaching the task of deciding how the thesis is going to be

reduced. You may find that your article is too long or too complex if you just attempt a précis

of your dissertation rather develop aspects of it. Return to consult the abstract and the final

conclusions written for the thesis. Focus on distilling key findings, on what emerges as most

significant to the participants, or what from your study can most usefully be translated to inform

practice. Re-view your findings section through the lens of quality, value, and impact. You

may focus on one or two themes or one or hypotheses that are salient, clinically significant,

theoretically important, statistically significant, or fit well with the agenda of a particular

journal; rather than try to capture them all. For example, a thesis may have tested multiple

hypotheses or generated multiple themes (and often sub-themes) and each had been adequately

supported by the data. However some may accentuate the originality of the project more; for

instance, rather than confirming existing ideas they begin to destabilise it and so open up fresh,

viable, future work and possibilities for re-thinking the phenomenon. Mixed methods theses

might yield both a quantitative and a qualitative paper.

Look to tell one clear story. Other interpretative stories emerging from your thesis can be

developed at a later stage, for another journal article. Recent graduates have recounted the

psychological leap required when cutting down pages and pages of the thesis. Think of it as

“letting go” for now rather than “cutting” as in dismissing your work. Consider these pages not

as discarded but as possibly forming the basis of another paper. Placing sections of your thesis

which are not going to be used in the draft into an additional file rather than pressing the delete

button may feel like a different psychological process.

The Title

The title selected for your paper will determine to some degree who reads it with the relevant

search engines responding to key words. Ensure that the title accurately reflects the content of

the paper and stimulates interest. Whilst a snappy or amusing title may seem a good idea, it

may not benefit your work and may inadvertently restrict the readership. A clear title which

mentions key variables and captures the heart of the phenomenon considered is essential. This

may be the title of the thesis or it may a new title relating more directly to the thematic message

that you have re-worked for the journal article. When the title is a good reflection of the re-

worked paper, the rest follows into place; for example it will guide the streamlining of the

literature review and methodology sections.

Where to publish?

The author needs to decide which journal they wish to submit to before starting to rework the

thesis and in doing so reflect on their aims and target audiences. The intention may be to reach

a sub-group of professionals, or working with a particular client group or those working in a

specific context. The author also needs to consider the academic impact rating (known as the

impact factor or IF) or the “prestige” of the journal and whether the notion of publishing in a

high impact factor journal matters to them. Some authors select a high impact journal and

others decide to select a journal depending on the readership and the journal’s orientation. Most

journals are awarded an annual impact rating based on an evaluation system relating to the

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average number of times papers published within a journal are cited (Journal Citation reports).

If an academic career is your future aspiration, this is likely to matter more than if you plan to

work as an applied professional. If the former, you may wish to also check Citation Indexes

such as the Web of Science or Scorpus which are best accessed via academic libraries. There

are also free Citation Indexes including CiteSeer and Google Scholar, although these tend to

be generally less comprehensive. Or perhaps you are more concerned with ensuring that your

research findings are known to your professional division or grouping. If so, you may wish to

consider which database covers that journal; for example, is it important that users of

PsycINFO, Science Direct, or another database can access your paper?

When selecting an appropriate journal to publish in it is necessary to ascertain whether the

journal favours a particular epistemological or methodological approach or theoretical model.

Some journals produce statistics showing how many articles are sent to them and how many

are published. Likewise, if a journal is primarily for practitioners, they may not be interested

in pages of statistical analysis, whilst if it is a more theoretical journal its readers may be less

interested in pages about the practical implications of your research. These strategies will help

towards finding a good fit (including objectives, format, and standards) and will lessen the

chance of rejection which can feel disheartening and disempowering –Many journals are happy

for a potential article author to email the journal editor with an abstract or a brief description

of the proposed research paper and methodology, and request their opinion about the suitability

for that journal in advance of submission. You will also know from your dissertation which

journals are frequently cited within your particular area of expertise/ thesis topic. Different

journals have distinct emphases and style requirements. If you do not adhere to these your

article may be rejected purely on that basis. As well as giving the required headings, the journal

website will stipulate the number of words allowed in an abstract and overall. With electronic

submissions, the words are counted automatically, so that one extra word may prevent you

from being able to submit your paper.

Hardcopy or open access journals?

There are open access journals, online journals, and print journals. On the positive side open

access (OA) journals allow anyone with appropriate technology to access your paper - these

articles are always free to the person accessing them. There can be a cost to making an article

open access from the writer’s point of view, but not for the reader. With online journals,

some may be free (OA), others available via library subscriptions, others you may need to

pay to access.

Open access may increase the visibility of your work; the audience can include

service users, and people without connections to academic libraries. Publication may happen

much more quickly and it may be a more environmentally friendly option, as well as being

easier to store. Some open access journals have high academic credentials and others less so.

Some hold clear commercial objectives and will charge a fee from authors for publication of

articles. These are sometimes referred to as fee-based open access; the fee may be paid by an

institution or professional organisation and so these may be subsidised or indeed free to

publish within. Some will publish anything they are sent – what is termed ‘vanity

publishing’– and may charge the author for the privilege. Whilst this may get your name in

print, be mindful whether the journal is widely read, and how it is perceived by the relevant

academic or professional communities.

On the negative side of the argument, some of these journals can have poor quality control

procedures and may not enhance your reputation. Spoof or computer generated papers have

also been accepted by both online and subscription journals in the past (Van Noorden, 2014).

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In a similar spirit, a staff writer for the academic journal Science has tested the open access

system by submitting a paper which they knew to have a number of faults; they found that

approximately 60% of the open access journals accepted this paper. The research comparing

hardcopy or open access journals is still in its relative infancy (e.g., Eysenback, 2006) and there

appear to be rather conflicting results. Bjork et al., (2012), for example, initially found that

citation rates appeared to be 30% higher for subscription journals, but when other discipline-

specific factors were considered, such as age of the journal, size of the publishing country, the

differences were not significant. Mindful that not all potential readers have access to electronic

media or journals some publishers offer a combination of open access and printed copy

(technically, they may offer the author the opportunity to have their article available as Open

Access within a journal that is not generally Open Access (OA) – in which case their OA article

may appear in a print version of the title. It depends on whether the publisher permits the author

to pay for OA, whether the author wishes to pay for this and whether that journal is also

available in print. A hybrid model which combines print and open access has been used where

publishers also offer authors the possibility of paying for Open Access (sometimes known as

“sponsored Open Access”) This has the potential to discriminate against individuals or

organisations who are not in a position to cover these costs.

www.sparceurope.org. It may be

helpful to discuss which journal you are going to focus on with your research supervisor, an

experienced colleague, or subject specialist librarian. You may also wish to consider copyright

issues (who own the data/final paper). It is normal to sign the copyright of the paper over to

the publisher.

Authorship

Anyone publishing a paper needs to ensure that they follow their university and BPS or relevant

guidelines in relation to second or third authorship of publications arising out of a master or

doctoral thesis. The BPS statement on policy and authorship credit (2011) can be located at

(www.bps.org.uk). Your university or programme guidelines can usually be located via your

university’s website. It is quite common for a research supervisor to have second or third

authorship of a paper arising out of a doctoral thesis although this would depend on their input

to the research process. On occasions they may not wish to be named as an author for a variety

of reasons and academic convention would mean that this should be respected. You may bring

in a colleague or external advisor to assist you with the preparation of the journal paper and

may wish to add their name to the journal paper.

Initial work

It is suggested that you re-read in full your dissertation before starting the article. We would

encourage you to use supportive peers and your research supervisor for constructive feedback

and criticism. It can be difficult to see faults in your own dissertation as you have been so

immersed in it. You may find it helpful to take some notes about any gaps which appear in

your own dissertation. Is anything unclear or does not appear to follow logically, is the

grammar correct, clear and easy to follow? You will need to carry out a literature search to

familiarise yourself with the latest findings. The BPS currently provides access to Athens and

electronic databases as part of your membership fee. In addition, many universities offer library

access through their alumni branches and most have a repository of articles in pre-publication

form which are accessible to everyone. Make sure that you have an accurate and complete

record of the sources you review; you may believe you will remember where you saw an article,

in our experience this is frequently not the case. This may save you a lot of time later when

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you draw up a list of references. Programmes such as EndNote or Cite it Right can be very

helpful for this task.

The Process of Writing

Getting started is often what people find the most difficult. A blank page may appear too

daunting as a start for the paper. Your methodology section is unlikely to require substantial

revision so this may be a good place to start. You may then wish to draw up an outline plan of

your article including headings and sub-headings and then select the section you are going to

begin developing. Remember, the outline plan should follow the required format for articles in

the journal that you have selected.

First draft

As mentioned earlier, be prepared to have to exclude or shorten sections already written for

your thesis. Before beginning work on the first draft you would have selected the likely journal

for submission. Your initial outline of the paper will probably have to be modified after your

begin the writing. The first draft aims to bring together the article into a coherent whole – its

subtitles (even if too many at this stage) offer scaffolding and a possible delineation of the

narrative you intend to convey. For a piece of empirical research, the following sections are

the usual format for writing:

i. Abstract. This, as you would know from your thesis, represents the executive summary

of what was done, why and how, and to what ends. When re-working your abstract, it

may be useful to have at hand a couple of abstracts from the selected journal as a guide

to writing your own. There is a tendency to try to include far too much information in

the abstract. Most journals have a word limit for the abstract; it is worth checking this

at this stage.

ii. Keywords. Usually you are asked to offer between 5-10 words that capture the essence

of the paper (e.g., topic; conceptual approach; methodology; applications). Select these

carefully as search engines may use these to identify (or not) your article.

iii. Introduction/literature review. A funnel approach to this section can be a useful

heuristic: What do we know about the phenomenon under discussion? What don’t we

know? Why is it important to know this? What is your paper proposing to do towards

this end? (e.g. bridging a gap in the literature; clarifying a previous idea; illustrating an

approach, testing a hypothesis and illustrating its contribution to theory or practice

development). You have already reviewed the literature and should be familiar with the

general narrative you wish to convey. Towards the end of ‘funnel’ section you set up

the argument of the paper. That is, you consolidate and focus the rationale for the study.

Guide the reader on what to expect from your paper. Remember to check to see if any

relevant new research has been published since the submission of your thesis and

include this appropriately.

iv. Method and methodologies. This section is an account of the approach, methods and

procedures that generated the findings and the claims you can later make about these.

It tends to include a general description of the participants, measurements/instruments

used, treatment conditions if applicable etc. The section should be sufficiently detailed

to allow replication and/or transferability of knowledge by others. Try and keep it short,

simple and logically ordered; avoid being repetitive.

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v. Results/Findings. Here you offer a set of answers to the research questions or

hypotheses proposed. You outline what your method produced in the way of data and

the results of its analysis. It does not include evaluation of the results in the light of

more general questions and methodological issues; this is reserved for the discussion.

Be tentative in your explanations and mindful of the limitations of your study. Do not

make grandiose or over-generalised claims based on your results. The section may

begin with some caveats relating to an interpretation of your findings (e.g. size and

representativeness of your sample; sophistication of methodological design and of data

analysis). Remember to always pay particular attention to journal style regarding tables,

figures, abbreviations, etc. The basics of a good results section should be clear and

concise and contain only the appropriate information.

vi. Discussion. Here you drop the results/findings/claims back into the relevant literature

and engage with the conceptual ripples that this generates. You return to the aims and

rationale of the study. This section does not reiterate the results but discusses your

proposed interpretation about them. Discussions need to relate to issues mentioned in

the introduction /literature review. Design flaws and alternative interpretations should

also be mentioned. Cautiously discuss the implications of your findings. Avoid the

temptation to develop claims which might be viewed as overly optimistic. Your

discussion will also need to include what might be done next and any future research

ideas. In short, the introduction section sets the stage and the final section draws things

together. The middle section might be a series of points/ arguments but this depends on

the nature of the material. When in doubt, discuss it with your supervisor / co-author,

and look for appropriate models in journals.

Revision of the first draft

Expect revisions of the first draft, most papers require this before they are ready for submission.

Seek and welcome critical comments; engage with their content and the possibilities they open

up, even if you later decide to reject further modifications. Comments are likely to reflect the

fact that there may be insufficient emphasis on certain points or that parts of your article need

to be expressed more clearly. As always, ensure that your article fits the style of the journal

you are writing for.

The final version

All journals now require electronic submission, this is done via the journal’s website and the

main author needs to follow the requirements precisely. The words will be counted as you

submit the paper and will include references, any extracts or numerical data, diagrams and

anything which forms part of the paper including titles and any sub-titles. All journals will

expect you to have taken your research proposal through the relevant ethics committee and

may require evidence of this.

Manuscripts usually have to confirm to the following requirements in this order:

i. Title page, including authors, their professional affiliation and email address/es.

ii. Abstract (normally 150-200 words).

iii. Keywords, (usually 5-10). These key words may be used by people searching for

articles, so it is important to consider which most

accurately describe your

research.

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iv. The main body

v. Brief acknowledgements if appropriate (to source or research grants, technical and

other assistance, not to partners, friends, etc).

vi. References (always follow the required style and do not abbreviate even if printed

articles contain abbreviations).

vii. Tables or diagrams, most journals require each table to be numbered and given a

clear title marked and to be submitted separately.

viii. In some cases you will asked to also provide a “running head title” which is

normally a short version of the main title.

Most journals will ask you to state any conflict of interests. A conflict of interest means, for

example, whether you have received any monies, assistance, or support from an individual,

agency, organisation, or group who might have an interest in a particular result, or similar

potential conflicts of interest. This is not generally applicable at doctoral level, but the

questions must be considered and answered.

Once the paper has been submitted, you can expect to hear from the journal editor with some

feedback and a decision on whether the journal will publish the paper or not. You will

usually receive an email from the editor of the journal with a decision and with the written

comments of at least two anonymous referees who have evaluated the paper. The reviewers

will usually send detailed comments about any changes required as well as some general

feedback about the paper. The answer you receive is not unlike the possible outcomes from

a doctoral viva. You may find the paper is accepted in its current form (this is unusual but

does happen), minor amendments may be required, or the journal editor may ask for

substantial changes and for it to be submitted as a new article. It may also be rejected. If so,

you will receive details of why this was the decision reached; the suggested changes can

often be used as the basis to improve the paper. If the paper is accepted for publication you

will receive the galley proofs from the production editor in due course, which mark any

additional information required, missing information (for example missing references) or

with some journals this may include suggested changes to terminology or to clarify the

meaning of particular sentences. If the paper is accepted you will have to sign a copyright

form and return the proofs with the corrections within the time frame given to you.

Depending on the journal the period between acceptance and actual publication varies

significantly. Some journals put the accepted papers on their website long before they

appear in print. Once the paper is published you may wish to draw it to the attention of

relevant colleagues or interested parties.

The role of social media in disseminating your research

Another useful way to disseminate your research findings is the social media – which needs

to be treated as an important medium for any researcher seeking to have their work known.

Self archiving either in an academic institution repository, usually the university at which

you studied, or a general repository such as Research Gate can also enhance the accessibility

and profile of your research. Moreover, through this you can generate discussions around

your paper and cross reference with similar works. Before uploading a copy of your

published or pre-proof paper you need to ensure adherence with the journal’s copyright

stance.

Blogs are also particularly good avenues for raising awareness of research, more so if this

is linked to a Twitter account. Blogs are low cost to create and many e-platforms such as

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Wordpress and Blogger offer a free service for doing so; and involve little if any

maintenance. Blogs can help build up knowledge of your research which can, in turn,

increase citations and encourage wider debate about key issues raised by your paper.

Research reported by the World Bank (2015), for example, shows that with regard to papers

(about economics in this case) blogging about a paper can substantially increase abstract

views and downloads. As funding bodies are increasingly concerned with seeing evidence

of public engagement, by communicating your work via blogs (hence presenting interesting

findings in nontechnical, accessible language) you can help demonstrate your interest and

skills in delivering relevant research to the general public.

Other social media platforms such as Twitter are also valuable as they enable interactions

with others interested in the topic. Connecting a blog to a Twitter account is a relatively

straightforward process. Tweets are limited to 140 characters in length, which confines what

can be said, but they are nonetheless a fast and effective way of communicating with a very

large audience and can be easily redistributed as others, in turn re-share it within their own

networks. It takes time to build up an audience on any social media platform, so time would

need to be invested in building links and engaging with other users. It can be useful to

identify networks and researchers who have been successful at integrating social media into

their strategies for learning about and sharing research findings.

Web Resources

APA style guide {www.apastyle.org}

BPS Web address {www.bps.org.uk}

Cite this for me – an automatic bibliography generator {www.citethiforme.co}

Harvard referencing generator –a free tool that formats reference using the Harvard

referencing format {www.harvardgenerator.com}

Hybrid – journals http://sparceurope.org/hybrid-journals.

JCR Impact Factor. Journal Citation Reports {http://thomsonreuters.com/journal-citation-

reports/}

List of Psychology Journals {www.psycline.org/} lists approximately 2000 psychology

and social science journal sites. Individual publishing companies also have their own sites

which list the journals they publish and searching Ebscohost.com/academic/psychology-

behavioural sciences-collection may also be helpful

https://blogs.worldbank.org/impactevaluations/files/impactevaluations/dispatchsection

2.pdf accessed February 2015

Research Gate www.researchgate.net

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Web of Science Service for UK Education {http://wok.mimas.ac.uk}

References

Bjork, B.C. & Solomon, D. (2012) Open access versus subscription journals: a

comparison of scientific impact. BMC Medicine, 10,73.

BPS policy on authorship and publication credit (2011) www.bps.org.uk accessed

November 2015 .

BPS code of human research ethics (2014) www.bps.org.uk accessed November 2014.

BPS ethical guidelines for internet mediated research (2013) www.bps.org.uk accessed

November 2014 .

Bohannon, J. (2013)Who’s afraid of Peer review, 342, 6154, 6-65 www.Sciencemag.org

342, 6154, 60265

Eysenach, G. (2006) Citation advantage of open access articles PLOS Biology 4,4.

Van Noorden, R. (2014) Publishers withdraw more than 120 gibberish papers

www.Nature.com accessed Jan 2015

Williams, G. (2005) How to get published. Leicester: The Psychologist, 18, 43