Publishing before the Thesis: 58 Postgraduate Views

There has been an increase in the number of postgraduate students who have published papers from their research before submitting their theses. In this study we report on the experiences in this respect of 58 recent postgraduates, one-third of whom were non-native speakers of English. 32 of these 58 students (55 per cent) had published papers before submitting their theses, and all of them recommended that other students do the same. They also reported that (compared to the others) they had received significantly greater support from their supervisors, cited to a greater extent their supervisors as co-authors of their papers, and co-published papers with their supervisors in journals with higher impact factors. These same students considered that engaging with the peer review process was of considerable help to them in their thesis vivas, and that prior publishing had enhanced their future job prospects. However, the evidence also indicated that students who had published papers before submitting their theses took--on average--four months longer to complete their theses than did those who had not done so. (Contains 11 tables.)