Hi all,

I'm wondering if people could give me some advice on publishing?
I'm finished my PhD, done viva, got minor corrections and am working on those.
I didn't manage to publish a single paper while doing my PhD, I was teaching alot and just didn't have time and now I'm really worried.
I also really have no interest in publishing anything from my PhD as I'm bored of the topic and not really interested in any more.
However publishing is all anyone seems to be interested in jobs-wise, I don't know where to go from here...

Should I try and bang out something from my PhD just to have something published, despite hating it with every fibre of my being? I'm afraid of being pigeon-holed and ending up in an area I no longer like.

Also how many articles should I have been expected to write during the course of my PhD? I'm amazed at people who do any

Thanks

If your thesis is the contribution to knowledge that it should be (and this is implied by the pass), then it behooves you to disseminate that contribution. It depends on your future plans, but academic employers will look dimly on a complete lack of publications from your doctoral research.

Hi excommunicate,

I'm very interested in this post and any replies as I'm in the same position as you! With the exception of I'm yet to submit, but am hoping to so imminently. Can I ask what field you are in, as I believe this makes a big difference to the number of papers you are expected to publish and by when.

Go well,
RLD

During my PhD candidature, I joined a seminar (writing group) that was all about publishing. This not only included reviewing and writing work, but also at the start of each seminar, an overview of various topics around publishing, such as editorial practices, ethics etc.

One of the things that I learned (and can still recall) is that for an academic career, sometimes you have to write and publish things you have no interest in to keep yourself going.

You might hate your topic, but right now, your PhD thesis has content that has been peer reviewed countless times by your supervisor(ers) and your examiners. You have a goldmine of stuff you can take and draft into journal articles, you’ve already done all the research, the analysis etc, now it’s taking that and rewriting it to suit the journal you are targeting. This might mean some tweaks, or complete changes. It may not take you nearly as long as it could to draft stuff from scratch.

In today’s academic market, it’s highly competitive. Your discipline/academic level will be a determining factor in how many publications you should have per year (at my Uni, as a level A academic I am expected to strive for level B aspirations, with 1.9 publications a year with an aspiration for 2.5, and at least 0.5 of those in quality, I’ve got no idea how these decimal points work but this is just an example). But you might not get even looked at if your contenders have at least one or two publications in quality/high impact journals as sole or co-authors.

If you want to get your foot in the door, you want to get some publications out. So take that thesis topic of yours (I know you are sick of it) and get to work in getting those articles drafted. See if you can find a writing group to utilise some peer support for reviewing.

Thanks for the great answer, awsoci. I'm in the same boat as you RLD and I'm worried too. I'm hoping i can get some publications out after I submit. I'm in the social sciences and all of my peers seem to have publications under their belt. I just hope I can catch up at some point :(

I am also in the same situation - and with no idea how to go about publishing from my research - though I would really like to get the data out there as it is still fairly unique. I too am in the social sciences. When I had my viva and the examiners suggested I publish honestly that was the last thing I wanted to do. Now I have had time away from it I can really appreciate what I have done and I am proud. You may feel differently in time to come excommunicate. However, the thought of having to publish on demand is really putting me off the idea of an academic career!