Years of hard work in research, full of sweat and tears, followed by revisions, made it possible to complete and submit your PhD thesis. What can you do next to ensure the world knows you have filled an important gap? Placing it on your mom’s bookshelf so she can proudly show it off to her friends or using it as a bookend will not fulfill its true purpose.
As the academic world attracts funding, research, and publishing opportunities, one often finds themselves asking whether it’s possible to turn the dissertation into a published article. The answer is a definite YES! But what might be holding you back? The length of the thesis. In this blog, we will guide you on various ways to convert your thesis into a journal article. But before we proceed, we should understand the characteristics of these and journal articles and how they differ. So let’s get started.
Features of Thesis and a Journal Article
| Thesis | Journal Article |
| The dissertation or thesis committee members review these. | These are reviewed by a panel of peer reviewers. |
| Follows chapter-wise sequencing technique for research data. | Follows section-wise sequencing technique for research data. |
| No word count restriction. | The word count is restricted according to the journal guidelines. |
| The table of contents is important. | A structured manuscript format is being followed. |
| All the research findings are narrated. | Some selected findings are narrated for readers. |
| A detailed description of the tools used in data collection. | Only includes the essential details of the tools. |
Turn Your Thesis Research into a Journal Article
- Look for a suitable journal
The first step is selecting a journal. Go through your reference list. There are high chance that some of the papers you read and used as references in your manuscript might match your scope. Additionally, when you succeed in deciding on a journal, you format your material according to its requirements. Make sure that your research article matches the aim and scope of your chosen journal. Understand the requirements of the journal and structure your manuscript and reference style according to the recommended style. You can get help from services like Thesis Journal Service or Journal Article Writing Service. They will help you select the journal that matches your thesis aim.
- Reduce the length of your thesis
Another important step that you need to take when performing the transformation of a thesis into a published article is focusing on the word count without deleting the important information. Pick out the data that answers your research question to perform this action. This information should be more focused than your presented thesis research. Support your results in the context of your problem statement. The most crucial aspect is to use good language and structure. Fulfilling all these demands can prevent the risk of your paper being rejected. Use all your relevant data to narrate a coherent story and avoid sweeping conclusions that are not supported by data. Make sure that your title matches with the content of your paper. Just paraphrase it without changing the meaning.
- Modify the introduction as an abstract
Use your introduction as the abstract of your published work by shortening its length to the minimum word count of 100-150 words. While you squeeze down, remember to maintain the key points of the introduction so you can hook your readers. Use the introduction and discussion of the thesis as the basis for the journal article’s abstract. Further, work on merging multiple research questions, or you can focus on just one for the journal article.
- Eyes on relevant and selective information
As the discussion, method, methodology, and results discussion sections of your thesis contain in-depth details, they need to be kept short in a journal article. Research and learn about the standards of your target journal by viewing the previously published papers and understanding their format. The most important part is to provide an interpretation of the main findings in the result section in concise or bullet format. Refrain from repeating the results in the dissertation section. However, don’t forget to discuss the ways your research supports the previous perspectives of the research. Finally, mention how your work will pave the way for future researchers.
- Squeeze down the number of references
As you have spent years writing your thesis, you must have read and covered numerous literature reviews. However, when turning it into a journal article, you have to restrict yourself to those references that are relevant to your research questions being addressed. Just keep your focus limited to adding the recent ones. After adding the references, you have completed writing your article. It is time to look for a binder for the printed version. Services like Thesis Binding Experts or Journal Article Binders can help you in deciding to choose the right type of binding.
- Revise the content of the article
After you have squeezed down all the details and succeeded in writing your article from the thesis, it is time to edit and refine your writing. This will ensure that it is precise and clear. As the journal articles are more precise than the thesis, make sure each sentence has some weight. Avoid the use of jargon or technical terms unless it is important for your audience. Finally, ask your colleagues or mentor to review it before you send it for publishing. Their valuable insight will help you in making changes and prevent them from being rejected.
- Press the submission icon
After you have finally revised your article and are good to submit it, follow the journal’s submission guidelines and send your manuscript. Once the journal receives your file, there is a chance they may send their feedback, so get ready for any revisions. Respond professionally to all the suggestions from the reviewer and make necessary changes to improve the quality of your article.
The Final Comment
It is an academic requirement that you publish your data for the benefit of the community. Remember that the article’s structure is different from the thesis. To turn your thesis into a journal article, you must go through some steps.
You must shortlist your journal. Work according to their set standard in terms of word count, formatting, and citation technique. Turn your introduction into an abstract and squeeze down other sections from the thesis. Finally, edit and review it before sending it out for publishing.
