Manuscript-based master's thesis

[Adelaide9216]

Hello, did anyone here publish their master's thesis under the format of a manuscript for scientific publication? What are the pros and cons? 

[PokePsych]

obvious pro is that you can actually try to publish it. 

I don't know, for us we always had to write as if it was going to be for a publication?

[Adelaide9216]

What I mean is that many universities where I live give the option to master's and doctoral students to do a scientific paper (scientific article) instead of doing a "typical" thesis. It says on my uni's website that I could publish 1 article and for doctoral students it's 2 articles minimum instead of doing the thesis. 

[PokePsych]

Does it need to be published for it to count? Publication can take easily a couple of months before your manuscript gets accepted (review takes long, editors take long). Now, if you don't get accepted, add on another couple of months to repeat the cycle.

[Adelaide9216]

No it doesn't,t need to be published but needs to be at least submitted somewhere.

[Meraki]

I assume this would be a conceptual or lit review paper? It sounds to me like you're considering scrapping (or postponing) your qualitative study in favor of something that might be more easily done given your time frame. You could hold on to your data to examine later and do this other paper for graduation. I'd hate to see you give up on your current project, though. In your other thread, it was said that every study has an "I wish I did xyz instead of abc..." moment, so I still think it's worth seeing what you can get out of your current data even if the informant count is less than desirable. You may still uncover something you can use to build a future project.

That being said, which paper you choose to do is up to you. Are you applying to PhD programs now for Fall 2019 admission, or are you applying next Fall 2019 (I'm not sure by your signature)? I'm not sure that choosing one option over the other will make a big difference in admissions, and if you're applying now then you'll probably already have interviews and maybe acceptances before finishing either paper. I think it'd be good experience for you to try grounded theory now, so that you have more insights and confidence pursuing future projects - and you can discuss your research experience with faculty for admissions. But writing a conceptual or review paper can also be great experience going into a PhD program. Just keep in mind that these kinds of papers can take a long time to develop too, especially if you don't currently have an idea in motion and are starting from scratch. 

In short, I'm not sure there are any big "cons" for doing the scientific paper, other than missing an opportunity to learn a new qualitative method of analysis. 

[Adelaide9216]

You are misunderstanding. It's not "scrapping" my study. It's using my study to produce an article. It's not "easier" to do this, it's more strategic since I want to pursue a PhD.

[Adelaide9216]

It's not for PhD admission that I want to write an article, it's for my career in academia in general.

[Meraki]

I wasn't sure what you mean by, "instead of doing a 'typical' thesis." A typical masters thesis in most programs I'm familiar with would be in the format of a scientific, publishable paper, as Psygeek stated. Not everyone submits their thesis for publication, or has success publishing it if they do submit, but the goal is to write a paper that has that potential. Your area clearly has different options, which might be why you haven't gotten a lot of feedback on pros and cons. I can't really picture what a thesis using real data in an unscientific/unpublishable format would look like.

If it's your career in academia you're focused on (which should include doing things to get you into the best PhD program for your goals), then writing something with the potential for publication should be your goal. So, based on what you've shared, it sounds like writing a scientific paper from your qualitative findings and submitting it for publication would be a better option than writing a thesis that is not written in a format that can be published. Plus, if you choose the latter option and later decide you want to try and publish the paper, it'll take more time to reformat it. I'm not sure what the pros of writing a non-scientific paper would be, unless someone was not interested in working in academia and just wanted to get it done. The pros for writing a scientific paper, on the other hand, are many, particularly given your academic career goals.

[Adelaide9216]

It would be in a scientific format. It's for scientific journal. Sorry for not expressing myself clearly, my mothertongue is not English.

Edited November 6, 2018 by Adelaide9216

[Meraki]

I think you express yourself quite well. I think the confusion is that your area/university does things a bit differently than what I'm used to, so it's hard for me to understand the options you're describing because I've never had those options. It was always "write to publish, period." I think you're on the right track with being strategic in how you want to position your paper.

[shadowclaw]

I saw that you're already getting close to finishing your writing, but my two cents:

The content of your thesis will be largely the same, regardless of format, so why not just do the manuscript format? It saves you the step of rewriting for publication, especially if you will be writing multiple manuscripts.

[Adelaide9216]

Hello, turns out I will do a traditional thesis but will try to publish 1 or 2 articles that would stem from my master's thesis. 

[Quickmick]

For my MS I wrote a thesis, and as part of the formatting had to say what journal format I would follow. Currently that work is 'under review' for publication and, in my experience, the main difference between the versions was length. I had to be very concise, which meant I had to be very discerning about the scope of the publication version. For the PhD you can (at my uni), indicate that the dissertation will be a whole, or will be comprised of three separate chapters each publishable. The approach here probably depends on the discipline. History might opt for the long one, and the sciences the article approach--but I am speculating about history. I don't have to publish as I go, though it might make the defense a bit easier lol.

While these are logistic components, I would think that part of the decision as to how to format should be driven by what you want to do after you graduate. If you want to pursue a path that values publications then you might want to have some articles in the can stemming from your dissertation. If you plan on doing something different, it might not matter so much...good luck!