PhD Students Publishing

[deutsch1997bw]

Are there any PhD programs that have a reputation for high-levels of PhD students publishing? Or, is this something that is really dependent upon individual professors, students, etc.?

[Deep Fried Angst]

While your program will want you to publish, often it is only at the initiative of the student. Because publishing takes extra work outside the classroom, it is up to the student to pursue publishing opportunities. Also, it is up to the student to research issues in class that are not only of interest to the student, but provide a publishable topic/research.

If you establish this as a goal, often your adviser will work with you to help select periodicals and conferences open to doctoral students publishing and presenting. 

Additionally, it is often helpful to find professors who are prolific publishers as they may have additional insights into the publishing world of academia. Some professors (two at my graduate school) created edited volume around certain topics and included the best doctoral papers from specific classes in them, in addition to the work of other scholars. 

All of this to say, while you may find assistance from your school and your professors, it is up to you as the student to take the initiative and set aside the time to make publishing a reality. 
 

[guest56436]

Too much variation both across and within  departments to say either way.

Most departments in the top 20-30 have students every 3 or 4 years that publish multiple articles as grad students or ABDs. Some departments it's more common, some it's more rare. Probably mostly sheer luck. These people are usually just really good and succeed because of mostly their own merit. That being said, some programs ranked a little lower play the 'one star' model where they identify a talented student in each cohort and shift a disproportionate amount of resources to him/her.

But there are a few things to look for:

CHYMPS departments are actually quite variable; lots of grad students are unpublished when on the market - that being said, these are the only candidates these days that get placed in TT positions without pubs so there could be less pressure.

Private school departments for the most part have students that publish more or larger percentages of students who publish. The main reasons are stipends are better, there are more funds to support research, and they TA less.

Higher ranked departments have higher numbers of students who get published, most of this is probably selection effects (better students usually get accepted to better programs) but also may have to do with gaining access to tighter networks that result in book chapters or coauthoring opportunities.

There is also the variable of coauthoring with your advisor or faculty. Some faculty do a lot of research with their students and some do not (some don't care or some rather push their students to publish on their own. But keep in mind that this doesn't go nearly as far as a solo author pub on the job market.

All that's to say there aren't really any departments that stand out in the grand scheme of things. I'm sure you could crunch the numbers and come up with a ranking of some sort, but I imagine it would be pretty closely correlated to the typical program rankings you see today.

[saudiwin]

This is advisor/professor-specific. Look at the advisor/professor's CV and see if they co-author with students. If so, then they will likely do so with you (if they accept you).

Having faculty willing to co-author with you is a huge help, not just because of the CV boost, but because you will learn a lot about the process of publishing and become more confident on your own.