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Revising your thesis into a book

Springer will consider submissions containing material that has previously formed part of a PhD or other academic thesis including those that have been made publicly available according to the requirements of the institution awarding the qualification.

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Our common goal is the publication of your book. Before your book is published, there are numerous internal steps in the publishing process.

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Alternative Text When preparing your manuscript, it is recommended that you write alternative texts (also known as alt texts) for all figures, illustrations and for tables, which you include in an image format.

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• Programming code: Programming code can easily be accessed from your book product page if you use one of our GitHub repositories.
• Supplemental files:  It is possible to attach supplemental electronic files (like PDFs, Excel sheets, etc.) to individual chapters of your book. 
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How to revise your thesis into a book

Springer Nature will consider submissions containing material that has previously formed part of a PhD or other academic thesis. 

This includes those that have been made publicly available according to the requirements of the institution awarding the qualification. Theses should be nominated for publication by heads of department at internationally leading institutions.

Prospective authors should bear in mind that every PhD thesis will need to undergo rigorous revision in order to be published as a monograph with our press. To help with this revision, our editors have put together the following advice:

How do you go about planning the revisions, and when should you start?

Be aware that transforming your dissertation into a publishable book is a complex process that will take time and require some careful planning. Most authors take at least a year to complete a PhD-based book; however, this timeline may be extended if the book requires fresh data and new research. 

You should only start working on your book proposal after you’ve submitted your thesis, defended it successfully, and completed your PhD program. This will allow you to look at the thesis with a fresh eye and to take into account any helpful feedback from your examiners as you develop your proposal.

Consider all the available formats. Depending on the subject and breadth of the topic, some proposals may develop into a full-length authored book (approximately 90,000 words), whilst for others a shorter format like Palgrave Pivot (25,000 to 50,000 words) may be suitable – for example a single-case or single-country study once they have been extracted out of any redundant or unnecessary content.

What’s the difference between the PhD Thesis and an Authored Book?

• Audience:   While a PhD thesis is meant to be read and scrutinized by your supervisors and examiners, the readership of your book will extend to the broader academic community, scholars and practitioners, who may not be specialized in or even familiar with your research topic.
• Rationale: The motivation behind writing your book will need to be rethought to reflect the expectations of your new audience and should be clearly explained in the introduction. The objective is not to convince your examiners that you have what it takes to complete a PhD, but to make sure the book is coherent and your conclusions are persuasive. 
• Structure:  Your introductory chapter should also offer readers a concise ‘preview’ of the various chapters. The conclusion should summarize your key findings and identify avenues for further research. Look over the table of contents in books which you would consider as related literature or competitors. How does their structure differ from the structure of your thesis? You should simplify and optimize your table of contents to present the material in a logical and accessible fashion.
• Length:  Monographs are typically much shorter than PhD theses. Separate chapters about the review of literature and research methodologies may be essential in a thesis, but will not be necessary in a book, as readers and experts in your field will be familiar already with both. References to the relevant literature can be moved to the endnotes of individual chapters, and what is not pertinent to advancing your own arguments can be removed. The methodology chapter should be reduced and merged with the introduction or omitted altogether.

Learn more about publishing German theses .

Tips for writing your textbook

• Prerequisite knowledge: What topics or concepts should readers already be familiar with? Do you need to review these or provide further explanation?
• Self-contained: Students typically want a one-stop resource so you should try to ensure that as much of the information that student needs is presented in your textbook.
• Modular chapters: Students will likely dip in and out of the textbook rather than read it linearly from start to finish so try to make chapters self-contained where possible, so they can be understood out of context of the rest of the textbook.
• Succinct and to the point: Keep focused on the course that the textbook is supporting and the topics that need to be covered. Avoid including less relevant topics, very advanced topics, explanations of concepts that students should already understand, and any other content that may not actually be useful to the student.
• Didactic elements: Elements such as exercises, case studies, definitions and so on help break up the main chapter text and make it more engaging. Consider what didactic elements you want to include before you start writing so you can ensure that the main chapter text provides the right information to support the didactic element e.g. that a concept is adequately explained in order to answer an exercise question, or that theory is suitably described before a corresponding case study is given
• Writing style: Textbooks can have a lighter, more conversational writing style than monographs and references works. Try to use active rather than passive sentences e.g. “It is believed by some physicians that…” becomes “Some physicians believe that…”
• Online resources: If you have exercises, consider writing a solutions manual for instructors so they don’t have to work out all the solutions themselves. Are there data sets, spreadsheets, programs, etc., that would be useful for students to access so they can test concepts themselves? The same copyright issues apply for online resources as for the print book – see Obtaining Permissions for further information
• Write a helpful Introduction: Explain who the textbook is for and how it should be used. Confirm the level of the students (e.g. 3rd year undergraduates). Confirm the course that the textbook supports. List any prerequisites or assumptions you have made about the student’s background knowledge. Explain how the textbook could be used. If applicable, identify core must-read chapters and chapters that are more advanced or optional; provide short summaries of the chapters (just a sentence or two)
• Test your material as you write: Use your draft chapters as part of your lecture course and see how students respond to it. Do they understand the concepts you are explaining? Are they able to complete any exercises?

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BookSubMarine

Springer Nature launched the BookSubMarine (Submitted book Manuscripts are in evaluation) portal on April 19, 2021. 

Researchers wishing to publish their dissertation or postdoctoral thesis with Springer Nature can now benefit from a new streamlined and author-friendly publication portal. It will be easier for authors from all academic disciplines to submit their postdoctoral thesis/dissertations to us. 

The portal will also provide comprehensive support to authors of theses in STM (Science Technology Medicine) and HSS (Humanities Social Sciences) throughout the entire publication process. 

If you would like more information, please visit the BookSubMarine portal for answers to Frequently Asked Questions.

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Springer nature launches new publication portal for dissertations.

The BookSubMarine portal makes it easier for authors from all academic disciplines to submit their theses and provides comprehensive support throughout the publication process

London | Berlin | Wiesbaden, 19 April 2021

Researchers wishing to publish their dissertation or postdoctoral thesis with Springer Nature can now benefit from a new streamlined and author-friendly publication portal. BookSubMarine (Submitted book Manuscripts are in evaluation) supports authors of theses in STM (Science Technology Medicine) and HSS (Humanities Social Sciences) throughout the entire publication process. Prospective authors submit the required data to the portal, such as their manuscript and a review, and select the desired publication model (Open Access, Basic or Premium). The submission is carefully assessed by expert editors, and following successful evaluation authors receive their contract.

“The portal is a secure way of storing all documentation and data related to a submission together in one place which makes the overall publication process more streamlined and efficient. Springer Nature is constantly working on new processes, systems and technologies to improve its services for authors and customer experience,” explains Dorothee Fetzer, Editorial Director Humanities at Springer Nature.

Once a manuscript enters production, Springer Nature saves authors time by carrying out the typesetting and formatting in XML. This ensures that publications can be read on mobile devices, are fully searchable and can be archived. All publications are available in print and as an eBook on the platform SpringerLink. BookSubMarine also allows authors to check the status of their submission and contract at any time.

“BookSubMarine makes the process of publishing dissertations faster and more transparent. We are delighted that we can also now offer our theses authors typesetting in XML. This will make their work even easier to find, search and view,” explains Anna Pietras, Senior Editor and Team Lead Research at Springer Nature.

Further information about BookSubMarine can be found here: springernature.com/submarine .

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How do I convert my PhD dissertation so that it can be published as a book?

I have just completed a PhD by research, which I think has some merits in being available as a book (This is, of course, my personal opinion). The research cuts across several fields (e.g. sociology, public policy).

I am wondering what I need to do to take the next step.

In particular:

How do you turn an academic piece like the dissertation (which is written for the examiners) into a book (which is for the general public)?

How do I find publishers who specialise in my field?

• publications

• 11 Have you asked your advisor about this ? Much like "Don't walk. Run", this could serve as a generic answer for so many questions here :) –  Suresh Commented Jan 9, 2013 at 4:38
• 3 What are your goals for publishing. Do you want to make money? Do you want it to count towards tenure? Do you want it to educate the general public? Promote your research? –  StrongBad Commented Jan 9, 2013 at 13:01
• I want to promote my research to (1) make it widely available and (2) to get some kudos for my CV. Unsure how these two goals could be reconciled. –  Javeer Baker Commented Jan 9, 2013 at 23:12
• 3 I mean, a PhD dissertation is written for the examiners (with detailed referencing) but a book to educate the public has a more relaxed and reader-friendly style (i.e. less referencing details etc.). –  Javeer Baker Commented Jan 9, 2013 at 23:21
• @JaveerBaker if you start your comments with an @, like I did here, the person will receive a notification. I would say that books for the public don't have a more relaxed referencing style, they just have less detail that needs to be referenced. –  StrongBad Commented Jan 10, 2013 at 9:22

4 Answers 4

Why do you want the book?

• For prestige?: publishers who contact you, don't do any review and charge high prices will only increase your prestige to those that don't know them (and these are probably not those you want to impress).
• For dissemination?: why not just put the pdf available (as was already recommended)?. Those who are interested will find it, those who are not will probably not buy a PhD thesis
• For money?: I doubt you will really make much out of it.

My recommendation: put it as a pdf on your website / your school's dissertation repository. If you see that lot's of people download it, consider an improved version as book.

• 2 In many disciplines (especially the humanities), it is still obligatory to publish a monograph in order to get a PhD. Although, there is shift to cumulated PhD theses with articles in peer-reviewed journals, sociology, at least in Continental Europe, still values monographs. –  non-numeric_argument Commented Aug 14, 2013 at 9:50
• These questions are very important and I suggest they be considered. In my field, a book published by a shady publisher would only make you look worse as an academic. –  Behacad Commented Sep 21, 2014 at 18:25
• -1 In my field it is very uncommon not to have one's PhD thesis transformed into and published as a book. It is also quite important to have the book published by a highly-regarded publisher. –  henning no longer feeds AI Commented Jun 19, 2015 at 15:25

Your first question is quite tricky (to answer and to do). It depends on what you mean by "the public". A version for academics needs little change from a thesis. For students you need to consider how to highlight what can be learnt from your work. For the general general public, you'll have to start thinking about rewriting perhaps quite a bit, keeping your language accessible and building a narrative. As I am in a different field, perhaps some or all of this is already a part of your thesis.

The second question is simpler, who publishes the books that you read for your thesis?

If your university does not require you to publish your dissertation as a book, I would be very reluctant to invest the time needed to get your dissertation published. I would put the PDF of your dissertation on your own website, making it available to everyone who wants to look at it. I would spend the time needed to rewrite your book on writing more peer reviewed articles. Either by publishing chapters from your dissertation, or by doing new research. I think publications are more important than a book, especially for someone like you who still has only a few publications.

As a partial answer, Springer used to publish (theoretically) outstanding PhD thesis in Mathematics in its 'Lecture notes in Mathematics' as research monograph. However I do not know how many of the published volumes are Phd thesis. Definitely a (math) thesis requires a lot of polishing and rewriting before publishing.

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Turning your PhD into a successful book

Requests regularly arrive in the Author Services inbox asking for advice about turning PhD research into journal articles or books. In this guide, first posted on the  LSE Impact Blog , Terry Clague, a Senior Publisher at Routledge gives his advice and insight into what publishers are looking for when they receive new book proposals.  

Research conducted as part of a PhD is valuable. It is valuable for the researcher, who has spent countless hours carrying out the work and it is valuable to those deciding whether the research should result in the award of a PhD qualification. But can the research be valuable to broader audiences? The simple answer is yes – at the heart of many successful academic books lies research conducted as part of a PhD. 

What options to consider when turning your PhD into a book

In the majority of cases, PhD research is published in the form of journal articles. In some cases, the research is published in a book. Between either end of that publishing spectrum there is an array of options to consider when it comes to disseminating PhD research: 

Converting the entire PhD thesis into a book  requires that your thesis covers a topic of interest to a large enough audience of scholars. Whereas a thesis starts with a question, a book begins with an answer and communicates its importance in the wider research landscape, tracing its evolution and impact. 

Using parts of a PhD thesis in a book  requires that ongoing and/or collaborative research is being conducted. A book (perhaps co-authored) should be greater than the sum of its constituent parts. 

Using an aspect of a PhD thesis in an edited book  on a broader topic ensures that the research fits with related research on a similar theme. A good edited book addresses the need to broaden the scope of PhD-based research via collaborating with a team of contributors. 

Splitting a PhD thesis into several articles  for journals hedges a PhD’s bets by staking smaller amounts of the work in different locations. What is gained by this hedging may be lost in the overall narrative of the PhD research as it is unbundled. 

What publishers look for when deciding whether to take you on

The role of the book publisher is to connect authors with readers. When it comes to disseminating research originating from a PhD, this relationship is essential. It is therefore useful to consider the perspective of the publisher when considering what publication route to take. In assessing a proposal for a research-level book, a good publisher will initially ask themselves three questions: 

Is the  scope  of the research broad enough to be of interest to our readers (scholars globally)? Example

Is the  quality  sufficiently high? 

Can the work be  developed  via feedback from experts as part of the book review process to address any weaknesses? 

Post information

Related posts, insights topics.

Beyond those core questions, potential authors should also consider significant and ongoing changes to the market for academic books, notably in reader behavior. Evolution in digital technology combined with a significant increase in the amounts of available research has led to changes in the way that books are produced, published and propagated. In this environment, the key word is “discoverability”. Connecting authors to readers requires that publishers facilitate discoverability of research via various routes to ensure that potential readers are able to find books with ease. Authors can aid this process by following a few basic rules of thumb: 

The main title of the book should position it clearly without reference to other bibliographic information, and should be as short as feasible 

Chapter titles should likewise, where possible, position themselves clearly 

Chapter synopses or abstracts can be used to enhance the metadata around books

Submitting a book proposal

It is useful to start a conversation with an acquisitions/commissioning editor at an early stage toward the end or shortly after the completion of a PhD. Discussions with supervisors and other colleagues are also very useful at this stage. The next natural step is to submit a book proposal which will be considered by the publisher, often involving a peer review process. Research-level books are often published as part of an established series – an awareness of existing books in such series can be useful when it comes to framing and developing a book proposal. 

Preparing your final manuscript for book publication 

Following a review process, the publisher’s editorial board would give final approval to proceed, following which a book contract would be issued. Armed with publisher and review feedback, the author can then proceed to produce a full manuscript based on their PhD research. Each book is different, but there are numerous key aspects to consider when preparing a final manuscript for book publication. Above all, never lose sight of the audience:

A thesis is written for examiners, a book for scholars in general . Anything that is useful only for examiners (e.g. literature review, methodology discussion) should be cut or heavily amended/digested. 

Examiners will work through text regardless of the writing style, book readers will not . Therefore, it is likely that extensive re-writing will be required to retain and engage readers. 

Take a step back . Think about the overall narrative of the book and be prepared to rethink the structure – this can be liberating! 

Value the reader’s time . Streamline where possible – theses by their nature contain much repetition. Keep in mind the agreed length of the book. 

Contextualize . If research is of a narrow scope, add international or inter-disciplinary context, particularly within the introductory and concluding chapters.

Sharing your research  

Finally, talking about your research and the process of working it into a book can be an essential ingredient to its success. This can be done with your immediate colleagues, at conferences and with a publisher. It can also be done online – with  social media a useful tool  to tap into wider networks as well as to test ideas out. 

Further Reading

European University Institute (Undated) –  From PhD to Book   Germano, W. (2005) –  From Dissertation to Book   Thomson, P. (2011) –  Can I Get a Book From My Thesis   Thomson, P. (2013) –  Turning Your PhD Into a Book   Veletsianos, G. (2016) –  Social Media in Academia , Routledge 

Where to next?

If you’ve found these tips helpful make sure you look at:

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How to... Convert your thesis into a book

This how to guide takes you through everything you need to know to convert your thesis into a book.

You can read all the information you need below, or watch this video from Books Commissioning Editor, Katy Mathers.

On this page

Consider the level of conversion.

• What are book publishers looking for

Consider the audience

• Tips for converting your thesis

What happens next?

Your first consideration when thinking about book publishing options for your thesis should be the level of conversion. You could consider the following options.

A full conversion – from thesis to book

This is a good option should your thesis be on a topic that would have wide appeal to an academic audience. A key consideration here is that the structure of a thesis is massively different to a book. Rather than starting with a hypothesis, a book should showcase a considered argument and its narrative should communicate that argument to peers in the field – demonstrating how the research has evolved into this viewpoint, and what impact it can have.

Partial conversion – using parts of your thesis in a book

Using parts of your thesis in a book usually means that you are conducting further research that might be ongoing, and might involve colleagues that might be a co-author on the project.

Partial conversion – a chapter in an edited collection

Perhaps your thesis doesn’t quite have the broad appeal for a full book conversion. In this case you might consider a chapter in an edited collection under a broader theme – this means you’re broadening the scope of your PhD research to a wider audience by collaborating with a team of contributors on an edited book. Look out for calls for chapters on relevant themes.

What are publishers looking for?

Broad (global) scholarly appeal.

• Remember your thesis is written for a handful of examiners and experts in your field and is partly there to demonstrate the expertise you have gained from your research. A book should have a much wider audience than that, and should be engaging and interesting enough to appeal to a broad section of researchers across your field (and potentially other disciplines as appropriate), and should particularly be accessible enough to engage any researcher interested in your topic of study.
• Single-country case studies won’t always translate well into a book given their focused scope, however, they would work as part of an edited collection with a broader global scope.
• A good book manuscript should focus on a coherent argument/narrative, rather than a step-by-step checklist of things you need to demonstrate in a thesis.
• You don’t need to include big sections or whole chapters on literature review or methodology, these can be weaved into the book as and when appropriate.

Development potential

• An original thesis should be regarded as the basis for an entirely new work, written with a new audience in mind.

Talking about your research and the process of working it into a book is one of the best ways to ensuring success.

Try reaching out to your immediate colleagues, and co-authors on published papers, your PhD supervisor, peers you might meet at conferences, with a publishing contact, or even online. Try asking for advice on twitter, or any professional network sites.

It is advisable to start a conversation with supervisors and other colleagues shortly after the completion of a PhD.

Once you’ve started to get a good idea of what you want to do, it’s also a great time to reach out to a commissioning editor at a publisher. They can advise on further considerations for turning your thesis into a book with a broad scholarly appeal, as well as how to fill in a book proposal form.

Following this, the next natural step is to submit a book proposal which will be considered by the publisher, often involving a peer review process.

The single most important thing to remember when converting your thesis is the audience. Your thesis is written for a select amount of examiners with specific expertise in your field and showcases your nuanced and rich expertise, which you have gleaned from your research in your particular area.

In contrast, a book should have a much wider audience and should be engaging and interesting enough to appeal to a broad section of researchers across your field, and potentially even other disciplines as appropriate.

As a book, your research should be accessible enough to engage any researcher interested in your topic of study.

• Realise which parts of your thesis are useful only to examiners. Any sections such as literature review, or extended methodology discussion should be cut or heavily amended/digested. These sections can weave in and out of your overall narrative rather than be structured separately.
• Writing style is less important for examiners, but essential for book readers. PhD examiners will read your thesis regardless of the writing style, but the writing style for book readers is essential for ensuring your research is accessible and engaging. You must be prepared to extensively re-write your thesis to retain and engage readers. This should be seen as essential rather than optional.
• Keep the big picture in mind. It’s important to take a step back while putting together a proposal, or during the manuscript writing process. Set reminders at intervals to focus on the overall narrative of the book. Is there a logical development of an argument? Does it make sense to a reader’s point of view? If not , be prepared to rethink the structure – it can be freeing to step away from a traditional thesis structure.
• Write concisely. It’s important to bear in mind the importance of the reader’s time. At all stages of the writing process you should focus on streamlining where possible and keep in mind the agreed length of the book. Books are often much shorter than theses, which by their nature contain much repetition. If you’re finding it hard to meet the agreed word limit, your writing style is likely not quite right yet for a book audience.
• Emphasise context. If your research is specialist and nuanced, with a narrow scope, try boosting its contextual implications by adding an international or inter-disciplinary context. It’s particularly useful to do this within the introductory and concluding chapters. Rounding off your book with opening and closing contextual chapters can really emphasise the place of the research within the field and showcase how it’s adding to the literature or breaking fresh ground.
• Get a third party proof-reader. Consider getting someone within your field, perhaps without the specialist knowledge relating to your PhD knowledge, and see what they think of your writing style. If they can follow your argument and find value in the work you’re presenting for the wider field, then the book has good potential. If they’re struggling, you might need to re-think the project.

Top tips for converting your thesis

• The main title of the book should position it clearly without reference to other bibliographic information, and should be as short as possible.
• Chapter titles are something people often forget, and chapter titles can sometimes be a real giveaway in a proposal that a book is based on a thesis and maybe hasn’t been revised appropriately. It’s often a comment reviewers make, and a clear sign to them that the proposal is a thesis conversion. Chapter titles can be way more dynamic in a book than in a thesis, and there’s no need to have chapters called 'methodology' or 'results'. Freeing yourself from these structured ways of thinking can be liberating, and is a good way of diverting yourself from writing in a thesis style.
• Remember that readers of the book are most interested in what your findings/argument are. Think about leading your book with the 'end' of your thesis, i.e. the results/answer to the question you were researching, rather than starting by explaining how you got there.
• You don’t need to include big sections or whole chapters on literature review or methodology, these can be weaved in to the book as and when appropriate (particularly if your research employed an innovative methodology, for example).
• A book manuscript should typically be shorter than your thesis. If you’re struggling to bring the word count down, you might need to get help with your writing style, or evaluate if you’ve cut enough “thesis-heavy” content from your work.
• Use introductory and concluding chapters to contextualise your research. This is super helpful for placing your work within the field.

To summarise

Be prepared to re-write: Having sketched out a new structure and focus, you now have to start writing all over again to create a completely new work. You should accept this as a must for success, and enjoy the creative process that comes with it.

Remove academic structuring: Ordinary readers want you to get straight to the point, Anything that sounds like "In this chapter I will argue . . ." or "In this chapter I have shown . . ." should be deleted immediately.

Audience is the most important consideration. Re-organise your writing around your new audience – remember that concise, narrative-led writing is essential.

Re-focus on the storytelling. Any background material (such as surveys of previous literature, historical background, discussions of earlier and current theories, arguments, methodology, etc.) if retained at all, should be moved from the beginning to the end of the book, or incorporated in a condensed form into the relevant sections of the main text. From start to finish, you should begin with an answer rather than a question, and your argument should be maintained throughout.

Once you’ve formed an idea for your book project, it’s a good time to talk to a commissioning editor at a publisher about submitting a proposal.

Get ready to publish a book

See a list of our book commissioning editors, along with their subject areas and contact information.

Submit your book proposal

Find out how submit a book or series proposal and what the next steps in the publishing process are.

The book peer review process

A helpful guide to our book peer review process.

Scholarly Publishing

• Introduction
• Choosing Publishers - Considerations and risks
• Thesis to book?
• Vanity Publishers
• Presenting and publishing at conferences
• When choosing a journal
• Journals selection/ evaluation
• Open Research guide
• UOM Researcher publishing support
• Author Profiles

My thesis to a book?

• Quite frequently early career researchers are approached to consider publishing a thesis as a book. If you intend to publish your thesis in this way considerable editing and reformatting will be required first.
• Often examiners’ reports suggest publishing options.
• Books published by print-on-demand and vanity publishers may often not be eligible for categorising as an A1 (authored) book for internal institutional auditing purposes.
• If you are approached by a publisher please refer to our  What if you are approached by a publisher? Consider asking some of these questions  section.
• Also consider contacting the  faculty or liaison librarian  for your discipline to explore options and considerations further.

Is re-purposing of text acceptable?

Israel, M. (2018, January 20). Self-plagiarism? When re-purposing text may be ethically justifiable. Research Ethics Monthly . https://ahrecs.com/research-integrity/self-plagiarism-when-re-purposing-text-may-be-ethically-justifiable

Mark writes up some tips for those considering re-using text that they have previously published.

Roig, M. (2016). Recycling our own work in the digital age. In T. Bretag (Ed.), Handbook of academic integrity (pp. 655–669). Springer.

Miguel helps to define self-plagiarism within science and scholarship and review its common forms - duplicate publication, augmented publication (when a dataset is republished with additional observations), salami publication (creating two or more publications from the same study), and text recycling (re-using substantial parts of your own previously published publications). He discusses the reader-writer contract and some scenarios of re-use in books (e.g., new editions, re-using portions of chapters from one book to another, from journal articles to book), , conference presentations (e.g., presented at more than one conference, conference presentation to journal article) and doctoral dissertations and theses (e.g., dissertation/thesis to publication, publications to dissertation). He explains why authors should be concerned about re-using previously published work.

Vanity publishers

Vanity publishers are publishing houses which charge authors to have their works published without the selection criteria usually used in hybrid publishing models.  Protect your future academic credibility and ensure maximum prospects for future publishing of your work in credible journals by carefully evaluating the credibility of these publishers BEFORE accepting any offers. Refer to our Choosing publishers section in this guide.

Torres, M.R. (2012, June 24). Advice: Dissertation for sale: A cautionary tale [Blog post].  Retrieved from http://www.chronicle.com/article/Dissertation-for-Sale-A/132401/?cid=wb&utm_source=wb&utm_medium=en

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• Last Updated: Jun 21, 2024 11:50 AM
• URL: https://unimelb.libguides.com/Scholarly_publishing

Book series

Recognizing Outstanding Ph.D. Research

About the Editor

• They must be written in good English
• The topic should fall within the confines of Chemistry, Physics, Earth Sciences, Engineering and related interdisciplinary fields such as Materials, Nanoscience, Chemical Engineering, Complex Systems and Biophysics.
• The work reported in the thesis must represent a significant scientific advance.
• If the thesis includes previously published material, permission to reproduce this must be gained from the respective copyright holder (a maximum 30% of the thesis should be a verbatim reproduction from the author's previous publications).
• They must have been examined and passed during the 12 months prior to nomination.
• Each thesis should include a foreword by the supervisor outlining the significance of its content.
• The theses should have a clearly defined structure including an introduction accessible to new PhD students and scientists not expert in the relevant field.
• Autonomous University of Barcelona
• Autonomous University of Madrid
• Bose National Research Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata
• California Institute of Technology, Los Angeles
• Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh
• Catholic University of Leuven
• Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg
• Charles University of Prague
• Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin
• Colorado School of Mines, Denver
• Columbia University, New York
• Comenius University, Bratislava
• Complutense University of Madrid
• Curtin University of Technology, Kensington
• Curtin University, Perth
• Dalhousie University, Halifax
• Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Dalian
• Delft University of Technology, Delft
• Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg
• Duke University, Durham
• École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne
• ETH - Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule- Zurich
• Friedrich Schiller University, Jena
• Friedrich-Alexander-University, Erlangen-Nürnberg
• Georg-August-University, Göttingen
• Georgia University of Technology, Atlanta
• German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg
• Harvard University
• Humboldt University, Berlin
• Imperial College, London
• Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai
• Indiana University, Bloomington
• Institut de Fisica d’Altes Energies, IFAE, Barcelona
• Institute of Applied Physical Chemistry, Heidlberg
• Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia, Barcelona
• Institute of Photonic Sciences, Barcelona
• Institute of Technology, California
• Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe
• Institute of Technology’s Physics of Tokyo
• IPCM Université Pierre et Marie Curie
• James Franck Institute, University of Chicago
• Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
• Kansas State University
• King's College, London
• La Sapienza - University, Rome
• Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich
• Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin
• Max-Born lnstitute, Berlin
• Max-Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self Organization (MPIDS), Göttingen
• Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching
• Max-Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, Heidelberg
• Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart
• Max-Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden
• Max-Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Garching
• Max-Planck-Institute for Carbon Research, Mülheim
• Max-Planck-Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz
• Max-Planck-Institute for Radio Astronomy, Bonn
• Murdoch University, Perth
• National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad
• National Taiwan University, Taiwan
• Ohio State University, Columbus
• Oregon State University, Corvallis
• Paul Sabatier University, Toulouse
• Paul Scherrer Institute, Villingen
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy
• Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm
• Ruprecht-Karls-University, Heidelberg
• RWTH University, Aachen
• Simon Fraser University, Columbia
• Stanford University
• Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne
• Technical University of Berlin
• Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen
• Technical University of Vienna
• Technical University, Berlin
• Technical University, Darmstadt
• Technical University, Dresden
• Technical University, Munich
• Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa
• Unité Mixte de Physique CNRS/Thales, Palaiseau
• Universidad Carlos III, Madrid
• Universidad Complutense, Madrid
• Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
• Universitat Politècnica de València
• Université Libre de Bruxelles
• Université Pierre et Marie Curie
• University College Dublin
• University College London
• University of Aalborg
• University of Aarhus
• University of Aberdeen
• University of Adelaide
• University of Arizona
• University of Auburn
• University of Augsburg
• University of Bath
• University of Baylor　　　　　
• University of Birmingham
• University of Bologna
• University of Boston
• University of Bremen
• University of Bristol
• University of California
• University of California, Irvine
• University of California, Santa Barbara
• University of Cambridge
• University of Cardiff
• University of Central Lancashire
• University of Chicago 　
• University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking
• University of Cologne
• University of Connecticut
• University of Copenhagen
• University of Durham
• University of Edinburgh
• University of Florida
• University of Frankfurt
• University of Geneva
• University of Genoa
• University of Göttingen
• University of Grenoble
• University of Hamburg
• University of Hawaii, Manoa
• University of Hokkaido
• University of Illinois, Chicago
• University of Konstanz
• University of Kyoto
• University of La Laguna
• University of Lancaster
• University of Lausanne
• University of Leeds
• University of Liverpool
• University of Loughborough
• University of Lund
• University of Mainz
• University of Manchester
• University of Michigan
• University of Münster
• University of Nagoya
• University of New Mexico
• University of Notre Dame
• University of Nottingham
• University of Nova Gorica
• University of Osaka
• University of Oxford
• University of Paris
• University of Paris-South, Orsay
• University of Peking, Beijing
• University of Pisa
• University of Porto
• University of Princeton
• University of Prudue
• University of Queensland
• University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rom
• University of Saarland, Saarbrücken
• University of Salerno
• University of Science and Technology of China
• University of Science and Technology, Trondheim
• University of Sheffield
• University of Siegen
• University of Silesia, Katowice
• University of South Australia, Adelaide
• University of Southampton
• University of St Andrews
• University of Stuttgart
• University of Sussex
• University of Sydney 
• University of Tasmania
• University of Technology, Chemnitz
• University of Technology, Eindhoven
• University of Technology, Vienna
• University of Texas, Austin
• University of Tohoku
• University of Tokyo
• University of Tongji
• University of Tsinghua
• University of Twente
• University of Utah
• University of Utrecht
• University of Vechta
• University of Victoria
• University of Vienna
• University of Washington
• University of Zaragoza
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg
• Wake Forest University, North Carolina
• Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot
• Westfälische-Wilhelms University, Münster
• Wilhelm-Ostwald Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Leipzig
• Yale University, New Haven

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Thesis Writing for Master's and Ph.D. Program

• © 2018
• Subhash Chandra Parija 0 ,
• Vikram Kate 1

Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth (Deemed University), Pondicherry, India

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Department of Surgery, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry, India

The book covers all aspects of writing a thesis and dissertation in detail

Chapters are easy to understand with essential contents for writing thesis presented in a lucid manner.

Easy to follow algorithms, key points and case scenarios in each chapter to enhance the understanding of the topics.

The chapters are arranged in a manner that the reader will understand the importance of each section of the thesis writing and will be able to write the protocol, register with clinical trial registry, conduct the research and write the final dissertation.

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About this book

This book on Thesis Writing for Master’s and Ph.D. program focuses on the difficulties students encounter with regard to choosing a guide; selecting an appropriate research title considering the available resources; conducting research; and ways to overcome the hardships they face while researching, writing and preparing their dissertation for submission. 

Thesis writing is an essential skill that medical and other postgraduates are expected to learn during their academic career as a mandatory partial requirement in order to receive the Master’s degree. However, at the majority of medical schools, writing a thesis is largely based on self-learning, which adds to the burden on students due to the tremendous amount of time spent learning the writing skills in addition to their exhausting clinical and academic work.  Due to the difficulties faced during the early grooming years and lack of adequate guidance, acquiring writing skills continues to be a daunting task for most students.

This book addresses these difficulties and deficiencies and provides comprehensive guidance, from selecting the research title to publishing in a scientific journal.

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From master’s thesis to research publication: a mixed-methods study of medical student publishing and experiences with the publishing process

• Thesis writing for masters and doctoral programme
• Choosing a suitable research area
• Preparing a content list, title Page and abstract
• Obtaining ethics committee approval for scientific research
• Presentation of dissertation work in scientific conferences
• Publishing the thesis work in scientific journal
• Obtaining support and grants for thesis work
• Plagiarism software

Table of contents (28 chapters)

Front matter, deciding on the topic/area of research/approval, thesis, dissertation and project.

• Subhash Chandra Parija, Vikram Kate

Objectives of Writing Thesis

• Meena A. Pangarkar, Nitin V. Pangarkar, Anand V. Pangarkar

Choosing a Suitable Research Area and Supervisor

• Prashant Joshi

Assessing Availability of Facilities, Infrastructure and Resources

• Puneet Dhar, Johns Shaji Mathew

Obtaining Support and Grants for Research

• William Y. Shi, Julian A. Smith

How to Write a Protocol

• Mukta Wyawahare, Raja Kalayarasan, Anahita Kate

Approval of the Institute Review Board, Ethics Committee and Registering with the Clinical Trial Registry

• Zile Singh, P. Stalin

Conduct of Research and Analysis

Plan and conduct of research: observational and interventional study designs.

• Vikram Kate, Sathasivam Sureshkumar, Mohsina Subair

Data Management in Clinical Research

• Karthik Balachandran, Sadishkumar Kamalanathan

Preparing and Decoding the Master Chart

• Meenakshi Girish, Senthil Amudhan

Statistical Analysis: Data Presentation and Statistical Tests

• Mahalakshmy Thulasingam, Kariyarath Cheriyath Premarajan

Structuring the Material and Writing the Thesis

Preparing a title page, abstract and table of contents page.

• Kiruthika Sivasubramanian, Rajive Mathew Jose, Stuart Enoch

Methods and Materials in a Thesis

• Sanjay Gupta

Writing the Review of Literature in a Thesis

• A. M. Quraishi

Drawing Observations from Data and Making Conclusions

• Rajesh Panwar, Peush Sahni

Preparing Figures and Tables

• Sudhir Kumar Jain, Rohit Kaushik

Editors and Affiliations

Subhash Chandra Parija

Vikram Kate

About the editors

Subhash Chandra Parija  is the Former Director and Senior Professor, Department of Microbiology of the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry, India, and has nearly three and a half decades of teaching and research experience in Medical Microbiology. Prof. Parija is a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) expert, and has been consulted to draft guidelines on food safety for parasites. Prof. Parija was on the Board of MD Examination at Colombo University, Sri Lanka, Sultan Quaboos University, Oman, University of Malaya, Malaysia. He was conferred a D.Sc. for his contributions in the field of Medical Parasitology by Madras University. The author of ten books including the “ Text Book of Medical Parasitology, ” he has published more than 300 papers in prominent national and international journals.

Prof. Parija  has been honored with more than 25 awards including the Medical Council of India’s Dr. BC Roy National Award and the National Academy of Medical Sciences’ Dr. PN Chuttani Oration Award. Prof. Parija founded the Indian Academy of Tropical Parasitology (IATP), the only professional organization of Medical Parasitologists in India, and initiated the journal Tropical Parasitology . Professor Parija in collaboration with Prof. Vikram Kate edited a book on Writing and Publishing a Scientific Paper , which was published by Springer Nature in 2017.

Vikram Kate  is currently the Senior Professor and Head of the Department of the Surgery and Senior Consultant General and Gastrointestinal Surgeon at Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER), Puducherry. He has contributed more than 25 chapters in prominent surgical gastroenterology and surgery textbooks, and has more than 140 papers to his credit. He is a Past President of the Indian Association of Surgical Gastroenterology. He was awarded the Membership Diploma of the Faculty of Surgical Trainers by the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. Further, he currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of  The International Journal of Advanced Medical and Health Research , the official journal of JIPMER.

Professor Kate is an Examiner for the M.S./M.Ch./DNB and Ph.D. program for Surgery, Surgical Gastroenterology and Intercollegiate Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Edinburgh and Glasgow (FRCS, FRCS Ed., FRCS Glasg.), and of the American College of Surgeons (FACS) and the American College of Gastroenterology (FACG). He has been honored with many awards, including the Dr. Mathias Oration (2010) and Prof. N. Rangabashyam Oration (2015) by the Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry Chapter of the Association of Surgeons of India, and the Dr. S.K. Bhansali Memorial Oration (2017) of the Association of Surgeons of India.

Bibliographic Information

Book Title : Thesis Writing for Master's and Ph.D. Program

Editors : Subhash Chandra Parija, Vikram Kate

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0890-1

Publisher : Springer Singapore

eBook Packages : Medicine , Medicine (R0)

Copyright Information : Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018

Hardcover ISBN : 978-981-13-0889-5 Published: 13 November 2018

eBook ISBN : 978-981-13-0890-1 Published: 03 November 2018

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : XX, 317

Number of Illustrations : 13 b/w illustrations, 70 illustrations in colour

Topics : Medicine/Public Health, general

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