Epic Quest for Publication – by Ruth
Greetings, fellow postgrad researchers. My name is Ruth, I'm a first year Sociology PhD, and I'm (perhaps foolishly) attempting to get published. Unfortunately, the path to publication seems less clear with every step I take.
Let me take you back a year in order to provide some background. In the summer of 2010 I spent around three months doing little other than reading a blog and taking copious notes. I then produced an extensive MA dissertation based upon my research.
I was quite proud of the piece, and my referees seemed to think it was a rather decent too. I recieved a high mark and was recommended to publish it. I realised that a good MA dissertation isn't likely to translate directly into a good journal article, but (in the spirit of youthful naïvety and optimism) I felt enthusiastic about the work needed to bridge this gap.
After beginning work on my PhD I returned to the MA dissertation. I revised the piece, cut it down by several thousand words, and then submitted it to a journal recommended by my supervisor. Expecting rejection (this was, after all, my very first attempt at submission) I then began work on a second article based upon ideas and data that (to my disappointment) never quite managed to make it into the original piece.
The inevitable reje
ction came, along with a wealth of useful advice and comments. The editor and reviewers were broadly positive and had lots of pleasant things to say, and I felt enthusiastic about future revisions. In the meanwhile, I chose to concentrate upon the second article, having had its abstract accepted by a journal edited by my supervisor. I felt so confident about this one: it had a clearer structure, sharper analysis and a more thorough interrogation of the literature. Or so I felt.
It turns out that nepotism will only get you so far (my inner moralist is loving this). I've just received a second rejection, with my supervisor arguing that the piece was more muddled and less defined than the first. Amusingly, one of the more critical reviewers said that I should submit a new version of the second article to a journal that she just happens to edit, but it would need completely re-writing first.
None of this is entirely unexpected, but I'm feeling a little deflated. I expected rejections, and I expected revisions, but the impression I'm getting is that I need to sit down and write something entirely new from scratch for the umpteenth time.
I can deal with this - in fact I just had a terribly excited conversation with my supervisor about ideas for a new paper taking my analysis in a quite different direction - but I'm sad to have moved so far away from the original piece I wanted to publish: a work that's internally consistent and works in its own right but is way too bulky for most journals.
Ruth Pearce
07 Jun 2011 13:18
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Tags: PhD PhD Blog PhD Student Publishing Research Ruth Supervisor
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Comments (5)
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Anna Sloan
Don’t give up, Ruth! I think it actually takes a long time to learn how to properly write for academic publication. As Masters students we feel so slick, like we’re real researchers, but one thing I’ve learned in the PhD is how very little I actually know about this stuff…my MA work is just astoundingly naive when I read it now.
It might be worth it to put it on hold for a little while and come back to it in 6 months or a year….you may read it again at that point and see exactly what needs to change for it to be publishable. Rather than banging your head against a wall over and over again right now…
This is kind of what I did. I re-worked a chapter of my MA dissertation into a conference paper in the first year of my PhD, which luckily was well-received and the conference organisers asked me to publish it in a special issue of a journal. The final draft of the paper wasn’t actually due till January of this year (my third year), and when I went back to it this January I found it needed COMPLETE re-writing, start to finish. I feel like it’s basically up to academic standards now but it sure wasn’t back then! And this is despite getting high marks on it and so on.
Anyway the point being, it’s probably really amazing work but that doesn’t mean you’re ready to publish yet. It can be good to put the brakes on a little, so you gain some perspective through what you learn in the PhD. It can always be published later. (Hope that sounds positive and hopeful, as intended, rather than deflating….)
xxx
12 Jun 2011, 20:21
Anna Sloan
Oh and PS. Love the graphic! :) xx
12 Jun 2011, 20:21
Ruth Pearce
You’re right of course Anna. I’ve got a heck of a lot to learn at this stage and I’m in the very early days of my PhD (being a part-time student). I suppose there’s two elements that particularly get me down – one is that I dared to hope in the first place that I might get a publication out there any time soon (i.e. within a couple a years!) and the second is that my research was very specific to a certain time and place: I fear that by the time I’m capable of writing to an appropriate standard it will be rejected for being out-of-date! I suppose this is a particular issue within social research…
12 Jun 2011, 20:29
Anna Sloan
Oh, that must be frustrating! The time-sensitive thing. I wouldn’t worry too much about it though, as all academic publishing seems to take absolute AGES anyway. It seems to go in slow motion.
I didn’t know you were part-time. I kind of wish I were….I spend enough time on paid work that I may as well be!
13 Jun 2011, 09:55
Temilola Oladepo
”...As Masters students we feel so slick, like we’re real researchers, but one thing I’ve learned in the PhD is how very little I actually know about this stuff…” Anna you read my mind and conviction in that statement.
It’s a totally different journey on a ~PhD . I am only just properly settling into the new scheme of things (internally) after a whole year. I won’t give up.
20 Aug 2012, 12:07
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