Dissertation Advices To Get Your Dissertation Published

• “I have submitted my dissertation and now I want it to be published. Can you please advice me on how do I get it published?

• “Can you provide me a list of publishers specializing in dissertations and academic topics?”

Day in and day out I receive these type of questions from huge number of students perusing PhD in USA and Masters Degree in UK. To be very honest, I became pretty bored after repeating same answers in response to every other e-mail I receive. So, I decided to write an article on how to get your dissertation published and from now on I will be referring students to this article whoever asks me about dissertation publishing.

If you want to get your dissertation published then you have three options to choose from. To get in-depth knowledge of all the three options, just keep reading below.

1. Get It Published In a Journal:  There are publishers who focus on publishing dissertations, while various academic publishers could be interested. It all depends on the topic, quality of research, etc. If you are willing to get your dissertation or some parts of your dissertation published in a journal then the advice for you would be to first find a suitable journal.   

a)      Go through the details and find out its requirements. Most journal websites will have information of their publishing requirements like what kind of content they are looking for, the length of the paper, and other submission guidelines.

b)      Inquire if you can publish your whole dissertation or only some parts of it?  Find out their submission guidelines as well.  For example, if they accept content related to your field of study, or if they only accept authors with previous publishing experience, etc. 

c)      After going through the details submit your work and wait for their reply.  It will be reviewed by them and then you will be informed.

d)      If it is not accepted then go for another journal. If your dissertation is denied by one journal, don’t lose hope. Find another one and keep trying

1. Get It Published As a Book: You can also get your dissertation published in a book form. 

a)      Find an academic press interested in your field of study and specializing in publishing dissertations. It is also advisable to consult with some academic publishers as they might show interest in publishing your work, depending on the field, quality of research, the topic you have chosen, etc. 

b)       You will have to submit a book proposal to a publisher which should explain the material you wish to publish.  Do not submit the complete manuscript unless they are interested. 

c)      If you find an academic press interested in publishing your dissertation, they will most likely have a few revisions for you to make. They usually have a peer review process, so you will surely receive responses from two or three senior scholars of your field.

1. Self-Publishing:   Dissertation advice for self-publishing is simple.  If you prefer to just have some bound copies of your dissertation to share it with your friends, family, etc, then you may use a service like Lulu.com. Although self publishing is an option but not recommended as it will cost too much. If you wish to have few bound copies to keep them in your bookshelf, then you can check your university's library. Every university library has a bound copy of all dissertations or theses on the shelves or in the archives somewhere. You can pay them to bind a couple more copies for you.

There are few more routes you can take than explained above to get your dissertation published such as “Conference Proceedings”. This happens to be the easiest of all the routes. You just have to present a paper at a conference and then either publish an abstract or full dissertation later on.

The most important dissertation advice when it comes to getting your dissertation published would be, not to lose hope. Without previous experience of publication, it is not easy to get your dissertation published.  You will have to discuss this matter with your advisor, the academic society for your field and your university’s reference librarians. They all can help you in knowing more avenues open to you.

In order to own the copyright, it is advisable to first bind your dissertation.  Then fill out the copyright form.  If you are in the UK, submit the form and the required number of bound copies to The British Library.  If you are in the USA, submit the form and the required number of bound copies to The Library of Congress.

P:S. Try the ' Writers Year Book 2007'. It has a list of every British publisher with their specialties / generalities. It's priceless and easier to sort through than online. For UK students who are pursuing Masters Degrees, it is fairly difficult to get it published as a mere MSc student.