Sometimes librarians are asked happy questions by students. For example, some graduate students are relieved after many years of work to finally have finished their thesis, which is accepted by a faculty at Thammasat University. They are the proud owners of a printed copy of their thesis. Their next question may be:

How would I get my research results published by a commercial press or professional journal?

Some students want to have a doctoral thesis published by a well-known publisher. Others even want a master’s thesis published. If they have original research to contribute to a field, this is good news. Fortunately, there is much advice available online about the best ways to go about trying to get published. One article in the Journal of Genetic Counseling offers useful advice about seeing master’s theses into print, even for those who are not enrolled in science faculties. The reasons to be published are obvious: to increase the general knowledge in a field and communicate new results. Also career advancement can be quicker and easier with a list of publications. Naturally, there are many challenges and obstacles to getting published, but it is better not to be too discouraging for students. Instead, we may suggest some of the necessary steps, without sounding too negative:

How much time are you willing to devote to getting published?

This is important because many graduate students, even after their thesis work is completed, have work commitments that give them busy schedules. It takes time to send theses out, and sometimes adjust them to please publishers. Getting published can seem like a part-time job in itself. If the student has no free time at all, it will be difficult to achieve the goal. Typically, few master’s degree students try to publish their theses. In the Kingdom, part of the problem may be they are not secure with their level of English ability. Also, unless their ajarn has particularly praised the original and worthwhile results in their thesis, they may not believe that their work is important enough to merit publication. A little encouragement may help students to value their own work more. Getting published does more than just help a graduate student’s career and add to knowledge in a research field. It can also add to the general level of happiness in an academic career, as students realize that other readers also appreciate their work, not just the ajarns who approved the thesis. Also, it is a good feeling to know that the results of several years of work do not just disappear as soon as the degree is granted. One bit of advice that should be useful to students at this point would be:

Have you looked at a professional journal in your field lately? Try to see how your thesis looks different from publications in your field. Try to make your work fit the way other work is presented.

This does not mean that the student’s work should always agree with past publications, but in format and the way it is organized and presented, the thesis should look like an article, not a thesis. Also, it is useful to know from the student:

Are you looking for a book publisher or a journal that will publish part of the thesis?

A librarian can tell if students are just asking for information, or if they are really determined to look into the possibility of thesis publication. If they are truly serious, then it will only encourage them to be reminded:

It is always good to published research results as soon as possible.

In all academic fields, students and ajarns are eager for the latest information. So if TU students have new and useful information in their theses, why not try to share the material with the world of scholarship, rather than keep it hidden? When the task of actually presenting material in a thesis as an academic article or book, it can be very useful to have advice from ajarns and fellow students.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)