How to Publish a Dissertation in the UK & Across the Globe?

What Does Dissertation Publication Mean in the UK?

Publishing your dissertation means making your research public for everyone to read and use in their research papers or studies. In the United Kingdom, there are several ways to get your work published, and some of them are mentioned below.

• Institutional Repository Submission: Most UK universities require you to submit your dissertation to their digital library, also called an institutional repository. Once your manuscript is uploaded, anyone can search for and read your study online, e.g., via DSpace.
• Journal Article Publication: You can take dissertation chapters or findings and turn them into shorter articles for academic journals such as JSTOR. When you submit the article, it goes through peer review, and then you get the green signal of publication.
• Book Publication: Some students, specifically PhD candidates, usually convert their PhD thesis into a book and publish it. Academic publishers like Oxford University Press or Routledge publish such works as scholarly books. For example, Leibniz’s Dissertation on Combinatorial Art or The Staples Thesis (Harold Innis) was also published by Oxford University Press.
• Open Access Platforms: These are free online academic databases where anyone can access your work without paying a penny. For example, the British Library’s EThOS system and platforms like OATD (Open Access Theses and Dissertations) allow anyone to share their research with the public.

Difference Between PhD, Master’s, and Undergraduate Thesis Publication

Usually, PhD studies require repository submissions and journal publications as a mandatory step to go public. A master’s dissertation may require submission to a repository, but journal publication is not compulsory. On the other hand, undergraduate dissertations rarely get published in traditional academic outlets.

What are the Dissertation Publication Requirements in the UK?

In most cases, researchers are not required to seek permission from anyone to publish a thesis in the UK. But when they have taken funding from a university or even third-party organisations, there may be a need to seek approvals. However, all UK universities have specific rules about dissertation submission and publication that you must follow.

• University Submission Requirements: After passing your viva or submitting the final manuscript, you must upload a PDF to your university’s repository. Always ensure to follow formatting standards such as 11-12pt font, 1.5 spacing, complete repository deposit forms, and provide metadata including title, abstract, and keywords.
• PhD-Specific Requirements: PhD students must complete post-viva corrections, obtain final examiner approval, and then make their research public.
• UKRI and Funding Body Requirements: If your research has received UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding, you must make your thesis publicly available within 12 months of award and provide open access.

Where Can You Publish Your Dissertation in the UK & Globally?

There are a lot of options available that you can use to publish your research work and make it accessible to the public for free.

• Academic Journals

Academic journals publish research articles in specific fields, and there are some dedicated journals for each subject. They have peer review teams of experts who check your manuscript quality and then decide whether to publish your work or not.

You can choose between subscription-based journals where readers pay, and you publish for free or open access journals where anyone can read your work for free, and you may pay a £500-£3,000 per article processing fee.

To find the right journal, read recent articles in your field, check if the journal’s scope matches your topic, look at impact factors, and ask for your supervisor’s recommendation.

• University Repositories

Almost every university in the UK has a digital repository containing the research works of its graduates. You can also upload your prose as a PDF to your institute’s repository, and they will add it to their database.

Once uploaded, search engines like Google Scholar can find it, and it will get a permanent web address. So that anyone worldwide can view and download it for free.

• National Services

The UK’s national thesis database contains over 600,000 doctoral research works. It is completely free to search and download them to find references to add to the literature review. If you have allowed open access, your university repository will automatically send your dissertation to the E-Theses Online Service (EThOS).

• Open Access and Public Libraries

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, Open Access Theses and Dissertations (OATD), CORE, ResearchGate, Academia.edu, and ORCID also allow researchers to upload and share their groundbreaking research with others.

• Self-Publishing and Online Platforms

Self-publishing gives you more control over your work, but you have to deal with formatting variations yourself, which can be time-consuming or mind-boggling as well, because every platform has different thesis submission guidelines. You can self-publish your work on Amazon Kindle, Lulu, or even on Google Books.

Steps to Publish a Dissertation in the UK & Across the Globe

Step 1 Clean Up and Edit Your Manuscript

Complete all required corrections and align the content formatting with the targeted journal or platform’s submission guidelines. Minor corrections usually take 1-3 months, or major ones can take up to 6-12 months to perfect the manuscript. Make sure to thoroughly edit and proofread your work by checking spelling, grammar, citations, and formatting.

General formatting guidelines: use Times New Roman or Arial font, 11-12pt size, 1.5 or double spacing, 2.5cm margins, consistent heading styles, and check all references carefully. Consider taking professional thesis proofreading and editing help if English is not your first language for flawless submissions.

Step 2: Select Publication Outlet

Now, select the publication outlet you want to get your study published in and proceed with the process.

• For Repository Submission: Your university will tell you which citation style to use and what is actually required, and what is not.
• For Journal Publication: Match your topic to the journal’s scope, check recent issues, consider journal rankings, review word count requirements (usually 6,000 to 8,000 words, check publication fees, and ask your supervisor for suggestions.
• For Book Publication: Research university presses such as Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, etc., or commercial publishers such as Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan, Springer, and so on. Now, prepare a book research proposal that includes a 2-3 page overview, sample chapters, information on competing books, your qualifications, and market analysis.

Step 3: Follow Submission Guidelines

Now, move on to the next step of publishing a dissertation in the UK and follow all the required submission guidelines.

• Repository Guidelines: Submit a PDF of your thesis manuscript in the required file format, complete deposit forms signed by your supervisor, provide metadata (title, abstract, keywords), include a copyright statement, and request an embargo if needed.
• Journal Guidelines: Prepare your research manuscript according to the journal’s format, write a 150-300-word abstract, include 5-8 keywords, write a cover letter explaining why your work fits better, and submit figures and tables separately.

Now, use the exact citation style required (e.g., APA, Harvard, Chicago, MLA), and respect word count limits strictly. Remember, most journals want 6,000 to 8,000 words, excluding references.

Step 4: Go Through Peer Review Engagement

After submission of your manuscript, the journal editors send your work to 2-3 expert reviewers for review. The typical timeline for initial review is 1-3 weeks, and peer review may take 6-12 weeks. Reviewers might ask you to add recent references, clarify methods, strengthen analysis, discuss limitations, reorganise sections, cut short content, or add additional analysis.

How to Deal With the Review Suggestions?

Read comments carefully, take time to consider feedback, address every comment in a response document, make suggested changes, explain any disagreements politely, highlight changes in your manuscript, and thank reviewers for their valuable suggestions.

If your manuscript gets rejected, carefully read the feedback, revise the comments, and submit to another journal. Remember, rejection is normal and happens to most researchers; that’s why you shouldn’t stop trying.

Step 5 Final Acceptance and Publication

Now, it is time to deal with the final acceptance phase and get your study published.

• For Journal Articles: After acceptance, the journal edits your work, sends you proofs to check within 48-72 hours, publishes your dissertation online, assigns a DOI (permanent link), and may publish in print issues as well. Many journals require copyright transfer, meaning they own publication rights. However, you usually keep rights for teaching and research use.
• For Books: The process usually takes longer (18-36 months) and includes contract signing, manuscript revision (3-12 months), peer review, further revisions (2-6 months), copyediting, cover design, typesetting, proofreading, printing, and publication.
• For Repositories: Once approved, your dissertation goes live within 1-4 weeks, appears in Google Scholar within days, gets harvested by EThOS if open access, and you will receive confirmation with a permanent URL.

How to Turn a Dissertation into a Journal Article?

People usually prefer to read short articles instead of full-length dissertations that can be as short as 10,000 words. That’s why to make your study accessible to a larger audience, you should turn it into a precise journal article. Let us guide you through the process of turning a dissertation into a journal article.

• Identify Publishable Content: Firstly, look for dissertation chapters with strong findings, important contributions, and even unique arguments that can stand alone independently. Usually, the results and the dissertation discussion chapter contain the most publishable content.
• Reduce the Word Count: Reduce word count, such as chapters of 10,000 to 15,000 words, to 6,000 to 8,000 words by removing detailed theory, trimming the literature review to 1-2 pages, focusing on one main finding, and cutting unnecessary methodological details.
• Restructure Content: Write a brief introduction (1-2 pages), concise methods (1-2 pages), focus results (2-3 pages), discussion connecting to the field (2-3 pages), and conclusion with implications (1 page).
• Change Writing Style: Use simple language, define technical terms, avoid jargon, write shorter sentences of no more than 20 words, use active voice, and try to be more direct and confident in your discussion.
• Update References: Keep only the most recent publications in your works cited list, or remove less relevant citations to keep the study current.
• Create Multiple Articles: Remember, you can create several papers from your one dissertation. Make each article stand alone, rewrite the introductions for each paper, cite your other publications where relevant, and be transparent about the fact that your article comes from the same research.
• Avoid Self-Plagiarism: Do not copy-paste large sections between your articles; instead, rewrite the content in your own words each time to avoid self-plagiarism.

What are the UK Copyright and Dissertation Publication Rules?

In the UK, students usually own the copyright to their dissertations and can copy or distribute them anywhere. You can create multiple articles from your dissertation and allow others to use it, and license it to publishers.

• Exceptions: You may not own copyright if any group commercially funded your research, or you have signed a copyright transfer contract, or your work contains confidential business information.
• University Rights: Even though you own the work and have copyright, universities may require a non-exclusive license to make your work publicly available and include it in EThOS.
• Third-Party Content: If your dissertation includes content from others, or if it is co-authored by someone else as well. Then, you need permission from them or the people who own the tables or figures, and the things you have used to publish them.
• Creative Commons Licensing: When publishing in a repository, you need to choose a license, such as:
• CC BY: Others can use your work with credit
• CC BY-NC: Non-commercial use only with credit
• CC BY-ND: Share with credit, but cannot change it
• CC BY-NC-ND: Most restrictive

How Much Does It Cost to Publish a Dissertation?

We have researched and found the approximate charges you need to pay to get your dissertation published in journals or with a university press.
University Repository Submission Fee: There’s no fee to publish your work in a university repository.

Journal Publication Costs:

• Traditional subscription journals usually don’t charge a penny to publish your study.
• Open-access journals have an article processing fee of around £500 to £4,000.
• High-impact journals charge more and can take around £5,000 to £9,500 per article.

Book Publication Costs:

• Traditional publishers usually publish your research studies for free and even offer 10-15% royalties.
• Open access book platforms charge around £4,000 to £15,000.

Self-Publishing Costs:

• Basic do-it-yourself, which costs around £0-£50, and your time only.
• Professional services £500 to £3,000 for editing, cover design, and formatting.
• Print-on-demand £3 to £15 per copy printed.

If you are facing any issue with publishing your dissertation in the UK, or even across the globe. Then, don’t worry and take professional dissertation publishing services to get the work done.

Frequently Asked Questions