The doctoral thesis by published papers - coming to a university near you?

What is it about?

The doctoral thesis in the Social Sciences and in the Humanities in the UK higher education system has traditionally been in the form of a monograph, a document formed from a sequence of steps that begins with a justification for the study by reference to the state of the art (the literature), a methodology that defines the steps to be taken to gather evidence to provide answers to a research question, a presentation of the data and analysis, and a culmination with findings and their implications for theory, and in some cases, the world of practice and policy. Increasingly, there is adoption of what is often termed the thesis by published papers. The thesis is now more about producing knowledge and less about conforming to and following the demonstration model of the monograph. The changes are happening across the UK higher education sector in disciplines where the monograph has previously been the only form of thesis permitted.

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Photo by Michael Prewett on Unsplash

Photo by Michael Prewett on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Evidence presented in our paper shows the recent and gradual adoption of a practice, previously more common in scientific disciplines, that allows the doctoral thesis to be constituted by a series of publishable papers. As the thesis of the Social Sciences and Humanities – itself an important institution in the academic field - begins to reflect a greater emphasis upon quantity of knowledge outputs, a tension emerges with the most central of all scientific institutions, the peer-reviewed journal paper. In the examination of the thesis, who now holds sway in passing the judgement of quality of a thesis by published papers, an examiner or the various peer-reviewers of the papers submitted within the thesis? What will be the quality of papers that are produced within a thesis by published papers? Is this salami publishing all over again?

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