To turn a thesis chapter into a journal paper, choose one main finding, remove what does not support it and write a fresh introduction.
Examiners have to read your full chapter, because that is their job. A journal editor has no such duty. Because of this, almost every page needs some change. Your chapter may be 60 pages long with 40 tables. A journal paper is mostly 4,000 to 8,000 words, and the exact limit is set by the journal itself. Most of your time will go in deciding which parts to leave out.
Start with one finding you can state in a sentence
Before opening the chapter, take a blank page and write “This paper shows that …”. Complete the sentence with one result only. For example, “This paper shows that perceived ease of use predicts mobile banking adoption among rural women in Coimbatore district more strongly than cost.”
Some scholars are not able to complete this sentence. Then the paper is not ready yet. Others finish it with three results joined by “and”. Mostly that means two papers are inside it, or one paper is trying to carry too much. Editors send back both kinds.
A PhD thesis normally has three to five objectives. Many times the simple way is one paper per objective, or one paper for two closely linked objectives. It is useful for the university rule also, because many of them ask for two or more papers before you submit. Osmania, JNTUH, Bharathiar and Bangalore University all want more than one, each in its own way.
Read the author guidelines before you cut
Fix the journal first, or at least a shortlist. Download its author guidelines and read them fully. They give the word limit, whether the abstract is structured or plain, the section headings, the reference style and how many tables are allowed.
Then you will not cut the chapter two times. If the journal allows 6,000 words including references, you know your budget from the start itself. If it uses numbered references and your thesis is in APA, every citation has to change anyway. Do it once in a reference manager, not by hand.
For how to shortlist journals that your university will count, see our page on choosing a Scopus journal.
Cut the literature review down to an introduction
Most scholars find this cut the most painful. A year went into the review, and now it has to come down to a page and a half. The editor don’t need a list of everything you read. What the editor wants to see is why the question matters, what is known already and what is still missing.
Four or five paragraphs are enough for the introduction. Open the first with the real-world problem. The next two summarise what earlier studies found, grouped by idea and not author by author. The fourth paragraph should say clearly what gap is still there. In the end of the introduction comes the aim of this paper, and sometimes the hypotheses also.
The reference list also you have to reduce, keeping the ones these paragraphs actually use. Any reference which is not connected to your one finding can go. Many times a chapter with 150 references ends up as a paper with 40 to 60. A few journals put a maximum on references, and the guidelines will tell you that number.
| Part of the chapter | Usual size in the thesis | What it becomes in the paper |
|---|---|---|
| Background and literature | 15 to 30 pages | Four or five paragraphs of introduction, closing with the gap and the aim |
| Method | 8 to 15 pages | One or two pages covering design, sample, tools, analysis and ethics approval |
| Results | All the tables you ran | Four to six tables or figures, all of them answering one question |
| Discussion | Long, and many times mixed with the results | A separate, short section comparing your finding with five to ten studies |
| Conclusion and suggestions | A few pages | One paragraph, with the limitations and what needs to be studied next |
Shrink the method and choose the results
Keep the method section short and exact. Give the design, the sample and how you drew it, the instrument with its reliability, the analysis and the software. Where your data came from people, write the ethics approval details and how consent was taken. Textbook definitions of sampling and the history of the Likert scale are not needed here.
Now take your results tables one at a time. If a table does not help to prove the one finding, remove it. Demographic tables mostly come down to one or two sentences, or one small table. There is no need for a separate table for each assumption test you ran in SPSS. Just write in one line that you checked the assumptions and they were met.
Figures carry more weight in a paper than in a thesis. One clear path diagram or bar chart can many times do the work of two tables. Figure size and resolution are also given in the guidelines. Read that part before you open any drawing software. Many scholars draw one figure twice because they skipped it.
Rewrite the text instead of pasting it
Many scholars are copying full paragraphs from the thesis straight into the paper. This creates two problems. One is the writing itself. In the chapter you explained each small step in detail. Journal readers are busy people, they want the point quickly. And the overlap will come up in the similarity check on the paper now, and again on the thesis later.
Each university treats this in a different way. The University of Hyderabad ignores overlap with a paper in which the student is first author. Anna University leaves papers claimed in the thesis out of its check. Some other universities exclude only what the supervisor lists in a certificate. Keep a note of which thesis section went into which paper, and ask your library how your own papers will be treated.
The cleaner way is to write the paper fresh, with the chapter open next to you as notes only. It is slower in the beginning, but the paper reads much better. Paraphrasing tools are not the answer here, and our guide on reducing similarity the right way tells the reason.
Write the discussion, abstract and title last
In a paper the discussion has one job only. Put your finding beside what other people found and tell the reader what it means. Choose five to ten researches that are close to your own work. Show where your result matches theirs and where it differs, and give a possible reason for each difference. Then write one paragraph on the practical meaning and one on the limits of your study.
Abstract you write only after the whole paper is done. Use the format the journal asks for, many times 150 to 250 words. Put numbers in it, at least your sample size and your main result. When an abstract has no numbers, it usually sounds like a plan of work and the reader can’t see any finding.
The title you write at the very end. It should give the finding or the question, along with the key variables and the setting. Title is the first thing an editor sees, indexing services also use it. Avoid weak openings like “a study on” there.
Settle authors and affiliation before you submit
Many scholars treat author order as a small thing, but it decides whether your paper will count. JNTUH wants the scholar’s name first and then the supervisor. For Osmania, the paper has to be a joint one with the supervisor. KTU wants the scholar as first or corresponding author, with KTU listed among the affiliations. The University of Madras wants its name in the affiliation of every paper that comes from its centres and colleges.
Agree the author order with your guide in writing before you submit. If authors change after acceptance, it takes long and every author has to give consent.
When the journal sends the copyright or licence form, read the full form before signing it. Most big publishers allow authors to reuse their own article in a thesis. Check what your publisher has written there, because it differs. Some want the published version cited in the chapter at every place you reuse it. Keep copy of the signed form along with your thesis papers.
Working on this with us
We work with scholars on this remotely from Nagercoil, as part of our research paper and publication support. We go through the chapter with you, fix the one finding, plan what to cut and edit your draft as per the journal’s author guidelines. We can also check the references using our citation generator and begin a cover letter with the cover letter generator.
The author is still you. The paper must be your own work, written in words you can defend in the viva-voce, because examiners many times ask questions on the published papers.
Questions scholars ask
Can I publish a chapter before my thesis is submitted?
Yes. In fact most universities expect it. Many of them ask for one or more papers before the synopsis or before the thesis. Look at your regulation for the exact number and the type of journal.
Will the published paper raise my thesis similarity score?
It can raise it. Some universities leave your own first-author papers out of the count. In other places they are left out only if your guide lists them in a certificate. Better to ask your library before the final check what they will do with your papers.
Can one chapter give me two papers?
Sometimes it can, when the chapter answers two different questions using different data or analyses. Cutting one result into two thin papers only to increase the count is called “salami slicing”, and editors reject such papers.
Do I need my supervisor as an author?
In many universities it is compulsory. Osmania says the papers must be joint with the supervisor. At Amrita the thesis advisor has to be a co-author. Check the clause in your own university’s regulation.