Introduction: Thesis Publication-From Accomplishment to Perfection.

Your thesis is, quite rightly, one of the most significant achievements you will undertake as a scholar. It is a culmination of many years of hard work and dedicated research which represents growth and development as a researcher. Nevertheless, the true academic value of your thesis only really emerges once it is re-formatted, edited, proof-read and presented as a scholarly publication. If handled correctly, publishing your thesis validates your work and makes a useful contribution to global knowledge. However, far too many scholars fail at the publishing stage, not because they don't have a good piece of research but because they neglect to adhere to certain aspects of publication, such as formatting, selection of the correct journal, ethics and submission procedures.

With a heightened global profile of research through channels such as Google Scholar, a high quality and error-free piece of academic writing is more vital than ever in this competitive environment, and poorly presented or researched work can negatively affect how your work is perceived and indexed over many years. You must therefore approach the process systematically, methodically and with incredible attention to detail as opposed to haste.

You must develop a publication strategy. This should first address whether you want your work to be published as articles, as a book, or whether you simply need it accessible in an academic repository and this will then inform how the thesis should be adapted.

Your thesis must be turned into publishable content. Since journal articles usually are written to be concise and focused it is often necessary to 'unbundle' your thesis, turning it into individual research papers, stripping down extensive literature review sections to focus only on key findings and the contribution the piece makes to the current research agenda.

The literature review must be updated, and the topic and research it supports brought up to date with current academic discourse. The research must be verifiable and the gaps addressed in it must be identified with the contemporary scholar in mind, whilst modern scholarly research must be represented where relevant. A strong methodology must be evident with a description which makes the research transparent, reproducible and reliable.

The work must be structured academically: title, abstract, introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, conclusion and references; and you must write an engaging abstract and a concise, appealing title to allow your work to be found easily and read first, with clear, concise academic writing used throughout.

Plagiarism must be eliminated by correct referencing, paraphrase, and that the work remains the original work of yourself. It is crucial to cite everything that isn't common knowledge or is from another source, and use a consistent citation system (APA, MLA, Harvard etc.). Careful proof-reading and editing are essential to avoid minor errors that may reflect poorly on the researcher.

You must choose the right journal for your work. Submissions often fail because the article and journal were ill-suited. Pay attention to the journal scope, impact factor, the acceptance rate and their guidelines to authors. At the peer review stage, feedback from the referee must be handled professionally and incorporated efficiently to improve the manuscript.

All research must be conducted ethically, and you should remain transparent throughout and handle all data responsibly. While it is good practice to employ editing tools such as Grammarly and referencing tools such as Zotero or Mendeley, these should not be used to replace your own diligent work.

Don't be put off by rejection. This is common, and if you take the comments on board, it often leads to a much improved article to be submitted elsewhere. After publication, promote the work. Academic platforms, conferences and researcher profiles like Google Scholar should all be considered for a wider readership and the increase in your own visibility.

A truly successful publication stems from a well planned strategy, rigorous research and meticulous attention to detail. Once your thesis is at a certain level it is then simply a process of presenting it well, with the aim of producing as perfect an academic output as possible to disseminate your research effectively to the global scholarly community.

publish your thesis