A letter to the editor is a one-pager, announcing your research and summarizing your findings. It should have a quicker refereeing period.

A research paper (article) is a six-page, boiled-down IMR&D version of your thesis. (Think of it as the Reader's Digest version of your thesis).

Both are counted as valid research output, but the paper is more prestigious than the letter. 

I agree with explanation given by Ian Kennedy

Thank you #Ian and Nirmala for explanation.

One more thing, for example, there is a journal, open access, named as Remote Sensing Letters... But they dont have one page articles... I have seen lengths like that of a normal research articles. Something is creating a confusion in my mind. 

minimize it and publish as a research article.

Some journals just do not accept letters to the Editor. Sorry!

You can try to publish a research paper in any journal related to remote sensing or earth science like:

Remote Sensing Environment 

Egyptain Journal of Remote Sensing 

Candian journal of Remote Sensing 

GIScience & Remote Sensing

IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters

I second the  Mr Ian kennedy's reply.

I published my thesis in a researchformat.

I would say it is preferable to publish your thesis or part of it as an original research article, rather than a letter to the editor. Letters to the editor are usually published in case of research that is extremely topical and needs to be published at the earliest. For example, breakthrough results of a research on an ongoing epidemic should be published as a letter to the editor or a brief communication as many people might benefit from its immediate publication. However, if you have time on your hands, why not publish a full-fledged original research article? That way, you will be able to provide a detailed and in-depth analysis that other researchers can build on.

Dear Malik,

I think that according to my experience from publishing in the Nordic countries and in UK the tradition is to publish the thesis, after rewriting the thesis in a suitable way, in one or perhaps two original research articles.

Best regards

Lars

Thank you all for your responses. 

Sure! Publishing the results, the analysis of them and the conclusions of your thesis in a journal is very important. That's the way your research can be spread and known around the world, so other researchers can contact you or cite you. Besides, not many people are gonna read a long text like your whole thesis but it's more likely that they read an article because this is shorter and concise. Make sure you publish in an indexed journal.

I recommend you to publish an academic paper/research article. I haven't heard about publishing a research as a letter.

What is the difference between publishing a letter and article ? 

@Iqbal: See page one of our replies.

Most theses are written in such great detail that make them unsuitable for publication as mere letters to the editor.  I would suggest that you distill out the most important findings from the elaborate study done for your theses and publish these findings as one or two full length research articles in good journals. And if you are a lecturer or you hope to become one, know that research articles published in good journals are usually scored higher than letters to the editor or brief communications for purposes of academic promotions. Your dissertation supervisor may be useful in guiding you on how to achieve these. Research articles from your dissertation.

Yes. Many major universities prefer that. You must present a reprint or a letter of acceptance from a major . well known and established peer reviewed journal. .

Is it okay to publish a thesis in a form of research article or as a letter for a reputed journal?

I think a doctoral thesis should have enough content to form more than one research article - in math, I would think the best part of three articles. I expect this varies by subject. I wouldn't bother with a letter to the editor, unless it was one of those rare fields where priority is paramount, in which case the speed of a letter to the editor would matter, but that letter would really just be an announcement of your forthcoming article.

I think research-degree theses must be made available to the scientific community. This is in the form of conference presentations,  posters or publication in peer-reviewed journals. Publishing your thesis findings in peer-reviewed journals (in the form of original article(s) or letters) reflects its quality and scientific value, and the acceptability of its content to the scientific community.   In brief, I suggest you publish your thesis as an original article, that is value!  Cheers from New Zealand. 

Many American Universities offer theses in pdf format for those who need specific details of the thesis objective.

The best way to start your career is to "distill" the thesis into a research paper. A letter to the editor cannot contain all the details and results of a normal thesis. A letter to the editor usually depicts  information on something really small, from comments to updates on previous datasets. 

Interestingly the Impact Factor for a Research Paper or a Letter to the Editor is the same ... since what it counts is the Journal and not the type of manuscript ( review, case study, research paper etc) . 

So , for your CV both options will provide the same result . For your reputation in the field the research paper is the way to go. 

A paper is better...

If you could publish a research paper or two based on your thesis that would be a point in your favour.

I would think a research article - or two or three - would be the usual publications from a thesis. Theses often encompass a number of distinct research contributions - new methods, new discoveries with those methods, etc.

The goal of ALL research in today's world is to be published.  Thesis get bound and stuck in libraries and in theses service.  That should answer your question.  I was lucky my Ph.D. thesis advisor was for more concerned about publishing then my thesis.  The 3 chapters of my thesis were three publications.

I wouldn't say the *goal* of research is to be published - the goal is to make a contribution to our scientific knowledge. However it is often the goal of individuals and most institutions to publish for their personal benefits.

It is through publishing the results of research that contribution to knowledge can be accomplished.  Publishing can be done in many ways, but one of the best ways to disseminate the results of research is through journals. So I agree with Kenneth that the goall of scientific discovery may be defeated if such discovery is not published.

Definitely a paper would have more impact than a letter to the editor.

Dear Mihnea .. for all practical purposes a research paper OR a letter to the editor (in the same journal)  have the same impact factor. In terms of prestige .. the research paper is the choice to follow .. BUT unfortunately our academic performance is often determined by metrics and not by prestige. 

I think you will gain more if you publish an article from your thesis.

Of course it is preferable to publish an article based on the in the thesis. Then you can use the Research material well.

Best

Lars

Yes, it is true you'll gain much by publishing articles out of the thesis. But the disadvantage is that it becomes difficult when you later want to publish it as a book because of the problem of copy rights of the journals you publish your articles in.

Yes, that is an important aspect, but it is usually of more value to publish in peer reviewed journals.

/Lars