in many universities laws, you have to published before PhD

If it's to be in a good quality refereed journal, you publish whenever you can. Same is true of a monograph with a high quality press. Indeed, some people do get advanced degrees on the sole basis of past publications. You don't want to waste time on it if you can locate a quality publisher. Finish the degree first.

Christopher NOCK

On the contrary I find it worth-while to try to publish at least one paper while being a PhD student - for the experience and for several other reasons, too. One is that if you - as a PhD student - have an accepted journal paper included with your thesis, then it will be rather difficult to fail you when you become examined. In the Swedish system some fields have lowered the obligatory number of courses, and instead allowed a longer focus on the dissertation - that is, on perfoming research and writing papers. I have my doubts about this, however, as it will be very hard to compensate for the lack of courses afterwards, when the PhD is busy doing other stuff.

Dear Samuel - I do not know what the norm is in the Medical sciences/Psychiatry/Psychology, but in the Natural sciences we normally encourage PhD students to publish academic papers 'on the go'. Whilst still not as common as in some European countries, more and more UK universities now also allow PhD students to be examined on a series of (published) papers (with an appropriate introductory chapter and a synthesis at the end). Personally I find this a good development, although I do believe that sometimes a research topic may be better served by the traditional monograph. I would say it is worth exploring your options with your supervisor to see what is possible at Leicester. By the way, having one (or even more) published paper(s) in your thesis is never a guarantee for passing a viva... Published papers are not necessarily free from flaws.

Hi,

I am not acquainted with the rules and regulations of British universities, but in my country, the PhD dissertation is a property of the institution where it is created, and only when the dissertation is completed and one gets the degree, the author of the work gains ownership of his work. So, it is advisable to check this issue in your institution.

That position would violate the Authors Right. It is not possible for authors to assign or even waive their moral rights. Commercial or economic rights, are different.

In Spain, articles are published before obtaining the Doctor degree.

Best regards

As it should be!

Hi Sam. Interesting discussion. I have been told that it is an expectation of my school that I should publish. More importantly it is a useful and learning experience. I have also heard that it will help during the final viva as a peer reviewed article in a reputable journal is easier to defend in the final viva. I am hoping to try and publish at least two pieces of original research if possible

I don´t see any disadvantage if parts of a dissertation have been previously published in a peer-reviewed, reputable journal. It would be ideal, if you have a review and an original work on the topic of the thesis. Then it would be nearly impossible to reject the dissertation.

However, such articles are time-consuming on the way to the thesis. It depends on how best to achieve your dissertation according to local regulations. So it may be easier if someone else, e.g. your adviser, writes these papers and points out that they contain material from your thesis. Then it may be enough to quote this papers and only stand next to a poster 1 or 2 times.

in many universities laws, you have to published before PhD