Since completing my MSc (physics) I have been emailed by several questionable 'new' publishing companies such as Lambert Academic Publishers, Scientific and Academic Publishers, and Scientific and Education Publishers. A quick search reveals there is no web content for the MANY journals they apparently publish, calls for editorial staff for most journals, and a contact address that is often a park, field or some other establishment.
i have also read to avoid publication of dissertations on sites like ProQuest since many reputable publishers will consider the content already published (although not peer reviewed or by traditional publication channels) and therefore sections cannot be used for writing journal articles or a book. This in turn could tie the authors hands as far as being able to publish in peer reviewed journals, often required for grants, teaching appointments, etc.
Would uploading a PDF of my thesis title pg, table of contents and other front matter to Researchgate make my research adequately visible and avoid these issues?
Thank you for being the first to reply to this question Christo. I must admit, I am very skeptical of these type of indexing sites. I was contacted by another site (can't remember which, but they publish their hard copies through Springer-Verlag) after completing my MSc thesis. It seems they hoover other databases, contact the author offering their service and then have the author sign over the copyright. After some digging, I found a scam warning and other warnings of the implications (no longer have the right to publish material from within ones own thesis). Another downside is that they want you to pay them to distribute it and I don't see how the royalties they offer could ever amount to what they want the author to pay them initially. Furthermore, they charge a fee if a typo is found and a correction needs to be made. I'm not sure if this is the case with Ijarmate, but it is less than a year old so I will remain skeptical, although I did not find any scam warnings:
http://www.scamadviser.com/check-website/ijarmate.com
http://www40.issafe.co/ijarmate.com
In the meantime, my solution has been to use our NEW (in the last 2-3 years) institutional thesis electronic distribution system to publish the frontmatter and references along with my email address so anyone interested can contact me directly. I will keep track who I distribute my thesis to by adding an electronic signature or serial number to each PDF copy that I send directly to someone that has requested it. The frontmatter is also on Research Gate.
https://espace.rmc.ca/jspui/bitstream/11264/861/1/Cushley%20MSc%20Thesis%20for%20Publishing%2018%20July%202013_frontmatter.pdf
The thesis is also listed at http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013MsT..........7C so that people searching for my name or the subject may be aware that is exists. I have also received two cheques in the mail from ProQuest (although I don't know how they received a copy, unless it was through an agreement with my institution (Royal Military College of Canada) or the Government of Canada.
Best regards
Honestly, the best way to publish your thesis is by breaking it up into relevant parts and publishing the parts in journals you are familiar with. If all the scientific material is published in journals, there's really no need to publish or index the thesis itself. Most Canadian Universities these days will ask you to make your thesis openly available through ProQuest, but there is sparse point in doing so, other than making the thesis available for future generations in your lab group. At McGill, we're told we have to put our thesis in ProQuest and are asked to submit a copyright form. I just refused to sign the copyright form and published the work separately in journals. Even without the copyright form, they still put it online without my permission. I've been in a somewhat heated argument with them about it ever since; however, I didn't really care so long as I was still able to publish the material. I've put my thesis here on Research Gate as well, in case anyone ever finds use for it.
With regard to Ijarmate.com: if you haven't heard of it before today and don't know anyone else that uses their service, then there's really little point in using it, right? The whole point in publishing something is to have someone else read it.
Thank you David. I posed this question in 2014 and have only begun to receive answers in the last month. At the time, I was planning on breaking it down into articles, but was also looking at starting classes for my PhD and catching up on other things I had put off while writing the MSc thesis, so really just wanted an effective way to get the idea out there quickly. I still need to get more papers written and that is why I am hoping to do an integrated paper format for my PhD thesis. Live and learn, right?
hahaha, sorry, I didn't notice the date on the question; I just saw it pop up in my feed. Sounds good. If I'm not mistaken, most thesis include a personal copyright, so putting it up on Research Gate may be the easiest way to get it out to a large audience without chancing someone going to print with your work or the journal complaining about pre-publishing issues.
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