Scientific Publications in Different Fields
Different fields of science have their own traditions regarding how research results are published. Traditionally, the natural sciences, medicine, and engineering have favored publishing research in the form of international journal articles. In contrast, the humanities have more commonly relied on books and publications issued by domestic publishers. The social sciences fall somewhere between these traditions. In engineering, it is also common to publish patents, conference proceedings, and technical reports.
In recent years, however, these disciplinary differences have become less pronounced. Article-based publishing has increased across all fields, and publishing in English rather than in national languages has become increasingly common. In addition to scholarly publishing, public engagement and interaction with society have assumed a growing importance across all academic disciplines.
Publication types for research publishing
Articles in a scientific journal are the most common way to publish research information. Books, periodicals, and conference proceedings are focal publishing channels as well.
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An academic thesis is a scientific work that demonstrates how a student has adopted scientific thinking and practices, such as information retrieval, evaluation of information quality, research methods, and scholarly communication. Completing a thesis and earning a degree also qualifies the graduate to work as an expert in their field. If you are a student at the University of Eastern Finland, check the requirements for your thesis either in Kamu study community or with your department.
Study communities (UEF // Kamu)
Bachelor’s Thesis
The first milestone of university studies is the completion of a lower university degree, the Bachelor’s degree. The required Bachelor’s thesis is typically a 5–10 ECTS literature review or other written work, which may also include a small experimental component. The thesis is generally a few dozen pages in length and includes at least 15–20 references. It is usually completed during the third year of study.
Master’s Thesis
A Master’s thesis (pro gradu) is the thesis required for a Master’s degree. It is more extensive than a Bachelor’s thesis, typically worth 20–40 ECTS credits, and may follow the structure of a scientific publication, including sections such as an introduction, materials and methods, results, and discussion.
Licentiate Thesis
A Licentiate thesis is required for the Licentiate degree, which previously had to be completed before pursuing a doctoral degree. Today, the Licentiate degree is relatively uncommon, as students can proceed directly to doctoral studies after completing a Master’s degree.
Doctoral Dissertation
A doctoral candidate must complete a doctoral dissertation (doctoral thesis) as part of the requirements for a PhD degree. A dissertation differs fundamentally from all other academic theses. It is an independent research project in which the candidate develops in-depth expertise in a specific field of study and produces new scientific knowledge. Unlike many lower-level theses, which are often based primarily on reviewing existing research, a doctoral dissertation can’t consist solely of a literature review or summary of current knowledge.
There are two main types of doctoral dissertations. A traditional monograph dissertation resembles a conventional academic book in form and structure. Monographs are particularly common in disciplines where research findings are typically published as books, such as many fields within the humanities. In article-oriented disciplines, including medicine and the natural sciences, article-based dissertations are more common. These consist of several articles – usually at least two – published in international peer-reviewed scientific journals, together with a summary that integrates and discusses the findings.
Once completed, the dissertation is subjected to a preliminary examination by at least two experts who hold doctoral degrees and are affiliated with institutions other than the candidate’s own university. After the preliminary examination, the candidate defends the dissertation in a public doctoral defense, after which the dissertation may be formally approved. The opponent, who critically examines the dissertation during the defense, must be a professor or docent from another university.
Is a Thesis a Publication?
According to Section 8 of the Finnish Copyright Act, a work is considered published when copies of it have, with the author’s consent, been made available to the public by sale or otherwise. Publications typically have a publisher and an ISBN. Only doctoral dissertations meet these criteria: they have a publisher (the university), an ISBN, and are usually openly available online.
Other theses are considered disclosed rather than published. Even if they are lawfully made available to the public, for example, in a university library or online, they do not have a publisher or ISBN.
Can a Thesis Be Used as a Source in Scholarly Writing?
Peer-reviewed publications are generally considered reliable sources. The examination of a doctoral dissertation is a neutral process similar to peer review, which makes dissertations suitable as sources for academic work.
The review process for Bachelor’s and Master’s theses does not meet peer review standards, and such theses are essentially educational exercises. For these reasons, theses other than doctoral dissertations are generally not recommended as sources in scholarly writing. However, among non-doctoral theses, Master’s theses may sometimes be used as sources. When selecting sources for your own work, such as a thesis, be sure to follow the recommendations of your discipline.
Where Can Theses Be Found?
You can search for theses from the University of Eastern Finland in the eRepo database and in the UEF Primo search service. Bachelor’s theses are not publicly available.
Theses from other universities can be found in their respective publication databases, usually linked on university library websites.
Finnish doctoral dissertations are also available through the Finna.fi search service.
The contents of a scientific journal are divided into individual articles. There are two main types of articles: original articles and review articles. In addition to proper research articles, scientific journals may often include different types of overviews, news, letters, and discussion.
In common language, scientific journals are sometimes referred to as serials, which may cause misunderstandings (see more on serial publications below). Also, some researchers speak of “journals”.
Original article
Original article (or a research paper article) is a short presentation (7 to 20 pages) that discusses a clearly outlined issue in the particular journal’s field of science. Original articles include either completely new research results or new inspection of older results.
However, original articles alone may not provide a general understanding of the larger topics or the level of knowledge in the field.
See an example original article at the International Journal for Educational Integrity –journal’s website.
Review article
This is where review articles come in. Review articles can help to get an overall view of what is relevant within discipline. Review articles are put together by experts on the field. The process of writing a review article includes the reviewing of the most significant original articles discussing the topic. The results presented in them will then be gathered together in the review article. The reviews are often long, spanning dozens of pages, and feature extensive lists of references.
When the search for original articles is done in a particularly comprehensive and systematic manner, the review is called a systematic review. The results presented in a set of original articles can also be re-analysed as a single set, which is called a meta-analysis. A peer-reviewed systematic review with meta-analyses is often considered as the most reliable research-based evidence.
Review articles are published both in ordinary scientific journals and in specific review journals. Annual Reviews is one of the most well-known journals for review articles. Annual Reviews is available on UEF Primo.
Books, aka monographies, are often written when the information on the topic is already established and generally accepted. Publishing a book may take some time, and a certain amount of permanence is expected from information within a book.
Based on how the informative content has been produced, books can be sorted into the following categories: those written by one or multiple authors (authored), and ones that have been edited. Edited books are often compendiums, including multiple individual articles written by different authors. The editor has then collected these articles together under one title, forming a structure reminiscent of a chapter-based one.
Reading and learning from books are still parts of university study. However, there are differences between disciplines in what kind of information and knowledge are sought from books and how books are used as part of research, for example.
Serial publications are a common channel for publishing results in research institutions and other public organisations, establishing them as important information sources. For example, doctoral dissertations in Finland are almost always published in the universities’ serial publications.
Serial publications be can either individual books or compendiums. Much like journals, serials are published periodically under a specific title. Serials and journals are often commonly referred to as periodicals.
It is common for different issues of a serial publication to have their own themes or topics. Serial issues are published once they are finished, which means that they may not appear regularly like magazines do. The number of issues may also change from year to year.
While the most “scientific” discoveries are preferred to be published as articles in peer-reviewed journals, a significant amount of report, account or case type research data is still published through serial publications.
Serial publications are not often peer-reviewed, but they can be a viable source, nonetheless. However, the applicability of a non-peer-reviewed serial publication as a source for a thesis depends on the practices of the discipline, and on how the author of the thesis uses the source in his or her own work.
Serials are found within the online publication repositories of different organisations. Sometimes serial publications may also be found through general search engines.
New discoveries are first presented in scientific conferences. The presentations or their summaries held in a conference, as well as possible posters are collected into a conference proceeding. These are often produced as quickly as possible, often before the start of the conference itself.
The publications of international conferences are often recognised from the word “proceedings” that appears in their title. Do note that the word proceedings may sometimes appear in the title of “an ordinary” journal.