Scientific Publications in Different Fields
Different fields of science have their own traditions regarding research publications. Natural and medical sciences, as well as fields of technology represent a culture of publishing international paper articles. International publishing is natural in these fields, as the topics are also universal.
In contrast, regular books and publishing through domestic publishers are more common in the humanities. The practices of social sciences lie somewhere in the middle ground. In addition, public discourse through newspapers and often also in social media for instance, are also important for social sciences. In the fields of technology, on the other hand, it is common to publish patents in addition to other publication types.
The differences between sciences overall have decreased in recent years, and articles have become a more common publication type in all fields. Similarly, there has been a significant transition from national languages into English.
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.
Bachelor’s Thesis
The first stage of university studies is the lower university degree, the Bachelor’s degree. The required Bachelor’s thesis is typically a 5–10 ECTS written work or literature review, which may also include a small experimental component. Its length is usually several dozen pages, with at least 15–20 references. The thesis is usually completed during the third year of studies. It generally has one supervisor, who may also act as the examiner.
Bachelor ‘s Thesis in Pharmacy
The first degree in pharmacy (“Farmaseutti”) is a lower university degree. The pharmacy thesis corresponds to the Bachelor’s thesis in other fields.
Master’s Thesis
The Master’s thesis (“Pro Gradu”, Latin for “for the degree”) is completed as part of an advanced university degree (Master’s degree or “Proviisori” in Pharmacy). It is broader than the Bachelor’s thesis, typically 20–40 ECTS, and may follow the structure of a scientific publication (introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion). There are usually 1–3 supervisors, at least one of whom must be a member of the department’s staff.
Master’s Thesis in Engineering
The Master’s Thesis in Engineering (“Diplomityö”) is required for the Master of Science in Technology degree (“Diplomi-insinööri”). It corresponds to the Master’s thesis in other fields.
Advanced Studies Thesis in Medicine or Dentistry (“syvärit”)
These theses are comparable to a Master’s thesis but slightly narrower (20 ECTS) and are required for the Licentiate degree in Medicine or Dentistry. The thesis can also be completed as a scientific article, in which case the scope is 25 ECTS.
Master of Laws Thesis
The Master of Laws (OTM) degree is an advanced university degree in law. The thesis corresponds to the Master’s thesis in other fields.
Licentiate Thesis
A licentiate thesis is required for the Licentiate degree, which was previously mandatory before pursuing a doctoral degree. Today, the Licentiate degree is rare, as students can proceed directly to a doctoral dissertation after completing a Master’s degree. Medical and dental students complete an advanced studies thesis instead of a licentiate thesis.
Doctoral Dissertation
A person aiming for a doctoral degree must prepare a dissertation. It differs fundamentally from all other theses. A dissertation is an independent research project that explores a specific field in depth and produces new knowledge. It cannot be merely a review of existing knowledge, as lower-level theses often are.
There are two types of dissertations. The traditional monograph resembles a book and is common in fields where research results are published in book form, such as the humanities (e.g., history). In article-based fields, such as medicine and natural sciences, article-based dissertations (“compilation dissertations”) are preferred. These consist of several—usually at least two—articles published in international peer reviewed journals and a summary based on them.
The completed dissertation is pre-examined by at least two external experts with doctoral degrees. After pre-examination, the public defense takes place, where the research is formally approved. The opponent must be a professor or docent from another university and cannot be employed by the candidate’s 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 considered reliable sources. The examination of a doctoral dissertation is a neutral process similar to peer review, which makes dissertations suitable as sources. The review process for Bachelor’s and Master’s theses does not meet peer review standards, and such theses are essentially practice works. For these reasons, theses other than doctoral dissertations are generally not recommended as sources in scholarly writing.
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 often 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.
In the recent years, many serial publications have transferred to an online only format, which has made them more difficult to find from library databases, for instance. Serials are more easily found within the online publishing systems of different organisations. Sometimes serial publications may also be found through 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.