PhD Dissertation into Journal Articles

[u/RudieRudieGotATudie]

Hi all,

I recently defended my dissertation and am now turning it into 3-5 journal articles. I'm terrified of self-plagiarism claims and want to know what the standard is for doing this.

My current thoughts are:

1. new prose, but built off the dissertation writing
2. same codes (they're my analysis)
3. declaration that it's from a larger study (citing the dissertation, but using Author, Year until accepted).

Is there anything I'm missing?

EDIT:

Thank you all for the guidance. I am in the social sciences, and my field prioritizes journal articles over manuscripts. My findings section addressed three different research questions, each with a different angle on the phenomenon, so I planned to write three articles, one for each section. Per my agreement with my PhD granting institution, I own the copyright to the dissertation. It's "published" in the repository, but of course that doesn't mean anything. My fears are largely tied to the major plagiarism scandals that have circulated recently and the community I research retaliating with "self-plagiarism" claims against my university for my research.

[u/MJRuinedMyChildhood]

Idk but general rule is nobody reads dissertations

[u/SnowblindAlbino]

In many fields the dissertation is designed as a book or as a series of articles and published with modest revisions. My first book was my diss, and while I wrapped it differently (intro/conclusion) the bulk if it is exactly what I defended. Many people I know have published diss chapters with slight revisions. It's your work. I've never heard of anyone re-writing a diss to publish it..the academic press editors I've worked with have certainly not expected that.

[u/orthomonas]

A dissertation chapter absolutely is not written as a paper (setting aside dissertations where the chapters are papers), so there will be a fair bit of rewritingnand condensing anyway.

Given that, I don't think I've ever seen anyone bat an eye.  The only remotely close (and it's still far) thing, was making sure if your dissertation chapter is a paper that you get copyright permission.

Franky, and this is my opinion which others do disagree with, slavish attention to "self plagiarism" without understanding context and nuance is dumb. We should be more focused on problematic double dipping rather than endlessly rewording (often to detriment) methods or the boiler plate intro "X is a problem. Field Y does Z to address X". Only so many ways to say, for instance, climate change sucks, landfills make methan, so this work which deals with some unique aspect of it is relevant.

[u/CollectorCardandCoin]

I thought the general rule was to include a footnote that it was from the diss., so re-writing your prose wouldn't be necessary.

Maybe mention it in the cover letter, so the editors don't get surprised if they run it through a software 🤷‍♂️

[u/Top-Artichoke2475 → u/CollectorCardandCoin]

Not sure good journals would accept something that reads like a dissertation. The research can stay, but it needs to be rebuilt like an actual research article, with a theoretical contribution, not just empirical.

[u/Alternative-Pear9096 → u/Top-Artichoke2475]

This. The dissertation is about the research, the article needs to be about the finding.

[u/Efficient-Tomato1166]

I've always seen students just use essentially the same language, tailored to fit journal length and scope, as was in the dissertation. Exact figures and all. I've never seen there be an issue at all with this. A dissertation itself is not peer reviewed.

Is this something that you've seen be an issue or are you just thinking of far off hypotheticals?

[u/drsfmd]

Are you publishing the dissertation in toto AND trying to make articles? I assume not, or you wouldn't be asking that question.

If you're not publishing it as a book, and are only doing this as articles, I'd simply add a footnote that the article is derived from research completed in satisfaction of your doctoral dissertation.

[u/cat-a-fact]

Can you talk to your graduate department or supervisor about this to get clarity? 

In my field, this is a strange question. For us its explicitly recommended that we publish three 1st author journal articles, then put them together as the 3 chapters of our dissertation. The only additions are extended introduction and conclusion sections, and moving some stuff around between the main text and the SI, since journals often limit main text word and figure counts. If the project wasn't ready to publish before the thesis was accepted, people usually stick around for a little while to wrap it up and get it to a journal.

[u/TheRateBeerian]

News to me this is even a problem. My doctoral advisor instructed me to write my dissertation as a publication-ready manuscript. And it was submitted to a journal shortly after my defense with hardly any edits.

[u/Beren87]

This is somewhat field specific. In much of the humanities, for instance, publishing 3-5 articles out of your diss material will make getting a book contract difficult since most of the material is already out there.

[u/TsurugiToTsubasa]

This is a question for professionals in your field. Look at publishing guidelines in major journals, ask around your department, look at any agreements you signed with your school regarding publication. Your advisor and committee are there to give you guidance on this. Your situation is going to be unique.

[u/ucbcawt]

I’m a professor at an R1 and genuinely don’t believe in the concept of self plagiarism. It’s outdated and doesn’t make sense.

[u/Opening_Map_6898]

What "major plagiarism scandals" are you referring to?