thesis-article (plagiarism)?

[adel9216]

At what point is taking parts of your thesis to turn it into an article is plagiarism ?

[Hegemony]

At no point.

[adel9216]

even if I copy-paste some sentences word for word?

[Puget]

At no point.

+1

Self-plagiarism is a silly concept. Duplicate publication can be a bad thing, but unless you've already published it (NOT just posted to a university required repository like ProQuest) that doesn't apply here.

You should absolutely be trying to get publications out of your thesis. In fact, we like our students to go the other direction, and put several published/submitted papers together with an intro and general discussion to form their dissertation (of course, this varies by field).

even if I copy-paste some sentences word for word?

You can copy and paste the whole thing. Unless someone else has copyright to it, turn it into papers as expeditiously as possible.

[fast_and_bulbous]

My PhD was essentially two papers "stapled together" plus another section that never got published.

I do think self-plagiarism is a thing, but it absolutely does not apply in this case.

[Hegemony]

Your thesis or dissertation does not count as published.  Therefore you are allowed to publish it.  "Self-plagiarism" is when you copy verbatim from a published work you wrote.

[glowdart]

The only way anyone at my school got through tenure was by publishing articles or books from their dissertations. It's what you do.

[hungry_ghost]

even if I copy-paste some sentences word for word?

If it troubles you greatly, then cite your thesis at some point. There are various ways to do this, maybe in an early footnote or in the acknowledgments. Or is this done?

Self-plagiarism is a silly concept. Duplicate publication can be a bad thing, but unless you've already published it (NOT just posted to a university required repository like ProQuest) that doesn't apply here.

Exactly. The idea of "self-plagiarism" absurd. The issue is duplicate publication. If you are using material you've published elsewhere, then you need to get appropriate permissions and acknowledge and cite properly. But, a thesis is not a publication.

[adel9216]

Thanks everyone. I feel reassured. I heard so much about self-plagiarism that I got scared. Yes, I do mention in the draft that I have that my data stems from my master's thesis.

[ergative]

Quick tip here, which I give to all students who say that they're using data from their master's thesis:

Don't say, 'This data came from my master's thesis, but I'm reanalysing it now in a better way' (or whatever) in your diss.

Instead, say, 'This data, originally collected by Adel9216 (2018), will be reanalysed to better understand . . . ' (or whatever). Then, in your references, you indicate that Adel9216 (2018) is a master's thesis. Get used to referring to your previous work professionally.

[Scotia]

I was at a presentation by a journal editor a few weeks ago (so few PhD students turned up that they collared any faculty who were in the building to bulk up the audience). The editor's view (from a top journal in my field) is that taking the main ideas from a dissertation/thesis for publication is absolutely fine, and even expected. She did, though, emphasise that while copying verbatim from the dissertation would not be regarded as plagiarism, it would be unlikely to result in a strong journal submission. A journal article is a different beast to a dissertation so you are likely to require substantial rewrites - without changing the main ideas - to get the material into a more concise form that makes it attractive to a journal.

[Puget]

Quick tip here, which I give to all students who say that they're using data from their master's thesis:

Don't say, 'This data came from my master's thesis, but I'm reanalysing it now in a better way' (or whatever) in your diss.

Instead, say, 'This data, originally collected by Adel9216 (2018), will be reanalysed to better understand . . . ' (or whatever). Then, in your references, you indicate that Adel9216 (2018) is a master's thesis. Get used to referring to your previous work professionally.

I wouldn't even do this if the thesis is unpublished. Just treat the thesis as a first draft of the paper. You can put a line in the acknowledgments stating that an earlier version of the paper was an unpublished thesis and thanking your committee members for helpful comments.

[RatGuy]

While my advisors all assumed that pieces of my dissertation chapters would make suitable journal submissions, it turned out that journals did not approve of such practice. I know I received a desk rejection from Leviathan, the Melville journal. The email was something along the lines of "it looks as if this submission was culled from one of your dissertation chapters on the same topic. Leviathan forbids the submission of material published elsewhere, particularly dissertation material." It was as if they did a quick MLA spin of my name and determined that my dissertation contained a similar argument. I know that some journals specializing in American literature had similar caveats in their submission guidelines. I don't know if any of that has changed, but in the 2011-12 academic year I had a tough time finding journals that would even consider a submission if it seemed too close to my dissertation.

[Puget]

While my advisors all assumed that pieces of my dissertation chapters would make suitable journal submissions, it turned out that journals did not approve of such practice. I know I received a desk rejection from Leviathan, the Melville journal. The email was something along the lines of "it looks as if this submission was culled from one of your dissertation chapters on the same topic. Leviathan forbids the submission of material published elsewhere, particularly dissertation material." It was as if they did a quick MLA spin of my name and determined that my dissertation contained a similar argument. I know that some journals specializing in American literature had similar caveats in their submission guidelines. I don't know if any of that has changed, but in the 2011-12 academic year I had a tough time finding journals that would even consider a submission if it seemed too close to my dissertation.

Huh, goes to show you how much variation across fields there is. No one in the sciences (so far as I know) would consider a dissertation or thesis prior publication. No one reads the things except the committee (if you're lucky), and each chapter is generally either a reprint or draft of a journal article.

[fast_and_bulbous]

Huh, goes to show you how much variation across fields there is. No one in the sciences (so far as I know) would consider a dissertation or thesis prior publication. No one reads the things except the committee (if you're lucky), and each chapter is generally either a reprint or draft of a journal article.

Indeed, this is exactly how it works in my (earth sciencey) field, right down to the committee comment. Nobody in the sciences wants to read your PhD (Master's doubly so) - the only exception being if there is something that was never published formally but is still of interest. I have slogged through relatively recent PhD thesis (available online at least for public universities) only because it was the last option. Generally not much comes out of this in my experience, as the fact that no papers are out kind of tells you something about the quality of the work.

I do recall in the 90s talking to fellow graduate students who felt their PhD was the pinnacle of their existence, their brilliance embodied in a stack of paper. I wonder if those same people, if they are still practicing scientists, would hold that same opinion today! All that matters is papers. The thesis is just the credential that gets you to be a PI and write more papers/proposals.