NT PhD Students and Publishing Articles: A Caveat

If you are doing a NT phd it should come as no surprise that job hunting is a lot easier if you have published an article or two.  I am nearing the completion of my second year, so attempting to catch the eye of potential hirers is on my radar.  I have pondered what from my research to try to publish in journal form.

At the recent Tyndale Fellowship conference (which I will blog about in a few days when I have more time) I received some very important advice from a trustworthy source.  TAKE HEED OF WHAT FOLLOWS…

This gentleman (who will remain nameless so he does not get bombarded with questions) cautioned me about publishing part of my thesis in a journal.  The advice is important because this man is also on a committee that decides to accept or reject theses for a major NT monograph series.  Here is his reasoning.  If you choose to publish in a journal a key part of your research, it lessens the original value of the thesis as a monograph for publication as a book.  It is like giving away the plot of a movie in the trailer.  If you choose to publish a chapter of your thesis, it may make your thesis less marketable and thus unpublishable as a whole!  So, what do you do?  This man had a couple bits of advice

1.  If you do choose to publish a bit of your thesis in a journal, choose a very minor bit – definitely not the ‘key’ chapter of your thesis and not the most original part.

2. Try to publish a part of your research that you weren’t able to fit into your thesis.

Thus, in your ambitions to publish, be careful you do not diminish the publishability of your thesis by offering your thesis in smaller form in an article.  Best to publish on something associated with but not within your thesis research.