If you are unsure how you want to publish your work, you have two main options:
- Submit your work to an academic journal: This allows you to select an existing academic journal that aligns with the topic of your thesis or dissertation. Not all works are accepted, as different academic journals have different publishing standards and acceptance rates. That being said, this looks excellent on a resume because employers will see the quality of your work. For more information on submitting your work to a journal, view our Publishing Standards page.
- Submit your work to an open-access repository: One example is OhioLINK's Electronic Thesis & Dissertation Center (ETD), which is a repository for student dissertations and theses from OhioLINK member institutions. If you submit your work to the ETD or another open-access database, it will be freely accessible to those who want to find and cite your work. Another open-access option is ProQuest, which is similar to OhioLINK's ETD in that is an open-access database for theses and dissertations. However, if you submit your work to an open-access repository, it does not necessarily constitute as a "formal" publication.
For more information on OhioLINK's ETD and how to use other dissertation databases, you can view the Dissertation and Thesis Databases page in this guide. For information on how to submit your work to ProQuest, you can visit their page, Submitting Your Dissertation or Thesis to ProQuest.
