Publication of doctoral dissertations in education and the motivations to publish: a case study of doctoral graduates at one university

Purpose Products of doctoral dissertations, particularly in the social sciences, are not often published. This study aims to examine the rate at which dissertation projects were published and reasons students did or did not publish in a large private institution in the northeastern USA with three doctoral programs in education over 25 years. Design/methodology/approach Researchers found 359 dissertations uploaded to the Proquest dissertation database between 1998 and 2024. They determined whether the dissertations were published and surveyed former doctoral students about the reasons they chose to publish or not and what they perceived to be barriers to publication. Findings Of the 359 dissertations, only about 9% were published in any form. Of the 84 participants who completed the survey, most stated that they did not publish because they did not know where to start, did not have time and were not pursuing an academic position. Also, few graduates of the doctoral programs in education went on to be university faculty members; they remained in the kindergarten through 12th-grade (K-12) system, which does not require publication of peer-reviewed studies. Research limitations/implications Efforts were made to contact all alumni, but some were unreachable or unresponsive. Despite revising questions for clarity, measuring complex constructs like attitudes or feelings remains challenging. Practical implications Recommendations for programmatic support of publication are discussed. Originality/value These results suggest that including a publication process component to doctoral programs that is consistent and standardized might serve to increase the publication rate and publication quality of dissertations within doctoral programs.