The current publication rate of audiology master’s and doctoral theses in peer-reviewed journals: 2023

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to compare the publication rates of audiology master's and doctoral theses completed in 2017 and to investigate the effectiveness of the "publication of theses before graduation" rule applied by some universities. Materials and Methods: The participants' age range, gender, degrees, graduation year, private/state university graduation, institutions where they proceeded to their business life, and publication status of their master's and doctoral theses were questioned using a survey consisting of 16 multiple-choice as well as two open-ended questions. The study comprised 71 participants who completed their master's or doctoral degrees in audiology in 2017 and later. The descriptive statistic and Chi-Squared test were used for statistical analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0. Results: Thirty-five of the 62 (56.45%) master’s theses were presented at an international (n=21, 33.87%) or national (n=14, 22.58%) congress as oral/poster presentations. Thirty-three of the 62 (53.22%) master’s theses were published as articles in national and international peer-reviewed journals. Additionally, of the 16 doctoral theses, two (12.5%) were presented as oral/posters at a national and five (31.25%) at an international congress. Ten of the 16 theses (62.5%) were published in an international SCI/SCIE journal. Conclusion: The rate of publication of master's and doctoral theses in national journals has decreased while the rate of publication in international journals has more than doubled. It was concluded that the "publishing theses before graduation" rule significantly increased the publication rates in international journals.