Publishing your dissertation: the publication in the publishing house

Congratulations – your doctoral thesis is finally finished and you have successfully passed the defence or viva voce. Now there is only one step left to complete the doctoral process: publishing your thesis. But which form of publication is the right one – a traditional printed book or digital? For sale or open access? And what are the advantages of working with a publisher if you want to publish your dissertation?

Overview:

• Publication requirement: The last step to a doctorate
• Science or business – where are you drawn to?
• Publishing your doctoral thesis with a publisher: the most important advantages
• Requirements for publication of the dissertation in the publishing house
• Finding the right publisher for your doctoral thesis
• Your dissertation published by Nomos Verlag

Publication requirement: The last step to a doctorate

A successful doctorate includes publication: the doctoral regulations of German universities all stipulate that dissertations must be published. The doctoral title may only be used if the research results produced in the dissertation are available to the public – generally in the version that was submitted to the faculty.

Science or business – where are you drawn to?

Whether you want to publish on your own or whether you should contact a publisher also depends on what you plan to do after your doctorate.

The path to research: resonance and reach

It is important for your work to be received – and cited – by a specialised audience if you want to make it into academia. A form of publication that attracts as much attention as possible to your work will therefore bring you a decisive step closer to your goal: because more access, for example via academic libraries or online, promises greater reach. Newcomer authors in particular can benefit from the high reputation of an established academic publisher if the publisher’s name stands for quality.

Getting started in business with a doctorate

The doctorate and its prestige often also serve as a kind of entry ticket to companies in the private sector, associations and law firms, for example. The specific subject of your doctoral thesis may not play a central role in the practical content of your work. When looking for a job outside the academic world, the focus is often much more on demonstrating sought-after ‘soft skills’ such as methodological expertise and perseverance. Both of these can be demonstrated very well by a successful dissertation. In this case, too, working with a scientific publisher offers a number of advantages.

Publishing your doctoral thesis with a publisher: the most important advantages

Many universities offer the option of uploading dissertations as PDF files to the university library server. This fulfils the publication obligation and the doctoral thesis can be accessed directly online.

At first glance, this option may appear to be the quickest and easiest solution. After all, the entire process from the inclusion of a dissertation in a publisher’s programme to production and the finished book can take several months. However, before you go ahead and upload your dissertation to the library server without further ado, you should consider whether this is really the best form of publication for you.

One aspect worth considering when publishing on the university library’s server is that your doctoral thesis is easily accessible and can be accessed and subsequently cited more frequently. On the other hand, it is also possible that your text will miss its target audience, for example if purely electronic publications do not (yet) enjoy the same status as print in your discipline.

Publishing with a publisher, on the other hand, combines the best of both worlds. Your work can be published both in print and electronically, including open access if necessary. With the help of appropriate placement of the title by the publisher, the desired attention is achieved and the right target group is reached.

To help you with your decision, we have put together a compact overview of important aspects for publishing with a publishing house below.

Reach the target audience with the publication in the scientific publishing house

Publishing is particularly advantageous if you want to achieve a certain resonance in your field with your dissertation. However, achieving the widest possible distribution is usually a major challenge for lone wolves without publishing experience – whereas this is precisely the core competence of a publishing house.

A publishing house such as Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft has the expertise to place new publications at the centre of the specialist audience’s attention. Especially because your doctoral thesis is usually your first major publication, comprehensive support and advice from a publishing house are essential. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft therefore offers authors:

• Consultancy and comprehensive project support from our editing team – with proofreading on request
• Professional typesetting, layout design, production, printing and electronic production
• Marketing and dissemination in the scientific environment as well as press and reviews
• Professional metadata management.

When publishing with Nomos, you can rely on our experience and expertise to ensure that your dissertation reaches the target group relevant to you.

This starts with the optimal programme place for your dissertation. If it is suitable for publication as part of an established book series on a specific research topic, for example, this can attract even more attention.

Without a publisher, self-publishers would therefore have to take action themselves to distribute the publication. On the other hand, the reputation and networking of a well-known academic publisher such as Nomos can be used to emphasise a dissertation in specialist circles. Our extensive academic marketing also significantly increases the likelihood that your title will be listed in relevant bibliographies or mailing lists: We offer relevant specialised media your dissertation for review in German and English.

Co-operation with a publisher is also an advantage when it comes to acquiring funding for the publication of your dissertation. Nomos prepares the calculations for you and offers authors further support in submitting a funding application, for example to the German Research Foundation or foundations of political parties, trade unions and religious communities.

Requirements for publication of the dissertation in the publishing house

The doctoral thesis must fit in thematically with the publisher’s programme and be relevant to readers. Regardless of whether a thesis is to be published as part of a series or separately, it is first scrutinised by the publisher. The main factors that determine whether a dissertation is accepted for publication by a publisher are as follows:

1. The topic fits into the publishing programme

Before making an enquiry, it is worthwhile for interested parties to find out exactly which specialist areas the publisher in question covers. This increases the chances of success and saves you time.

2. The publisher’s quality standards are met

As a rule, only work assessed as very good is accepted. The examiners’ reports serve as the basis for an initial assessment.

Finding the right publisher for your doctoral thesis

You have the choice between several publishers to publish your dissertation? – Wonderful! To find the right publisher for you, pay attention to these points:

1. Costs of a publication in the publishing house

Have a transparent breakdown of the services in the publishing offer: Quotations for print publications, for example, should always include items such as the number of pages, paper quality or cover quality. Even more important, however, is what services the publisher can offer you with regard to the successful dissemination of your dissertation, regardless of whether it is to be published in print or electronically. Ask for detailed information on the costs.

2. Reputation of the publisher

An excellent reputation allows conclusions to be drawn about the quality of the publication. Given that around 35,000 dissertations are published in Germany every year, this can have a considerable influence on your ability to stand out from the crowd. You should therefore pay particular attention to the reputation of a publisher.

3. Publisher size

Large publishing houses have a high degree of recognition and a corresponding reputation, from which authors benefit directly.

4. Possible forms of publication

Even if print media are mainly used in your discipline, a parallel digital publication of your doctoral thesis will promote easy dissemination and accessibility – and thus the relevance of your text.

5. Distribution

Your dissertation should be available through book wholesalers. However, distribution via the internet is becoming increasingly important in the academic sector in order to achieve a significant reach: In addition to using platforms such as Amazon, many publishers now operate their own online shops (example: the NomosShop).

Long-term availability of titles

Find out how long a publisher’s titles are available on average. In the worst case scenario, your book will be removed from the programme after a few years.

Your dissertation published by Nomos Verlag

Various specialised publishers are brought together under the umbrella of Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft:

• Nomos Verlag – Main focus:
  • Law
  • Social Sciences
  • Humanities

• Verlag Karl Alber – Main focus:
  • Ethics
  • Philosophy
  • Theology

• Ergon Verlag – Schwerpunkte:
  • Oriental Studies
  • Literary Studies
  • History
  • Religious Studies
  • Pedagogy
  • Art History
  • Classical Studies
  • Jewish Studies

• Rombach Science – Main focus:
  • Literary Studies
  • Cultural Studies
  • Musicology
  • Theatre Studies

• Tectum Verlag – Main focus:
  • Art history
  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  • Social work
  • Social economy
  • Social psychology
  • Pedagogy
  • Media and communication science
  • Philosophy
  • Economics
  • Theatre Studies
  • Cultural Studies
  • Linguistics
  • History

At Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft you will find the right ‘home’ for your dissertation.