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  •       Resources       Publish or Perish: Graduate Students' Guide to Publishing

Publish or Perish: Graduate Students' Guide to Publishing

In addition to endless piles of reading, demanding expectations in the classroom, student teaching responsibilities, and the always-looming awareness that they need to research, write, and edit a high-quality dissertation before graduating, today’s Ph.D. students also commonly feel stress about another topic: publishing. As more prospective employers expect degree seekers to get their names in academic journals and conferences while still in school, many learners feel overwhelmed by the prospects of making the grade. The following guide answers some of their most pressing questions, provides guidance on the ins and outs of publishing while still in school, and offers expert advice from a professor who knows better than most what it takes to publish rather than perish.

Understanding Publishing in Graduate School

Getting published as a grad student can feel overwhelming at first, because there’s so much to learn about the process and expectations surrounding it. With a bit of research, however, students can familiarize themselves with the specific language surrounding publishing and make in-roads towards getting their first paper published.

What Does it Mean to Get Published?

Within the context of graduate school, publishing refers to getting essays, papers, and research findings published in one of the academic journals or related forms seen as a leader in the field. As jobs in academia continue to become more competitive, it isn’t enough for learners to simply do well in their coursework. The degree seeker who hopes to land an important post-doctoral fellowship or find a teaching position at a college or university must make themselves stand out in other ways.

When Should a Ph.D. Candidate Get Published?

Getting a paper published takes a lot of time and effort, and those students who wait until the final year or two of a doctoral program may fail to actually have any published materials by the time they graduate. According to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Graduate Connections program , getting a paper published – especially if it’s your first – can take up to three years. In addition to the fact that most journals publish quarterly, the panel review process typically takes a significant amount of time and those submitting for the first or second time usually need to make a large number of edits and complete rewrites in order to reach a publishable standard.

How to Get Published

In order to get published, students submit their work to the journal or conference of their choosing. They frequently also provide a cover letter outlining their research interests. Most journals put out generic calls for submissions once or twice a year, while some may ask for papers addressing specific topics that have a much shorter turnaround time. Grad students may find it intimidating to go up against more seasoned academics, but another option revolves around partnering with their dissertation supervisor or another professor with whom they work closely with to co-author a paper. This not only helps ensure the validity of their findings, but alerts the academic world know that this other, more recognized faculty member believes in the research the student is doing.

Who Should Get Published?

Learners most anxious to get published are those who see their future careers in teaching and research. Because the world of academia is relatively small when divided into individual subjects, it’s important for students who want to break into these ambitious arenas to make a name for themselves early on and create a curriculum vitae that captures the attention of hiring committees.

Where Should Students Get Published?

When deciding which publications to pursue, students should consider the research aims of each and their likelihood of getting published. Newer journals tend to take more submissions as they are still working on building up their roster of contributors. While less venerated than other publications, getting printed in these can help build up name recognition and make it easier to break into the top-tier publications over time.

In terms of where work is published, the majority of students look to academic journals when sending out cover letters and examples of their work. But other options exist as well. Presenting papers at conferences is a popular avenue, as are chapters in books. The following sections takes a more in-depth look at how and where to publish.

Realities & Challenges of Getting Published

Getting published, especially while still in grad school, takes tenacity, focus, and a thick skin. Those who continue working on their craft, presenting at conferences, collaborating with others, and not taking no for an answer, however, frequently find success. Some of the challenges students may encounter include:

Lack of time

It’s no secret that doctoral students have busy schedules that seldom allow for outside – or sometimes, even related – interests to take up much of their days. Because publishing is not a degree requirement, carving out the time needed to research, write, and edit the type of paper required for publishing can feel impossible. With this in mind, student should look for ways to multitask. If presenting at a conference, think about how that paper could be transformed into a journal article.

Lack of confidence

Studies have shown that mental stress and illness frequently increase in grad school as students feel intense pressure to stand out from their peers. These feelings are often intensified when considering publishing, as learners are going up against academics and researchers who have been working in the field far longer than them. It’s important to remember that each of those renowned individuals had to start somewhere.

Lack of funding

Completing the research needed for a competitive paper doesn’t only take time – it requires money. Whether traveling to archives or printing all the necessary documentation, funding for outside research can be scarce while in school. Some programs provide competitive grants for research travel to help offset these costs.

Intense competition

As discussed earlier, competition for publishing is fierce. Academic journals and conferences only have space for so many authors and trying to get noticed can feel like a losing battle. In addition to seeking out newer publications and co-authoring with more notable figures, consider taking part in symposiums at the school you attend to get your foot in the door. While research on the average number of rejections is lacking, don’t feel discouraged if it takes a long time to be chosen for publication.

Finding the right publisher

While getting your name in print within an academic journal you greatly admire is the ultimate goal, it may take some years for it to come to fruition. One of the biggest mistakes students make is applying to ill-suited publications. Look for journals with editorial board members whose names you recognize. If a professor knows one of them, don’t be afraid to ask if they can help get your paper in front of them.

Adequately addressing feedback

Getting a paper published often requires intense editing and even completely restructuring and rewriting what you conceived in the initial abstract. If an academic journal shows interest in your essay but suggests rewrites, pay close attention to their requests and try to work with an advisor to ensure you meet all the stated requirements.

What do Graduate Students Publish?

Academic journals may receive the lion’s share of discussion in the publishing world, but graduate students can actually choose from numerous outlets and paths for getting their work to a larger audience. Students should review the options listed below and think about which format might showcase their work best.

Tips for Publishing

Despite the great amount of work required to publish, students who meet the challenges and persevere stand to position themselves favorably for future job opportunities. The following section addresses some of the most common questions about the process and alleviates general fears about how publishing (or not) reflects upon them.

How many papers should a Ph.D. student try to publish before graduating?

According to scholar-practitioner Dr. Deniece Dortch, no single answer exists. “There is no hard and fast rule as to the number of publications students should have prior to graduation,” she notes. “The reality is students in STEM disciplines and those who use quantitative methods are more likely to have publications prior to graduation because they often work in research teams and labs. This is not to say that qualitative scholars or those in other disciplines aren’t, but it’s a much more standardized practice in STEM for students to graduate with two or three publications. Personally, I had one sole-authored publication accepted prior to graduation, one first-authored piece, and one second-authored piece.”

How many journal articles is it possible to publish during a PhD?

“The answer varies and is determined by factors such as length of program, research team access, and faculty relationships,” says Dr. Dortch. “I’ve seen folks finish with as many as 10 publications, although this is extreme and doesn’t happen often.” She continues, “Imagine you are in a four-year program and you get your idea to write an article in year two. You submit that article in year three after getting approval, collecting data, analyzing it, and then writing your paper. Year three you submit that paper; it may be accepted in year four after months of revisions at the request of the editor. You finally have one published paper as you graduate.”

Are there PhD students who have no journal publications? Should they be worried about that?

“It depends on the type of employment the student is seeking upon graduation,” says Dr. Dortch, “Students applying to or wanting to work in institutions and organizations with the highest levels of research productivity who have no publications may want to consider post-doctoral positions so they have the time and space to work on increasing their publication record after graduation.” She continues, “Postdocs are a very common practice in many disciplines and are used as a way to gain additional training and expertise in research and teaching.”

Is it absolutely essential to have publications to apply for a PhD program?

In a word, no. Individuals working toward doctoral degrees have many reasons for doing so, not all of which require them to publish. Admissions panels also recognize that students focus their efforts on many different goals (e.g. jobs, internships, presenting at symposiums) throughout bachelor’s and master’s programs. As long as learners can demonstrate an ongoing commitment to scholarship, publishing is not an absolute requirement.

Does publish or perish begin before starting a PhD program?

It’s true that many students begin worrying about publishing before starting a Ph.D. program, but the reality is that they have ample time during and after completing a doctorate to make their mark on the world of scholarship. According to a recent article by Inside Higher Ed , some individuals in the academy now wonder if too much emphasis is being placed on grad students publishing. Learners unsure about this should speak to a trusted advisor or mentor to figure out when to focus on getting published.

What is the difference between a published article and a Ph.D. thesis?

While a Ph.D. thesis is required for satisfactory completion of a degree, a published article is not. A Ph.D. also takes a much longer form than a published article, averaging approximately 90,000 words. Academic journal entries, conversely, are usually between 4,000 and 7,000 words.

Should I first write my Ph.D. thesis or publish journal articles?

Though publishing at the doctoral level is increasingly seen as a requirement in the job market, it is not part of degree requirements. With this in mind, students should prioritize the research and writing of their thesis above all else. If they have the time and mental clarity needed to publish journal articles, this can be a secondary focus.

From the Expert

Dr. Deniece Dortch is a scholar-practitioner known for her commitment to diversity, social justice and activism. Dr. Dortch holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an Ed.M. in Higher & Postsecondary Education from Columbia University, an M.A. in Intercultural Service, Diversity Leadership & Management from the School for International Training and a B.A. in Spanish from Eastern Michigan University. Hailed a graduate school expert by NPR, she has published numerous articles on the experiences of historically underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students. She is the creator of the African American Doctoral Scholars Initiative at the University of Utah and currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Higher Education at The George Washington University .

Publishing as a student can feel intimidating. Why is this process important for learners to go through?

Long gone are the days of getting a good job by just having a solid dissertation or an award-winning thesis. Publishing your work while in school demonstrates a commitment to answering and understanding our world’s most complex problems. Further, institutions want to know that you have the capacity to publish. Now, publishing doesn’t mean you have to be first author or that you must publish sole-authored pieces only. Collaboration is also sufficient and often encouraged. The publishing process is intimidating for folks because it involves critique and, most often, rejection.

Receiving and giving critical feedback is part of the learning process and students should not shy away from it because it will only serve them well in the end as they learn to cope with disappointment and reward. But more importantly, there is no point spending months and years conducting research if you are just going to keep your findings to yourself. What you learn is meant to be shared.

What are some common mistakes these learners make when preparing their first papers?

Common mistakes that individuals make include not adhering to the guidelines outlined in the submission process. Examples of this can include ignoring formatting requirements (e.g. APA, MLA, etc.), going over the stated word count, inadequately proofreading, and not submitting a cover letter. This is probably the most important one.

What specific advice do you have for them in terms of finding the right outlet, preparing their work, and submitting to journals?

Students should have multiple individuals read over their work before submission. Writing is a process and even after it is submitted, it will need to be revised many more times before you will read it in print. It is part of the process. To find a good outlet for your work, pay attention to where other scholars are submitting their work. If you’re subject is aligned with theirs, you have a shot. Make a list of at least three outlets that fit your article. Also look out for special calls. A special call for submissions usually goes a lot faster than the regular submission process, so if you’re a student who is about to go on the job market, submit to those first. Also, the more competitive the academic, the longer the process, so keep that in mind. If you are rejected, just re-submit to the the next journal on your list.

In addition to publishing in journals, how else might a student go about getting recognition in their field while still in school?

Apply for all fellowships, grants, and awards that are specific to you and what you do. People in the academy love an award winner and they especially love people whose work has been recognized and/or funded by outside groups. A great way to increase a student’s visibility is to publish outside academic journals and publish in other media outlets. Also attend conferences in your field. Try to get on the program as a presenter or facilitator so that people in your field will start to know who you are and your research interests.

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  • PhD in Editorial Studies

NOTE: Admission to the institute’s PhD program is closed. Requirements for students currently enrolled in the PhD program are listed below.

The PhD in Editorial Studies program prepares students for positions in publishing, academia, serious journalism, and librarianship.

Course Requirements

Eight semester courses (32 credits) are required for PhD students with an MA degree, and 16 courses (64 credits) for those with a BA. Of the required courses, it is expected that students take the following:

  • CAS EI 501/701 The Theory and Practice of Literary Editing
  • CAS EI 507 Publishing Procedures
  • CAS EI 508 Editing Across the Disciplines
  • CAS EI 509 History of the Book

Remaining coursework typically consists of two directed studies with the student’s dissertation advisor, and two related courses in another department at the University, all of which must be relevant to the subject of the dissertation.

Language Requirement

There is no general foreign language requirement for the PhD in Editorial Studies; however, it may be necessary in some areas of specialization for students to demonstrate proficiency in a second language. The codirectors of the Editorial Institute will assess each graduate student’s specific language requirement according to the needs of their research.

Qualifying Examinations

A candidate for the PhD will be required, normally upon completion of coursework, to present for examination by the directors of the institute a statement of editorial policy and procedures and a sample of editorial work that demonstrates the candidate’s knowledge of the appropriate contexts, for example through annotation.

Dissertation and Final Oral Examination

Candidates shall demonstrate their abilities for independent study in dissertations representing original research or creative scholarship. A prospectus for the dissertation must be completed and approved by the readers, the Director of Graduate Studies, and the Department Chair/Program Director. Candidates must undergo a final oral examination in which they defend their dissertation as a valuable contribution to knowledge in their field and demonstrate a mastery of their field of specialization in relation to their dissertation. All portions of the dissertation and final oral examination must be completed as outlined in the GRS General Requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree .

PhD students who opt out of completing the doctoral degree and choose to receive an MA should refer to the MA Program .

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A PhD by publication or how I got my doctorate and kept my sanity

phd in publishing

Associate, Children's Policy Centre, Australian National University, Australian National University

Disclosure statement

Mhairi Cowden does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Australian National University provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

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phd in publishing

Doing a PhD is a difficult business. Long hours, personal stress, institutional pressure to complete on time – and all this for what?

Increasingly a PhD alone does not guarantee an academic career. We are expected to publish, teach and contribute to professional development. Oh and did I mention you have to publish, publish, publish?

However there is a way to publish and do a PhD - hopefully without perishing.

I recently completed my PhD by publication, which for me was a way of getting a doctorate while keeping my sanity.

What is a PhD by publication?

A PhD by Publication is just what it sounds like, instead of producing one large monograph, you produce a series of articles to be published in peer reviewed journals or as book chapters.

The normal format is four to five research papers bookended by a substantial introductory chapter and a concluding chapter. The thesis must still read as a cohesive whole and therefore despite the articles being stand alone pieces, they must also relate to each other.

The aim is that when they are read together they become more than just the sum of their parts.

It is a relatively new concept within the social sciences and humanities but has been around for a while in the hard sciences here in Australia. It is much more common in European Universities where it is often the standard approach for doctoral studies.

The advantages

There are many advantages to doing a PhD this way. One of the more self-evident ones is that it allows you to publish and finish a PhD – academically hitting two birds with one stone.

There are many pressures of doing a PhD that are taken away from publishing. PhD by publication focused my writing on achieving output and helped to avoid the trap of always pushing the publications to the side.

A PhD by publication also helps you to develop practical skills. Through my own process, I learnt how to write to journal editors, deal with rejection and pitch articles – all skills that are important for professional academic life.

This method also divides the PhD up into more manageable chunks – sometimes the hardest thing about a PhD is the enormity of the task it presents. But dividing it up into five discrete papers allowed me to see a way ahead making the PhD seem more achievable.

Last but not least, you can get both expert feedback and it can provide that “tick” factor. PhD students were usually high achieving undergraduate students used to receiving recognition and reward for their work. Entering the land of doctoral studies, you don’t get the pay off from your work until the end of many years and lack of recognition can be deeply un-motivating.

But each time something is published is a chance to celebrate and take a deep breath before moving on to the next portion.

The expert feedback you get during this process is also very helpful even it’s not always pleasant (see below). By the time your PhD goes to examiners it has already gone through a rigorous peer review process.

In times of PhD panic, it was comforting to think that my work can’t be that bad if someone had already agreed to publish it.

The disadvantages

Of course, though, there are some disadvantages to electing to do a PhD in this way.

Chief among them is the pressure to start publishing immediately. Publishing is hardly a quick process; it can sometimes take up to two years from submission to a journal long periods of fieldwork may not be compatible.

Therefore candidates taking this route need to start straight away. Aim to have your first paper finished within the first 6 months.

It’s also worth recognising that this is not a format for the faint hearted. Rejections from journals can be brutal. You need to be prepared to take this on the chin and send it out again.

That said, this is a skill you need to develop for academia. Being exposed to it early helped me develop a thick skin and be humble about my work.

With the benefit of feedback, there’s also the downside of extra work. You may often need to rewrite work for journal editors.

After all, editors have their own agenda and interests and in some respect you are writing for them and not for you. However this taught me to stand my ground with editors and defend things I wished to keep as well as framing things for different audiences.

Another thing to be wary of when considering a PhD by publication is that you need to understand that it’s not a professional Doctorate. A Professional Doctorate recognises contribution to a profession and usually doesn’t include the same level of original contribution or indeed a thesis.

PhD by publication is still examined to the same standards as a traditional PhD. However countering this assumption that it is not a “real” PhD is sometimes hard.

Finally, because you’re likely to be treading new ground in your institution, there’s not always a clear path before you.

I did my PhD in a department which was still sorting out its policy towards this format. As a consequence I needed the strong support of your supervisor and head of department to make this work (which I was lucky enough to have). You shouldn’t expect a clear set of instructions here; guidelines and policies seem to vary between departments, disciplines and universities.

The up shot

The biggest advantage is that I have come out of my doctoral studies not only with a PhD but with a healthy publication record. This I hope will assist me when taking the next step in my career.

For me, PhD with publication provided a framework, a way forward from which I could see the path to submission. It provided me with a way to get my doctorate without worrying about the process. It allowed me the opportunity to contribute to debates while developing my ideas.

If academia is to expect Australian candidates to now finish their PhD and publish, then it should promote and encourage alternative formats such as this. It can only be good for both PhD candidates and the profession at large.

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Who Should Earn the MS in Publishing?

The publishing industry has many facets and offers a wide range of different options for those just launching their careers, as well as those who are already in publishing or a related industry. The MS in Publishing takes you beyond a traditional editorial curriculum into the technology-driven, digitally-focused, and business-oriented aspects of the industry, positioning you for success in the areas where talent is in highest demand. If you seek to build your skills and your network in the publishing and media capital of the world, then this degree is for you!

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Acquiring new skills

Acquire In-demand Skills in Growing Specialty Areas

The MS in Publishing offers areas of study that align with the publishing industry: Media Content Development, Media Marketing and Distribution, and Media Profitability . Each area of specialty provides the distinct skills and business acumen to prepare you for the publishing industry of the future—one that is ripe with opportunity for those who are equipped with the knowledge, insights, and connections that will set them apart.

Gain a Global Perspective

The MS in Publishing is based in New York City, the publishing capital of the world, but it is connected to a multibillion-dollar network of international business, with critical hubs in Europe and Asia. As a student enrolled in this program, you may have the opportunity to gain a truly global perspective through the ability to volunteer international book fairs and conferences. Previous students have enjoyed the opportunity to attend at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Bologna Children's Book Fair, the London Book Fair, and the Beijing Book Fair, among others.

Global Perspective

Build an Invaluable Professional and Personal Network

In publishing, building relationships and networking are critical for success. The MS in Publishing and the Summer Publishing Institute (see below) are both grounded in a close-knit community of students, faculty members, and alums, whose influence spans the globe. Students in the MS in Publishing also have the opportunity to join the award winning NYU Publishing Student Association. By the time you earn your degree or complete the SPI program, you will have developed a network that will greatly enhance your career options.

Industry Visits and Internships

Through the MS in Publishing and the NYU Wasserman Center for Career Development at NYU SPS, our students have the opportunity to complete publishing internships that provide the hands-on experience needed to compete for publishing and media-focused jobs. Many of these internships evolve into permanent positions or consulting jobs.  97% (average of Classes from 2017-2021) of our students reported being employed within six months of graduation. Our graduates go on to a wide range of careers in a broad array of companies and organizations including:

  • Hachette Book Group
  • HarperCollins Publishers
  • Hearst Magazines
  • Dotdash Meredith
  • Penguin Random House
  • Simon & Schuster
  • Workman Publishing

Summer Publishing Institute

Summer Publishing Institute (SPI)

SPI is a four-week intensive dedicated to the study of books and digital magazine/media conducted in New York City.

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Jessica m dodell-feder, departmental highlights, nyu speakers on the square: a conversation with james mcbride, embracing every hue: liberating imposter syndrome, intersectionality, & borders through storytelling, london book fair 2024: what the students saw, inside fortune: a media brand rich with business news, a day at condé nast: exploring the intersection of culture, fashion, and media, meet the new spring 2024 faculty, scribe at spirit week: the translated and queer/banned book expo, tamil writer from india awarded fulbright fellowship to pursue publishing degree at nyu sps, #nyu reads: the braiding sweetgrass story, pala academic director of continuing education jenny mcphee’s translation of elsa morante’s novel ‘lies and sorcery’ wins accolades, meet the new fall 2022 faculty, meet the new spring 2022 faculty, frequently asked questions, what types of jobs are available in publishing.

The types of jobs available in publishing vary widely. Graduates of our program are working as book and digital/magazine editors, marketers, and publicists, and in sales and audience development positions at major media and publishing companies. They also are employed at literary agencies and in a wide range of areas including audiobooks, podcasts, video, and more. The industry is so broad that the opportunities are almost limitless.

How does this publishing degree differ from others?

The degree differs from others in that we emphasize a knowledge of all key publishing functions, whereas other degrees offer concentrations in a specific area such as design or marketing and publicity. With the team-based focus of the publishing industry in mind, an immersive knowledge of content creation, marketing and distribution, and profitability is critical to student success.

In addition, we put a very strong focus on real-world, real-workplace industry learning and experience. While other degrees may emphasize publishing theory, the NYU SPS MS in Publishing encompasses both theory and practical, hands-on study of all key topics. Most assignments are simulations of tasks encountered in the workplace. Students are invited to visit publishing and media companies to gain an inside understanding of how businesses operate. Faculty members and guest speakers, all senior industry experts, introduce students to the latest business strategies and practices. A strong emphasis on networking, global trips to book fairs and conferences when available, and elective internships all contribute to a unique, industry-forward approach to preparing students for careers in publishing.

What skills are required for a career in publishing?

The skills and attributes required to succeed in publishing include curiosity and an interest in a wide range of topics. Publishing is a world of content and ideas, and a desire to shape and disseminate information is important. Those entering the industry need strong writing and communication skills, a knowledge of digital formats and assets including podcasts and video, and an understanding of marketing and social media, as well as sales and audience development, to name a few areas of expertise. As noted, this is a broad industry and the specific skills may vary according to position and the type of publishing or media business. Generally, digital media management and content management skills are important.

What's the difference between book publishing & digital/magazine publishing?

The NYU SPS MS in Publishing includes courses in book publishing as well as digital/magazine media. While book publishers create physical and digital books and media companies focus increasingly on digital-first (with some print) content, both use many of the same areas of expertise: good writing and communication skills, as well as a knowledge of marketing and audience development, sales, and distribution. Students may choose to focus their studies more on book publishing or digital/magazine media, but the skills are often transferable.

Why do I need a graduate degree in publishing to enter the industry?

You need a graduate degree in publishing to enter the industry because this is a complex business with multiple skills and areas of expertise needed. The NYU SPS MS in Publishing degree introduces students to all key aspects of the industry through its areas of study as well as industry outreach. This deep and broad knowledge helps to make students highly valuable to employers. The reputation of the program for providing exceptionally well-trained students with practical skills is an important factor in hiring and promotion. Furthermore, the networking and industry outreach, faculty of leading publishing professionals, and internship opportunities are invaluable in opening doors and providing access that may otherwise be unattainable.

phd in publishing

  • PhD by Publication – Explained
  • Types of Doctorates

Introduction

Obtaining a PhD by publication is relatively uncommon in higher education. It can, however, be especially useful for established researchers who have published work but don’t yet have a PhD. This article gives information on exactly what a PhD by publication is, how it works and what the advantages and disadvantages are. Read on to learn more.

What is a PhD by Publication?

A PhD by publication is a doctoral degree awarded to a person who has several peer-reviewed publications that have been put together as separate ‘chapters’, contributing to a unified research theme within a specific field.

This format typically consists of a significant introductory chapter, up to 10,000 words, similar to a traditional thesis, followed by around five published research papers and a final chapter to bring things to a conclusion. Although these papers will be separate bodies of work, it’s important that they’re connected along one research theme.

This route to PhD can be attractive to researchers that have published a lot in their academic career but have not followed the traditional PhD path. It helps them gain recognition for their contributions to their research field and recognition that the work they have done has been of a doctoral level without having to write a separate PhD thesis.

A PhD by publication is awarded following a  viva (also known as an oral examination) with examiners, similar to the process of a traditional PhD.

What are the Advantages?

A clear advantage of a PhD by publication is that you’re submitting a portfolio of work that has already gone through extensive peer review. This means that by the time you come to defend your work at a viva, it’s much easier. For example, the questions your examiners may ask you could be very similar to the questions you were asked by your reviewers during your paper publication phase and so you will already have prepared suitable responses to these.

Another advantage of this route is that it’s a much quicker way of obtaining a PhD degree; traditional PhD programmes take between three and four years from registration to completion whereas you can get a PhD by publication within one year of registration with the University, assuming that you enrol on this degree having already published all the papers that you will include in your portfolio of work. The shorter duration means that you often will only have to pay for one year of University fees, meaning that this approach is cheaper than a traditional method. It’s often possible that you can work any part-time job alongside preparing your publication portfolio for viva examination submission.

What are the Disadvantages?

Not all research fields or questions are suitable for a PhD by publication. In some cases, it may be necessary to design, set up and run a new PhD project in the field, recording the generation of further data. Additionally, it may be difficult to expand upon your previous publications and explore different research ideas as you put together your portfolio of papers. As this approach is a relatively uncommon way to get a PhD, some institutions may be unfamiliar or not set up to facilitate a PhD by publication. While the final viva examination will be the same as that in a traditional PhD, there is always the risk that some examiners may not see this publication route as being a ‘real’ PhD.

You’re also likely to miss out on some other aspects of PhD life by going down the publication route, including opportunities to teach or supervise undergraduate students and the experience of working within a research lab alongside other PhD students.

How Long Does a PhD by Publication Take?

You should expect a PhD by publication to take six months to one year to obtain from your point of registration with a UK University. This is on the basis that you have already published work for all the material that you would plan to include within your PhD portfolio, or that it is currently going through the review process. This approach is shorter than pursuing a traditional PhD, which typically takes between three and four years as a full-time student.

What is the Application Process?

You apply using the standard process required by the university to enrol, in the same way as the traditional route of a PhD. In addition, however, you will be asked to submit a portfolio of your prior publication track record and a supporting statement outlining the work of these existing publications, detailing how they tell a coherent story with the relevant subject area you’re applying to. You won’t need to submit a formal PhD research proposal as most, if not all, of the research should already have been completed.

Do you have Supervision?

Yes, in the same way that a traditional PhD student will have a primary supervisor to oversee your project. The role of the supervisor will be to help you establish a clear narrative for the theme you’re putting together of your publications, offering critical appraisal where necessary.

He or she will advise you on how to structure the introductory and concluding bodies of work that are required before you submit your portfolio for external examination and viva. Remember that the supervisor is there to advise and not tell you how to structure your dissertation; this is the same for any research student doing a standard PhD.

With this researcher-supervisor relationship, your options may be open in terms of whether you need to be based at the University in person or if you choose to work remotely as a distance learning student, communicating with your supervisor over email or video calls.

How does Assessment Work?

The body of work that you submit will be read and assessed by two examiners that are experts within your subject area of research. This will be followed by the viva examination with the two examiners, in line with the conventional PhD approach. To be awarded this research degree you will need to demonstrate that your work has made an original contribution to furthering the subject knowledge within your field.

Finding a PhD has never been this easy – search for a PhD by keyword, location or academic area of interest.

How Much Does It Cost?

As a PhD by publication usually takes about a year to complete, most universities typically charge a fee equivalent to one year of PhD study. The exact amount will vary depending on the University, but usually, the tuition fee will be around  £4,500  for one year for UK and EU students, and considerably more if you are an international student. It’s challenging to secure funding for these types of PhD degrees and you will find that you’re unlikely to be eligible for financial support from research councils or other routes of funding.

What Kind of Publications Can I use in my Portfolio?

Universities will have specific guidance about factors such as how many publications you can include in your portfolio and there may be some restrictions on when they should have been published. Typically, you will include 5 publications in your submission to your PhD examiners, but this can in some circumstances be as low as 3 or 4 or as high as 10 separate papers. Most often these will be in the form of  journal articles accepted by peer reviewed journals but can also include published book chapters, scientific or technical reports that have been published or other forms of publication that have gone through a level of peer review.

A PhD by publication is a good way for you to graduate with a doctorate if you enter this research programme having already published several academic papers on a single research theme. You need to demonstrate that you have made a significant contribution to your field through previous research. At this stage it is likely to be the cheapest and fastest route to gaining a PhD. However, applicants should be mindful when they apply that it may be challenging to secure funding for this.

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PhD on the Basis of Prior Published Works in Cyber Security

University of plymouth.

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University of sunderland.

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PhD by Published Work

University of warwick.

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Publishing PhD

Anglia ruskin university.

PhD research programmes will allow you to explore your own interests in publishing, supported by the expertise of our staff. You’ll be Read more...

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University of northampton.

If you have a degree in Acting or a related field, our Acting MPhil, PhD, or PhD by Published Works study is a fantastic way to broaden Read more...

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Hull york medical school.

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Introduction: Demystifying the PhD by Publication

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phd in publishing

  • Sin Wang Chong   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4519-0544 3 &
  • Neil H. Johnson   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8604-1193 4  

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This chapter documents the rationale for compiling a collection on the PhD by Publication. The aim of the book is to “demystify” this alternative route of doctoral education because there is a dearth of publications (journal articles or books) on this PhD route which is gaining popularity around the world. This book attempts to “demystify” PhD by Publication by identifying pertinent issues and (mis)conceptions pertaining to policies and practices through research, research syntheses, and surveys of university policies on the PhD by Publication internationally (Part I – Landscapes of PhD by Publication). Another layer of “demystification” pertains to experience (Part II: Narratives of PhD by Publication). The inclusion of reflective and autobiographical accounts by PhD by Publication supervisors, students, and graduates internationally provides a vivid insider’s perspective toward this PhD route. This chapter closes with an outline of each chapter of the book.

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Chong, S. W. (2020). PhD by published work and “doctorateness”: My experience at a UK university. Innovative Practice in Higher Education, 4 (1), 1–12. http://journals.staffs.ac.uk/index.php/ipihe/article/view/204/319

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Chong, S. W. (2021). Demystifying commentary guidelines of PhD by published work in the UK: Insights from genre analysis. In Innovations in education and teaching international (pp. 1–10). Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2020.1871396

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Hyland, K. (2015). Genre, discipline and identity. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 19 , 32–43.

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Jackson, D. (2013). Completing a PhD by publication: A review of Australian policy and implications for practice. Higher Education Research and Development, 32 (3), 355–368. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2012.692666

O’Keeffe, P. (2019). PhD by publication: Innovative approach to social science research, or operationalisation of the doctoral student … or both? Higher Education Research and Development, 39 (2), 288–301. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2019.1666258

Smith, S. (2017). Supervising on a PhD by published work route: An exploration of the supervisory role. Zeitschrift für Hochschulentwicklung. Journal for Higher Education Development, 12 (2), 19–43.

Smith, S. (2019). The challenge of supervising students who are doing a PhD by published work . Trust Me! Blog. Retrieved from https://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/id/eprint/5648/1/TheChallengeOfSupervisingStudentsWhoAreDoingAPhdByPublishedWorkAM-SMITH.pdf

Wilson, K. (2002). Quality assurance issues for a PhD by published work: A case study. Quality Assurance in Education, 10 (2), 71–78. https://doi.org/10.1108/09684880210423555

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Chong, S.W., Johnson, N.H. (2022). Introduction: Demystifying the PhD by Publication. In: Chong, S.W., Johnson, N. (eds) Landscapes and Narratives of PhD by Publication. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04895-1_1

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Where to Publish Your PhD Research: Choosing a Journal

Where to Publish Your PhD Research

This post continues our series about publishing your first paper . We have already covered considerations for when and what you may want to publish. Now for the fun one: deciding where to publish your PhD research.

Choosing where to publish is probably the most contentious question in academia. I hope this post helps with your decision making!

Considerations for where to publish your PhD research

The main reason to publish anything in academia should come down to wanting to help progress the field and provide insights which could be used to inform future research. For an in-depth look into this and other reasons for publishing your PhD research, see the full post here .

No matter your reasons for publishing, it makes sense to aim for a journal which will enable as many researchers who could be interested in your work to see it. In reality though, other factors may come into play which could impact your choice of journal. These include:

  • What is the journal’s average response time?
  • Does the journal publish many papers using similar methods and techniques to yours? See the Appropriateness section further down the page for more details.
  • Is the submission process simple? Would submission there require loads of formatting which is only relevant to that one journal?
  • Will relevant researchers in your field see it?
  • What does it cost to publish there?
  • Are you only interested in publishing to help researchers or do you want kudos? Publishing in a certain journey may help boost your career prospects if you’re staying in research.
  • How difficult is it to get something published there?

The choice of where to publish typically comes down to three main factors:

Journal prestige and impact factor

Relevance to the audience.

  • Appropriateness for your study design

Let’s get this out the way first: researchers can be snobby about journals!

Disregarding the actual content of your study, successfully getting something published in a prestigious journal can become an accolade in and of itself.

The idea is that getting something accepted in a high tier journal signals the quality of the work. On the flip side, if something is published in a journal no one has heard of, questions may be raised of how rigorous the review process was.

Publishing in a prestigious journal of course can bring kudos to you and your co-authors and look great on a CV, but does it actually make your research any better?

A journal only accepts papers that are within its scope, that is to say that they’re relevant to the audience. Yet, aiming for a top journal won’t necessarily mean that the highest amount of relevant researchers will necessarily see it.

How do researchers actually find papers?

Some of the main ways people find papers are as follows:

  • Reading the actual journal , either in paper form or online. Speaking to academics you’ll often find that there are a few key journals they regularly check for new research in their field.
  • Searching for relevant papers as part of your literature search. Using tools such as Google Scholar or Web of Science.
  • Setting up automated alerts for certain topics, keywords or researchers. I do this and get an email every time something new is published in the area.

Clearly not everyone reading your work will find it through the journal itself. I myself rarely browse a journal and instead mostly rely on method 2 to find papers relevant to my research. Even so the journal can still matter:

My experience: Ultimately the reputation of a journal can still play a part in how many people will actually read your article, no matter how researchers find it. I’ve worked with researchers who won’t read an article if they don’t recognise (or have had a bad experience with) a certain journal. This is pretty understandable with the rise of sketchy predatory journals and the numbers of journals constantly increasing, making it difficult to work out which ones even carry out solid peer-review.

One useful measure which researchers will often turn to for an initial assessment of a journal, and the papers it publishes, is impact factor.

Journal Impact Factor

What is impact factor.

The impact factor of a journal is a metric which demonstrates the number of citations that papers in the journal typically receive over a given period, usually two or five years. You can see how to calculate it over on Wikipedia .

Impact factor is a very quick way to assess journals. If the impact factor is very low, it likely means that either no one is reading the research or they don’t find it useful in progressing the field.

Papers which get cited many times indicate a lot of research activity and impact in the research community. Therefore journals which publish the kinds of paper receiving a lot of attention are indicative of high impact research.

How do you find the impact factor of a journal?

You can usually find the impact factor for a journal displayed prominently somewhere on its website. For example here is the homepage for the Journal of Orthopaedic Research :

Journal of Orthopaedic Research's homepage with the impact factor clearly visible under the title.

If it’s not on the homepage, it may be on the ‘About’ page. If it’s not there I’d go back to my search engine ( Ecosia ) and likely end up finding it on Wikipedia.

What’s important to highlight is that constituents a “good” impact factor varies by research field. It’s not really appropriate to compare the impact factor of journals you’re trying to publish in with a friend if they work in a different discipline. What you can do though is compare the journal to others in the same field, which brings us on to quartiles:

Journal Quartiles

Research activity differs between fields, which plays a part in how many citations a paper will typically achieve.

My experience: I used to work in anaesthetics research. There are very few academic departments even researching anaesthetics. Looking up the impact factor of top anaesthetics journals, none look impressive because there simply isn’t much activity and therefore new papers coming out of the field!

A useful metric to judge the quality of journals is to determine which quartile a given journal sits within relative to all other journals in that field. Q1 journals mean that they’re in the top 25% highest impact for that field. Q2 journals sit between 25-50% and so on.

This means that a given journal may not appear active compared to other fields, but could actually be one of the best within your field.

How do you find out which quartile a journal sits in?

Use the SJR to compare journals in a given field. Shown below are the results for journal Marine Chemistry .

Using SJR to measure Marine Chemistry's outputs in comparison to other journals in the field.

The big green box at the top shows that the journal is consistently in the top quartile across four fields:

SCImago Journal & Country Rank

Don’t be demoralised if even the top journals in your field have a relatively low impact factor.

What is important is that you’re trying to make your work high impact within your own field. That is what quartiles can demonstrate. You put yourself in a strong position if you’re trying to publish in Q1 journals in your field, no matter the impact factor.

My experience: When I was applying for PhDs, my soon-to-be supervisor instructed me to highlight in my application the quartiles of papers I’d co-authored. Without doing so, anyone unfamiliar with the field can’t easily assess the potential quality of the journal and therefore the potential impact of my research contribution.

Impact factor and quartiles are useful, but are not the only factors to consider.

Want your work to be highly cited? It is possible that a lower impact journal, which is highly targeted to your specialism, could get your article read by more people who are likely to build on and reference your work.

Your choice of journal will, to a certain degree, dictate the audience who will see your paper. One of the main factors to consider is the type of journal:

Specialist vs Multi-Disciplinary Journals

There are two main types of journals. The first type are journals which serve a specialist field, for example Cancer or Additive Manufacturing .

Cancer's homepage: one of the top journals in the field of, you guessed it: cancer research!

These journals will often be the obvious target for your research, particularly if you’re working neatly in one field. This means that the people who are most likely to want to implement your findings can easily find it.

Other types of journals exist which are not targeted to a certain field. These instead accept a much wider spectrum of research. Examples include: PLOS One and Nature Scientific Reports .

You could chose to publish in a multi-disciplinary journal if your work:

  • Covers work across several fields and wouldn’t neatly fit into a specialised journal
  • May be widely applied and would be of interest to researchers across multiple fields

Of course at the top of the tree for multi-disciplinary journals are the likes of Nature , Science and the Lancet . The work published in these journals is usually very high impact and attracts huge readerships.

Even so, your work won’t necessarily always be seen by researchers working in your area of research. This could in fact decrease potential citations if you don’t explicitly spell out the potential impact and applications of your research.

Special Issues

Every so often journals will publish Special Issues which focus on a certain topic. For example here are the recent special issues for Cell :

A list of special issues for the journal Cell over recent years. Each issue focusses on a certain topic within the field.

If you can find a special issue which relates closely to your work you’re in a great position:

  • You stand a better chance than usual of it being accepted, because the editor will better appreciate your work.
  • Readers will already be primed for your work since they are very interested in the sub-field. As such, special issues will usually receive a higher average number of citations compared to standard issues in the journal.

My experience: Recently I published two papers in the same special issue of a journal. The special issue theme related very closely with a lot of my PhD so was an ideal target. Do be aware that unlike with normal paper submission, you’ll be working towards a publishing deadline for that specific journal issue. If you submit your work pretty late in the publishing window (like I did), you might be working to pretty tight deadlines which can become stressful, trust me!

Just been requested to make major revisions to a paper and been given 10 days to get them done. Last time I got major revisions for a paper we had 60 days! We can ask for an extension but wondered @AcademicChatter is this short turnaround time common? — Jeff Clark (@savvy_scientist) August 10, 2020

You can find calls for special issues on the journal website or by following researchers in your field on social media.

Appropriateness of your study

This final point isn’t always as relevant as the others, but is worth considering. Effectively, the type of work you do, and associated study designs, may not always be appropriate for certain journals.

For example if you do computational modelling, even if your work is very relevant to a field perhaps you don’t have much chance publishing in a certain journal if they don’t usually accept that kind of work. In my field there is a journal that practically requires the inclusion of in vitro work for a paper to be considered.

The journal website will typically include a page detailing the kinds of topics they’ll publish:

ACS Nano's journal scope statement, including what the journal aims to publish.

This doesn’t necessarily tell you anything about what is acceptable in terms of methods, study design and experimentation though. For that I suggest looking at previously accepted papers. This will give a flavour of what is required to get accepted into a certain journal.

My advice for deciding where to publish your PhD research

Where are similar papers published.

If you don’t already have a journal in mind, think of the papers which relate most to your work: where were they published? The field may well have developed since then, so also look at recent related papers and see where they’re published too. These are usually great journals to consider submitting your paper to, since they publish related research.

Put together a list of potential journals

Once you’ve got an idea of potential journals, write a list in preferential order. Where would you most like your paper to be accepted?

Typically when putting together an ordered list of potential journals to submit work to, a researcher may first start with a submission to the one with the highest impact factor (typically the most prestigious) and then work their way down the list if they get rejected.

My experience: I’ve had three first author papers accepted from my PhD, and another is currently under review. Of the three which have been accepted, two were accepted at the first choice journal and the other was accepted at the second choice. The one which is still under review is at its third journal and still isn’t accepted! Try to not be afraid of rejection, and certainly don’t take it personally!

Consider aiming high

You can always try your luck at a higher impact journal than other similar papers. Even though it may be more competitive, if it doesn’t take long to try it may be worth a shot, especially if your paper can be easily adapted to fit the journal’s formatting requirements.

My experience: In my field, most of the top journals have impact factors of 3, 4 or at most 5. Earlier this year I sent something to Nature Biomedical Engineering which has a much wider scope and an impact factor of over 17. The paper was rejected but from submission the decision only took a week. This isn’t a lot of time to lose if you think your paper stands a chance of acceptance. I was disappointed but at least we could move on quickly.

Stay positive

I appreciate that working out where to publish your PhD research can be overwhelming, especially for your first paper. It is worth persevering, trust me!

In relation to prestige, if you’re working in a field where the typical impact factor of a journal isn’t particularly high, please don’t get at all discouraged if you’re tempted to compare it to friends in other disciplines. I personally know I’m unlikely to publish in any of the very highest impact journals ( with my research anyway) , but that doesn’t mean I don’t do useful research!

It’s always worth remembering that the reason we’re trying to publish is to get our research out into the world. This helps to inform further research and helps to progress the field .

Best of luck!

I hope you found this article in the publishing series useful. Next in the series we’ll be putting together a first draft. If you have any feedback please do let me know.

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Earn a degree that will prepare you for the future for publishing. Our MS in Publishing equips you with the skills and knowledge necessary to launch and maintain a successful career in the dynamic publishing and media industries.

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"As someone who moved to New York with no knowledge of the industry and even less knowledge of where I belonged in it, the Pace MS in Publishing program not only helped me find my place, but also allowed me to make the connections I needed and find lifelong friends along the way. The professors at Pace have a desire to see their students succeed which makes all the difference. Two semesters into the program I was able to intern with Simon & Schuster and immediately after was hired by Hachette Book Group and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without professors like Manuela Soares mentoring and advocating for me. " —Ely Mellet '18, Junior Designer at Scholastic

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“those who don’t quit are the ones who get published”.

MFA graduate Swetha Amit ’22 talks about exploring genres and persevering through challenges in her writing journey.

Swetha Amit, MFA Alumna

In what ways has your writing style, process, and vision changed since graduation?

I have begun experimenting more with form, structure, and points of view. My stories usually emerge from prompts I receive from generative writing workshops. I typically write around 1,000 words in response. I return to it after a few days — to see if the story can be developed into something more or if I need to make it tighter. My vision has become realistic, with utmost focus on patience, perseverance, and commitment to writing. Most importantly, I have begun to enjoy the writing process and going with the flow instead of stressing how it would turn out or its publication prospects. That’s when my stories turn out well.

How did/does the MFA program help you with your writing goals?

Before my MFA, I bracketed myself as a writer who could only write in one genre. The beauty of this MFA program is that it allows you to take courses across genres. This has given me the confidence to write fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or even venture into a longer form of fiction, which is my current project. Every faculty member I have worked with, whether K.M. Soehnlein, Nina, Monica, Laleh, Lewis, D.A. Powell, Aya, or Vanessa, helped me realize my potential and strengths, keeping my writer engine chugging even today.

The beauty of this MFA program is that it allows you to take courses across genres.”

What advice might you give to a recent graduate who seeks to publish their work?

Make a list of journals to which you aim to submit your work. Read their latest issues to see if your piece is a good fit. Subscribe to their newsletters, follow them on social media, and watch for submission themes, dates, or contest calls. Don’t let the rejections bog you down; it’s part of every writer’s journey. I still hold on to the golden advice K.M. Soehnlein gave in 2021 when I hit a low: “Persevere; that is the path for us.” An author I interviewed recently said those who don’t quit are the ones who get published. So, I advise folks never to give up and keep at it.

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Professors Celebrate a Year in Books

Putting her heart into it: Star Student Nana Kyei leads hypertension clinic in Ghana

Star student Nana Kyei, 18, a graduate of Western Reserve Academy, poses in the chapel of the school in Hudson. Kyei will major in biology when she attends Yale University beginning this fall.

Over about eight months, Nana Kyei ran a blood pressure center in Ghana, conducted research on hypertension and published her findings – all before her senior year of high school. 

Kyei, whose parents were born in Ghana and who has most of her family members living there, had learned her great aunt had strokes due to hypertension, or high blood pressure. As she researched the topic, she realized the potentially fatal condition affected a large number of Ghanaians. 

The then-16-year-old Western Reserve Academy student wanted to make a difference. 

“There really needs to be more awareness about it,” Kyei said. “It’s really important to hear people’s stories because that is where solutions are found. That’s where you get to the root of the problem.” 

Kyei was selected as one of this year's three top Star Students from more than 100 graduating seniors. The annual program by The Akron Beacon Journal, The Canton Repository, The Record-Courier and The Daily Record recognizes the region’s outstanding high school graduates.

The soon-to-be Yale student learned about hypertension issues in Ghana and Sub-saharan Africa from her grandfather, who told her about his sister’s strokes. Kyei worked with her grandfather, with funding help from him and Western Reserve Academy, to hold a blood pressure clinic in Ghana the summer after her sophomore year.

There, they played informational videos, handed out pamphlets and took people’s blood pressures, and she bonded with family along the way. 

All data was recorded anonymously, and Kyei found 70% of the adults she saw had hypertension. Nineteen cases were people in crisis, and they were immediately sent to a hospital. 

“This meant the people could have died at any second,” she said. “[Finding them help] made me feel fulfilled because you never could have known what would have happened.”

During her junior year, Kyei worked with teachers to put her research into a proposal that explored hypertension in Africans. Factors include genetics, diet and lack of access to health care. 

Kyei said the illness is asymptomatic, which can explain why people may not regularly take their medication. It's also a matter of education. 

“If you read the data head-on, it seems like a lot of Ghanaians are not taking their medication, and it seems like they’re not compliant, but when you hear people’s stories, you figure out that oftentimes, they don’t really understand what the doctor is saying and that they don’t have the money to buy the medication,” she said. 

Kyei, now an 18-year-old from Richfield, will attend Yale in the fall with a major in biology. She plans to become an obstetrician, which focuses on reproductive, pregnancy, birth and postpartum care. 

“Throughout her high school career at Western Reserve Academy, Nana Kyei has solidified herself as an invaluable and integral part of this community; from her leadership to her command of course material to her generously friendly nature, Nana stands alone as someone whose reputation precedes her,” teachers and administrators wrote in her recommendation letter. “Teachers are eager to see her name on their roster and students hope they get the chance to be her lab partner.”

'I just bury my head and get it done.'

Yale was where Kyei hoped to end up since the start of her college application process, but she first got deferred from the university when she applied for early admission.

Then, on Ivy Day March 28, she received an acceptance email decorated with little dancing icons of the school’s bulldog mascot. 

“I screamed – my mom screamed,” Kyei said. “We were running around the house. It was so fun.” 

Kyei has wanted to become a doctor since she was 5 years old. She still has the little doctor's coat and first aid kit her grandparents gave to her as a child. She became especially interested in biology in ninth grade. 

With the free time she found, Kyei was a captain of Western Reserve’s varsity volleyball team, a leader in the French Club and Black Student Union and a chief ambassador, where she led tours of the school’s campus, among other commitments. 

Along with a list of other achievements and a 4.23 GPA, the College Board named Kyei as the National African American Recognition Scholar for the 2022-23 school year, and she is part of Western Reserve's Cum Laude Society. 

The recent graduate said she learned to find balance over her four years of high school by setting aside a weekend day for herself – along with having a planner and to-do lists.

“I’m not too hardcore, and sometimes there’s the stereotype of the Ivy League kid being super hardcore,” she said. “I do have a good work ethic though, so sometimes I just bury my head and get it done. Then I relax.”

Finding time for fun, too

Kyei spent three years living on campus, and she happily remembers late nights in the dorms with friends, watching movies, eating popcorn and sharing secrets.

It was not always easy finding a core group, but now, the graduate said she has found forever friends.

“It was more about finding people you can trust than people you belong to,” Kyei said. “For me, it was finding people I can rely on and, in that way, I really did find my place. I found people who I will have relationships with past these years.”

Her favorite school memory came while captaining the volleyball team. 

“I decided to hold a ‘Friendsgiving’ with the whole team at my house,” she said. “We made food and got dessert and danced the whole time and talked. I got to bond with the team really well. Me and my co-captain did a good job of creating a positive environment on the court.”

Kyei found new interests – and much-needed relaxation –  in her ceramic and dance classes and hopes to take a similar class or two in college. She loves baking cakes, cookies and lemon bars and wants to start baking bread like her grandmother. 

There will be no research this summer – Kyei said she is taking time to relax, featuring a trip to Hawaii, before her Ivy League schooling kicks in. 

Keeping ‘strong’ values

In her recommendation letter, teachers and administrators described Kyei as “relentlessly kind.” 

“Nana is guided by a strong inner moral compass,” the letter said.

Kyei focuses on working hard, showing kindness to others and treating people empathetically. Her father instilled in her the importance of staying true to herself, and she said following her Christian faith is a large priority for her. 

“I aim to be someone people can come to and fully be themselves, and I think a lot of my friends find that role in me,” Kyei said. “That’s really important to me: having empathy and being a good listener.”

The opportunity to help others keeps her motivated. 

“I just want to do something in the world, even if it’s not huge,” she said. “For example, being an obstetrician is a very meaningful job, and it's very needed. It takes a lot of work to get there, and I know that’s something I want to do. That keeps my eye on the prize.”

Reporter Isabella Schreck can be reached at [email protected] .  

About Nana Kyei

School: Western Reserve Academy

College attending: Yale

Major: Biology 

Favorite social media: Instagram

Binge-worthy show: "Grey's Anatomy"

Favorite subject: Ceramics and microbiology

Biggest influencer: My grandfather has been an encouraging and supportive figure in my life who inspires me to do the best I can in every circumstance. I’m extremely grateful for his influence.

Where she sees herself in 10 years: Practicing medicine in a very warm state and raising a family there.

Favorite high school memory: My favorite high school memory was junior year prom. It was good vibes all around, and it was hilarious to watch my date and my friend’s date bowl against each other at after prom.

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Dominique Biron turned weaknesses into strengths on her way to the NCAA track and field championships

The fifth-year Northeastern heptathlete has dealt with ADHD and anxiety while competing at the highest level.

phd in publishing

Dominique Biron used to believe her ultimate goal was beyond reach. But this week, in spite of those doubts, the fifth-year student-athlete at Northeastern University will be competing among the nation’s top 24 heptathletes at the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Track And Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon. 

“If you had told me in high school,” she says, “I’d have thought you were absolutely out of your mind.” 

Years of tireless effort have kicked open all kinds of doors — including a potential career with USA Rugby in a sport she has never played. 

“She’s absolutely one of the most talented athletes I’ve seen,” Northeastern head track coach Tramaine Shaw says of Biron. “And she’s up there in the top two I’ve ever coached in terms of the dedication to the things that make athletes good and great.”

Biron is the first woman from Northeastern since 2007 to advance to the NCAA outdoor championships. Joining her in Eugene will be graduate student Alexander Korczynski , who will be competing at the NCAAs for the third time in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Biron typically has been the last to recognize her potential. She acknowledges being hard on herself while embracing the reasons why.

“I have a language-based learning disability as well as ADHD,” Biron says. “Sometimes I’m misunderstood — like I cut straight to the point and I’m really blunt.” 

She developed her own approach to learning. “It takes me a little longer to get there,” Biron says. “But once I’ve got it, I’ve got it.”

Having attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder has complicated her academic and athletic lives.

“For me school was always really hard,” Biron says. “And athletics was my escape, because athletics was where I could put in the time and see the results come out. Whereas I felt in the classroom I could put in more time than the students around me — and they would get the results that I wanted.”

Headshot of Tramaine Shaw.

For years, says Biron, her teammates and coaches cautioned her against overworking while she developed the array of skills demanded by the seven-event heptathlon — 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 meters, long jump, javelin and 800 meters. 

She’ll be displaying the finished product on Friday (ESPN2) and Saturday (ESPN), June 7 and 8, at the NCAA championships. And she’ll do so knowing that the hard work was crucial to defining herself to her liking at Northeastern.

“If I exhaust myself, then it’s easier to focus on academics,” Biron says. “That way I don’t feel like I need to get out that energy. So then I feel like I can sit down and actually focus instead of wanting to get up and do something.”

Biron’s family attended her graduation ceremony last month at Fenway Park, showing their love and appreciation for someone who has competed in every phase of her life.

“I graduated with honors, which was really awesome,” says Biron, who majored in business and design with a minor in psychology. “My first year I was worried that I wasn’t going to graduate. I hadn’t been diagnosed yet and I was having a really hard time.”

YouTube videos were crucial

Biron played a variety of sports while growing up in Bow, New Hampshire. Track and field emerged as her centerpiece despite an absence of detailed coaching.

“After practice my mom (Donna) would stay out with me for three hours and I would just keep practicing,” Biron says. “She was basically my coach — and she never did track. So the fact that she was so willing to go so far and put so much into it for me meant a lot.”

Donna Biron would search her phone for YouTube videos of the events her daughter was trying to learn. 

“We would watch pro athletes compete and she would be like, ‘This person leans more over the hurdles than you do’ or ‘reaches further towards their feet than you do,’” Dominique Biron recalls. “She was trying to find little things that I wasn’t doing.

“You would see us at the high jump mat or the long jump pit or the hurdles. We would stay those three hours after practice until I felt like I’d learned something and was feeling good about it.”

Biron moved on to Cushing Academy, a Massachusetts preparatory school where in two years she set school records in the 200 meters, 400 meters, 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles, long jump, high jump, javelin and two relays. Northeastern appealed to her in part because of the winning efforts of coach Tramaine Shaw, a former Husky sprinter whose women’s and men’s teams swept the recent Coastal Athletic Association outdoor championships. 

“I wanted to be around a team that would push me,” Biron says. “I wanted to have that atmosphere where I could be competitive. I wanted to be surrounded by people who were really strong.”

COVID-19 heightened the anxiety

“Going from mediocre to good is easy,” Shaw says. “Going from good to great is incredibly hard. Because those bridges of difference are so small. Every little thing truly does count when you’re trying to go from good to great and she has always been the type of athlete who is going to drill down on the little things.”

Shaw acknowledges it hasn’t been easy helping Biron maintain perspective amid her profound investment in the sport.

“It has definitely had its moments,” Shaw says. “I think it’s not just an indication of her, but to some degree her entire generation. And I say this not being too far removed from when I was an athlete.”

Shaw became a Northeastern Hall-of-Famer as a record-setting sprinting and hurdling star from 2005 to 2009. She had no thought of coaching until her final season, when teammate Jonathan Hall was thinking of quitting the team.

“I said, ‘If you stay, I’ll stay around and help you out,’” Shaw recalls of Hall, who holds Northeastern’s fourth-best time in the 400-meter hurdles. “I started coaching to help a teammate out because I really cared about my team. And here we are many, many years later.”

After nine seasons as an assistant coach, Shaw ascended in 2017 to interim head coach of the Northeastern women’s and men’s teams before taking over officially in 2018. She has won nine CAA coach of the year awards, the most in conference history.

Dominique Beron with a gold medal around her neck.

Sensing the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, Shaw chose to spend less time on recruiting while devoting more energy than ever to the athletes — including Biron — who were already enrolled at Northeastern. 

“The needs of the current students were so great that we put a lot of recruiting on hold,” Shaw says. “I recognized we needed to spend more time investing in our current student-athletes and readjusting the culture of the program. We’re in a great place now.”

Shaw says the pandemic intensified a new level of anxiety that many student-athletes were experiencing.

“When I was an athlete, I could have a bad day,” Shaw says. “But never once did a bad day or a bad race make me feel like I was a bad athlete. Failure was part of the process. It happens.

“I think for her generation as a whole,” Shaw says of Biron and her teammates, “a bad race sometimes makes them feel like they are no longer a good athlete.”

It was from that point of view that Shaw would ask Biron to lessen her after-hours workouts. 

“Sometimes trying to help her protect herself can be difficult because if she doesn’t do something right, she wants to do it until she gets it right,” Shaw says. “Getting her to understand that failure is part of the process, that you have to fail in order to succeed, that you have to be able to take that risk that it is not going to turn out right so in that way you can build and grow to the next thing — it has definitely been challenging.” 

‘I’ve never been more proud of her’

Looking ahead to her current farewell season, Biron asked that she be coached personally by Shaw. 

“I have really bad anxiety,” Biron says. “And she has so much knowledge. She was an athlete and so she’s able to say to me, ‘You feel this way because of this .’”

Shaw’s advice is therapeutic on multiple fronts, Biron says.

“It helps broaden my track and field knowledge,” Biron says. “Which then makes me feel better about the event.”

Their relationship was growing beyond the technical aspects.

“She was just really adamant that, ‘This is my last year and you know me the best,’” Shaw says. “‘I just really feel like I know who I am as a person. I know that I can rub people the wrong way sometimes. I know we have a strong staff but I feel like you and I work the best together.’ And she was really adamant that she wanted that for her last year.”

During the CAA outdoor championships last month, Shaw worried that Biron was waiting too long to start competing in the high jump. 

She’s absolutely one of the most talented athletes I’ve seen. And she’s up there in the top two I’ve ever coached in terms of the dedication to the things that make athletes good and great. Tramaine Shaw , Northeastern’s head track coach

“I was watching her make these decisions and I was like, ‘Should I step in? Should I let her go?’” Shaw says. “I decided, no, I have to let her go. Dom can be stubborn and sometimes me saying something is going to throw her off her game.”

Instead of competing at a lower height and assuring herself of points, Biron went scoreless in the high jump. Despite winning the other events, that strategic error cost her the gold medal. She took second place in the heptathlon.

“But how she handled that after — I’ve never been more proud of her than I was in that moment,” Shaw says. “She continued to be a good teammate. She continued to fight through every event.”

Biron, who also won the long jump and finished fifth in the high jump, was named outstanding field performer — the fourth straight year she had been honored as the top women’s athlete in field events or at the meet overall.

“She stepped away, let herself have a moment to gather herself, and then she fought and outperformed anything she had done to that point and managed to get all the points she needed to get — plus some — for the team. And so seeing her have that moment, accepting it, moving on from it and building from it, was just absolutely amazing.”

It was in failure that the champion showed the depth of her growth, Shaw says.

“I definitely think there’s been challenges over the years,” Shaw says. “But watching how she reacted and responded at both the indoor and outdoor conference [championships] where things did not go her way gives me a lot of confidence that she recognizes where she needs to grow and is going to continue to work at it bit by bit.”

A rugby career?

Biron is looking forward to the NCAAs as her final meet.

“I’m good but I’m also not one of the best in the world,” Biron says. “And I’m completely aware of that. So I’m ready for something new.”

A few days after the NCAAs, Biron will be among 18 women who will be invited to the Olympic training center in California to try out for USA Rugby, which is seeking crossover athletes to compete in Rugby Sevens for the 2028 Summer Olympics at Los Angeles.

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“I’m so excited — I literally can’t help myself, the idea that they even thought about taking this little girl from Bow, New Hampshire,” Biron says. “I was so curious, I asked them, like, ‘How in the world did you find me — and why me?’” 

She was told that USA Rugby searched among the top multi-event women athletes while focusing on graduating seniors.

“And then they looked at photos of people competing,” says the 5-foot-8-inch Biron, who grew up playing boys’ ice hockey. “And they said to me, which I thought was hilarious, they’ve never seen that type of aggression brought to track and field. 

“I know some people say I make the worst faces when I compete. I’m always grinding my teeth, everything’s super tense and I’m screaming a lot of the time. There’s a lot of strain. You can see how competitive I am on my face. And apparently that’s what they were looking for.” 

If rugby doesn’t work out, Biron hopes to move into coaching. She has been working as a part-time track and field assistant coach at the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science near Northeastern’s Boston campus.

“I really love it,” she says.

Do you see the circular element of her story? When athletes are working as hard as Biron, says Shaw, the demands they make bring out the best in their coaches, inspiring them to raise the level of coaching. 

It is in that paying-it-forward spirit that Shaw is looking forward to the week in Eugene. 

“I always knew she could do it,” Shaw says. “When you get to this point at NCAAs, if you can just replicate what you did to get there, you’re putting yourself in a great position to be an All-American.

“It’s just an honor for me to be there,” Shaw adds. “I’m her plus-one.”

This was always the dream.

“The biggest thing is just making it,” Biron says. “It’s what I wanted the entire time I’ve been here. So I just want to go out and have fun.”

Imagine how Dominique Biron might perform without feeling pressure.

“Yes,” she says with a short laugh. “This will be a first.”

Ian Thomsen is a Northeastern Global News reporter. Email him at [email protected] . Follow him on X/Twitter @IanatNU .

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PhD Candidate in History Yasser Nasser Published in Cold War History

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The Department of History's Yasser Nasser was recently published in  Cold War History . Nasser is recipient of the 2023  Philip A. Kuhn Dissertation Prize in Chinese Studies  from the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Chicago.

In recent years, scholars have made strides in furthering our understanding of how the People’s Republic of China (PRC) engaged countries in the so-called ‘Third World’. Despite this, little has been said about the ways in which this solidarity was grounded in a shared, regional temporality. Focusing on the activities of the Chinese Peace Committee in the 1950s, Yasser's article, ‘To defend the peace of Asia’: the Chinese Peace Committee and visions of Asian history, 1949–60," uses the organisation’s various invocations of sharing an ‘Asian’ history with Japanese and Indian interlocutors to understand how the PRC positioned itself as a leader in the fight to preserve a decolonised Asia in the early Cold War.

Read his article  here .

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Home Office in the media

https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/2024/05/23/reducing-net-migration-factsheet-december-2023/

Reducing Net Migration Factsheet – May 2024

The UK has experienced high levels of immigration in recent years.

Last year resulted in over 95,000 people immigrating to the UK through our various schemes for those seeking sanctuary. Recent rises are also the result of more students and care workers, including their dependants, coming to the UK.

The government  made a commitment to bring numbers down and, this year,  brought into a force a series of measures which would mean approximately 300,000 people who came to the UK last year would now not be able to - the largest ever reduction in legal migration.

The latest official estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) indicate that net migration in the year ending December 2023 stood at 685,000, compared with an updated estimate of 764,000 for the year ending December 2022. This latest estimate does not take into account any of the government’s policy reforms, which have since come into force throughout early 2024.

The latest show:

  • Visa applications across key routes affected by the policy changes (Skilled Worker, Health & Care, and Study visas) fell by 25% in the first four months of 2024, compared with the same period last year.
  • Student dependant visa applications are down 79% in the first four months of 2024, compared with the same period las year, following the restriction on most postgraduate students bringing dependants with them.
  • Health and Care dependant applications are down 58% in the first full month since restrictions were placed on care workers to bring dependants with them, from 15,100 in April 2023 to 6,400 in April 2024.

Reforms to Reduce Legal Migration

Policy reforms that the government has brought into force from the start of this year include:

  • 1 January – Restricted most overseas students from bringing family members to the UK.
  • 11 March – Restricted care workers and senior care workers from bringing dependants with them and require all care providers sponsoring migrants to register with the Care Quality Commission.
  • 4 April – Increased the general salary threshold for those arriving on Skilled Worker visas by 48% from £26,200 to £38,700.
  • 4 April – Replaced the Shortage Occupation List with a new Immigration Salary List and abolished the 20% going rate discount so that employers can no longer pay migrants less than UK workers in shortage occupations.
  • 11 April – Increased the minimum income requirement to sponsor someone for a family visa by 55% from £18,600 to £29,000. By early 2025, this will have increased two more times, rising to £38,700.
  • 23 May – Responded to the MAC’s rapid review of the Graduate route, unveiling action to regulate the recruitment of international students.

Student Visas and Graduate route

From courses starting on the 1 January, international students have been restricted from bringing family members, aside from those taking postgraduate research courses and those with government-funded scholarships.

The UK’s world-leading universities attract some of the best students from around the world to the UK, but we have seen a surge in the number of dependants accompanying students. The government has introduced policy reforms in an attempt to limit the number of student arrivals.. In the first four months of this year, dependant applications have fallen by 79% with more than 30,000 fewer applications compared to the same period last year.

The changes, first announced last May, have also stopped people from using the student visa as a route to work in the UK by removing the right for students to switch into work visa routes before they complete their studies.

In March, the government commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to conduct a rapid review of the Graduate route. The government has accepted the MAC’s recommendations and has announced a series of measures to tackle abuse and crack down on any misuse of student visas. These include:

  • Mandating all higher education institutions who recruit international students to work within a framework for best practice, regularising the work of International Education Agents. The government will stamp out the business model of rogue agents who repeatedly encourage non-genuine students to apply for UK universities.
  • Tougher compliance standards for institutions recruiting students from overseas. Those who accept international students who then fail to pass our visa checks, enrol or complete their courses, could face losing their sponsor licence.
  • Raising financial maintenance requirements in line with domestic maintenance loans, so international students can prove their financial self-sufficiency.
  • Review English language assessments with the objective of standardising independent assessment. Students cannot learn if they do not understand their course materials.
  • Ensuring all overseas students are doing predominantly face-to-face courses with restrictions on remote delivery.

Is the government committed to its International Education Strategy and international students?

  • The government is not stopping international students from studying here but has taken action to address the rise in the number of dependants accompanying international students.
  • These measures are being taken to curb fraudulent activities, ensure only genuine students enter the visa system and hold institutions accountable for their recruitment process.
  • The UK Government’s International Education Strategy commits to hosting at least 600,000 international students in the UK per year by 2030 and the government has already met this ambition.

How is the government supporting universities?

  • The government continues to provide financial support of £6 billion per year to the higher education sector, plus more than £10 billion per year in tuition fee loans.
  • Universities are independent from government, and it is for them to decide on how best to manage their finances. Along with the Office for Students, the government will continue to monitor financial sustainability in the sector closely.

Why haven’t you closed the Graduate route?

  • The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) found no substantive evidence of abuse within the Graduate route. It did warn about the potential for International Education Agents (IEAs) to generate compliance risks in the system. The government will keep the Graduate route in its current form, subject to further review.

When will new measures announced in May take effect?

  •   The government will implement these changes in due course. . The new sponsorship standards will be in place for the start of the new academic year in September, and the new financial requirements for international students will be announced this summer.

  Will these new measures affect universities in the devolved nations?

  • Home office sponsorship and compliance requirements apply to all universities who sponsor international students in the UK.

Care Worker Visas

From 11 March, care workers can no longer bring dependants with them.. In the first full month that this measure had been in force, applications for Health & Care dependant visas fell by 58%, from 15,100 in April 2023 to 6,400 in April 2024.

Care providers sponsoring migrant workers in England are also now required to register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) – the industry regulator for Health and Social Care – in order to address concerns about non-compliance, worker exploitation and abuse within the sector of overseas workers.

Care Worker Dependants

Do these measures limit care workers?

  • The government is not stopping care workers coming here, just restricting their ability to bring dependants.

What is the government doing to recruit more domestic based care workers?

  • In January, the government introduced a series of measures including:
  • The launch of the Care Workforce Pathway: For the first time, there will be a national career structure for the adult social care workforce, covering the breadth and complexity of care.
  • Over £50 million of funding for a new level 2 Care Certificate qualification: This will support up to 37,000 individuals in direct adult social care roles to enrol on the new qualification between June 2024 and March 2025.
  • An investment of over £20 million for apprenticeships: Local authorities and adult social care providers will be able to use the money towards training and supervising hundreds of new social work and nurse apprentices.
  • Subsidised training places: An uplift to the Workforce Development Fund that will expand access to learning and development.
  • A new digital leadership qualification: This will help equip social care leaders and managers with the confidence and capability to lead the implementation and use of technology in the delivery of care.

Care Quality Commission Registration 

Have any care workers already here lost their jobs because their sponsor is not currently CQC registered?

  • Care providers who were sponsoring workers in exclusively non-regulated activities (and therefore not required to be registered with the CQC) before the rules changed will be able to continue to sponsor these workers, including for extensions to their visa on those terms.
  • Care providers will not be able to hire new workers for non-regulated activities.
  • Care workers who wish to work for another provider will therefore need to be offered a job with a provider which is regulated by the CQC.

How will this requirement address concerns of abuse and exploitation?

  • This will end the exploitation and abuse identified by the Migration Advisory Committee and National Care Association and ensure that those who come to the UK on this route genuinely provide care for those who need it.
  • Restricting route access to regulated employers contributes to ensuring non-care entities and agencies will not be able to access the route.
  • The government does not tolerate illegal activity in the labour market and any accusations of illegal employment practices are thoroughly looked into. Those found operating unlawfully may face prosecution and/or removal from the sponsorship register.
  • All sponsors must have an operating or trading presence in the UK and any organisation applying for a licence that has no operating or trading presence will be refused a licence. Similarly, any licence holder which ceases to operate or trade will have their licence revoked.
  • In March, in collaboration with Skills for Care, the government published the international recruitment toolkit for adult social care providers. This toolkit is a best practice guide to support providers to ethically recruit care workers and senior care workers from overseas.

Skilled Worker Visas and Immigration Salary List

From 4 April, the salary threshold for a Skilled Worker visa has risen by 48% to £38,700, ensuring businesses pay significantly more if they recruit from overseas.

The Shortage Occupation List has been replaced with a new Immigration Salary List and the 20% going-rate discount has been abolished. These measures will ensure employers can no longer pay migrants less than UK workers in shortage occupations.

Roles on the list are only included where they are skilled and in shortage., and if it is sensible to include them considering the efforts being made by sectors to invest in the resident workforce. Inclusion on the list must not serve to reduce pay and undermine the recruitment of British workers.

This follows the government introducing the £2.5 billion Back to Work Plan with the intention to support a further 1.1 million people who are long-term unemployed, long-term sick or disabled break down barriers to work.

  What specifically is the government doing to support British workers into work?

  • The government has introduced the £2.5 billion Back to Work Plan with the intention to support a further 1.1 million people who are long-term unemployed, long-term sick or disabled break down barriers to work.
  • In May, the government launched a nationwide campaign to increase the British workforce in conjunction with the Jobcentre Plus. The recruitment campaign encourages employers struggling with staffing shortages to use the services and solutions that local Jobcentres offer.
  • Led by the Department for Work and Pensions, a cross-government ministerial taskforce has been launched to develop new recruitment schemes in industries experiencing staffing shortages.

  Why was the salary threshold increased to 48%?

  • The increase is based on median UK salaries across eligible occupations.  Employers who are offering competitive pay will already be meeting the new threshold.
  • The government is not stopping businesses recruiting from overseas which is why salary discounts have been retained for PhD holders and new entrants to the labour market.

How is the new Immigration Salary List different to the Shortage Occupation List?

  • The new Immigration Salary List follows a Migration Advisory Committee recommendation to reform its predecessor which the government has accepted.
  • The 20% going-rate discount has been abolished so that employers can no longer pay migrants less than UK workers in shortage occupations.
  • The Migration Advisory Committee have reviewed which occupations should be included on the new list based on where there are shortages which cannot be filled through British workers in the short term, and which will retain a 20% general salary threshold discount.
  • Roles should only be included on the new list where they are skilled, where there is a shortage of suitable domestic workers available, and where it is sensible for immigration to be a part of the solution, at least in the short term, considering the efforts being made by sectors to invest in the resident workforce.

Family Visas

On 11 April, the minimum income required to sponsor someone coming to the UK on a family visa increased from £18,600 to £29,000 – an increase of more than 55%. By early 2025, this will have increased 2 more times, rising to £38,700 – to meet the new salary threshold for a Skilled Worker visa.

The government’s longstanding principle is that anyone bringing dependants to live in the UK must be able to financially support them. The minimum income requirement ensures that families are self-sufficient instead of relying on public funds, with the ability to integrate if they are to play a full part in British life.

How will it apply to those already here?

  • Those who already have a family visa within the five-year partner route, or who applied before the minimum income requirement was raised, will continue to have their applications assessed against the income requirement in place at the time of their initial application and will not be required to meet the increased threshold. This will also be the case for children seeking to join or accompany parents.
  • Anyone granted a fiancé visa before the minimum income threshold was raised will also be assessed against the income requirement in place at the time of their initial  application for a family visa within the five-year partner route.
  • Anyone applying for the first time after the new rules have taken effect will be required to meet the new requirement (or demonstrate exceptional circumstances).

Why did you pick £38,700?

  • The level is based on the median income for people in high skilled jobs and reflects the current salary threshold on the Skilled Worker visa route.

How can the applicant’s income be taken into account?

  • The sponsoring partner (i.e. the British person or UK settled person) and/or the applicant, only if the applicant is in the UK with permission to work, must have an income of £29,000 earned in the UK.
  • That means if a partner was already in the UK and working – for example because they were renewing their family visa or because they were already on a different kind of working visa – their income would be counted.

Will families be split up?

  • The family Immigration Rules contain a provision for exceptional circumstances where there would be unjustifiably harsh consequences for the applicant, their partner, a relevant child, or another family member if their application were to be refused. This would result in leave being granted on a ten year instead of a five-year route to settlement.
  • Further information can be found here - Family life and exceptional circumstances: caseworker guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Tags: legal migration , net migration , visas

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