Predictors of Dissertation Publication in Clinical and Counseling Psychology

A doctoral dissertation constitutes a student's original research and a novel contribution to scientific knowledge. Yet, few psychology dissertations, particularly in professional subfields, are published in the peer-reviewed literature, and the reasons for this are unclear. The present study investigated student, advisor, and doctoral program variables that might predict dissertation publication in professional psychology. Using a stratified random cohort sample of 169 PhD dissertations in clinical and counseling psychology, we conducted exhaustive searches to determine whether dissertation studies were published in peer-reviewed journals within 0-7 years following their completion. Logistic regression models were estimated to test whether dissertation publication was predicted by student and advisor prior research productivity, dissertation length, and doctoral program's training emphasis, accreditation status, and subfield. Results indicated that dissertations that were supervised by more research-productive advisors and that were relatively brief (<180 pages) were significantly more likely to be published in peer-reviewed journals. No other predictors were significant. Results are discussed with regard to implications for training and mentorship. Faculty advisors who publish frequently might be more likely to attract research-oriented students, to mentor students in preparing a publishable dissertation, and/or to encourage students to publish their dissertation research. By systematically promoting research dissemination as part of doctoral research training, graduate programs and faculty mentors in clinical and counseling psychology could help facilitate students' sharing their dissertation findings with the scientific community. Public Significance Statement One part of becoming a clinical or counseling psychologist involves completing a doctoral dissertation, or an original research study aimed to fill a gap in scientific knowledge. Unfortunately, most of the knowledge gained by dissertation research is left to sit on the shelf rather than being shared with other scientists, professionals, and the public where it can more readily benefit society. Investigating several possible reasons why this is the case, the present study found that dissertation research is more likely to be published in peer-reviewed journals when the students writing those dissertations have research-productive mentors and when the documents themselves are not extremely long.