Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: At NordMedia Network, the digital platform for Nordic media researchers run by Nordicom, we have been publishing annual overviews of doctoral theses from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden since 2021. However, there are no comprehensive, up-to-date overviews of doctoral thesis production. Yet, understanding the trends and choices in PhD thesis production would be highly valuable for doctoral supervision, as well as for research funders and policymakers within academic publishing. This poster presents the key findings of a study that offers a field-specific analysis of PhD theses in media, journalism, and communication studies, focusing on doctoral dissertations from the Nordic countries during the five-year period 2019–2024. The study aims to provide an overview of the formats in which doctoral students in the post-normal sciences of media studies, communication studies, journalism studies, and related fields publish their research. The findings confirm a shift from monographs to article-based theses, with 52 percent of the theses of the sample being compilation theses. A notable increase in the use of English as the primary language was also observed, with Finland and Sweden showing the highest proportion of English-language dissertations. Additionally, despite policy commitments to open access publishing, 15 percent of the theses were not accessible online, with non-open access publishing being more common among those who wrote monographs. The poster briefly reflects on these results and concludes with recommendations for doctoral candidates, emphasizing the importance of integrating knowledge of academic publishing practices, accessibility, and public visibility into the supervision of PhD theses.
Author: Maarit Jaakkola
Institution: University of Gothenburg
Language: English
Subfield: General Health Professions
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4412526206