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I have contacted a professor at a prestigious university. They mention they'd be glad to have me as a PhD student, if some funding gets approved.

However, to complete the PhD program I am expected by them to publish three times in good journals. This to me seems quite a lot, possibly meaning staying in the PhD program for well over the canonical 4 years, say, 5 or 6. There is no departmental rule on this.

Is it commonplace and advisable to negotiate the number of publications to e.g. 2 good journal papers? If so, do you have any tips on how to achieve this?

I expect the answer to be quite negative, also because at such university there will surely be another candidate willing to take my place and commit to 3 journal publications. Don't get me wrong, I am very enthusiastic about starting my doctorate but I need also to look at the medium term and to avoid dropping out because of too much pressure.

I am in Switzerland and in a STEM field.

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    These things aren't typically negotiable, especially not ahead of time, but they are really, really stupid policies. They encourage publishing in predatory journals, fabricating results, and salami slicing, and leave your graduation timeline up to editors and reviewers who cannot be expected to prioritize your graduation. Rather than negotiation, you could ask whether there is any typical flexibility in this rule (e.g., submitted papers count or some papers can 'count' for 2), and if not go somewhere else that has spent effort thinking about students and the implications of their policies.
    – Bryan Krause ♦
    Commented Jul 28, 2023 at 14:01
  • @BryanKrauseisonstrike Except that I would need to publish in good journals, not predatory ones :-) Thank you for your comment
    – Lilla
    Commented Jul 28, 2023 at 14:03
  • There isn't necessarily a red line between them, and it's common that journals once considered reputable are eventually seen as less than.
    – Bryan Krause ♦
    Commented Jul 28, 2023 at 14:11
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    You'll also see questions posted here by students dealing with the problem that their advisor wants them to publish their paper in Science and is willing to wait years passing the paper among journals of gradually decreasing stature, trying to get a high-profile paper for themselves, while their student just needs the paper to be published somewhere to graduate. A reasonable graduate program would see that the work already done to get something publishable is worth allowing graduation, let the thesis committee judge quality, and let the publishing process take place on its own timeline.
    – Bryan Krause ♦
    Commented Jul 28, 2023 at 14:31
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    While asking the students to publish X papers in journals does not seem the best approach to me for a supervisor (one big impactful paper can take longer and be worth more than 3 papers in top journals), your question basically boils down to "How can I do less than my supervisor expects for my PhD".
    – Nick S
    Commented Jul 28, 2023 at 16:48

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Unless you have some evidence that this professor treats others differently, you probably have no basis for complaint. In those fields in which a "dissertation" is a set of published papers, three seems to be about the right number to expect.

Even asking might have negative consequences. What do you have to offer in a "negotiation"?

If you are in the third or fourth year of such a program and the third publication isn't imminent, then you might be able to talk about it with the professor, but it seems unlikely you will find success initially if this is their established standard, never mind the lack of department rules.

I suspect that if you look elsewhere you will probably find the same thing, and even if you are allowed to "get by" with only two it is impossible to predict how it will go in advance of starting the research.

The flip side, of course, is that high standards will actually benefit your career if you meet them.

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Is it commonplace and advisable to negotiate the number of publications to e.g. 2 good journal papers? If so, do you have any tips on how to achieve this?

I've never heard of anyone negotiating beforehand. However, it might be worth checking with current students if this is a hard graduation requirement or a guideline. In my department, incoming students are also told that they will need 3 papers. The actual number that graduating students have seems to vary from zero to 6+, depending on the situation and subfield. That being said, if even it if it isn't a hard requirement, it sounds like you'd still be expected to put in an amount of work that should suffice to produce 3 good publications. (Which seems appropriate for a 4 year PhD after a Masters').

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