Publishing an article despite the outcomes are not what we wanted

Question

For my master's thesis (6 months), I worked very hard for the project with the supervisor. I wrote all the codes everything by myself from scratch. However, the results we have now are not what we expected them to be, and are complicated to explain. My supervisor does not seem to be interested in this project anymore. I have verified the code and am confident the results are correct.

However, the supervisor does not want to continue working on this anymore and has not advised me on how to explain the results mathematically. He does not answer my queries and is not willing to meet me to discuss this any further. I am not sure what to do. I feel very agitated given that I spent 6 months on this work and that I cannot get a paper out of this.

Can I ask him if I can publish some results for which we have explanations in a journal or at least whether my master's thesis can be published in a journal? Also, can someone please suggest a journal that does not charge money from authors to publish?

I do not know how academia works. I do not have any immediate contact to whom I can ask how these things work. Nevertheless, I feel that I have worked hard on this and my work deserves to be published, rather than being stacked away on a shelf. Therefore, I cannot let it go.

Answer 1

Research is about contributing meaningfully to the field you are working in. Sometimes results are not what we expect, but they may still add to the knowledge pool in the field. Other times, results are not what we expect, but publishing these results does not contribute significantly to the field. In either case, researchers may have worked incredibly hard and spent months (or often, years) on their research.

You mentioned you are a master's student (I am assuming MA or MSc). Usually, at this stage, research projects or theses are not yet at a publishable level. For example, there may be explanations for your results that you do not have the skillset or knowledge to understand (yet) or your thesis will have to undergo major revisions (whether those are writing or methodological revisions - each of which can take months or even years) before it is publishable. Perhaps these things do not apply in your case and your thesis is indeed at a publishable level, but these things are important to consider if they have not crossed your mind!

I can understand your frustration, given that you have worked on your thesis for so long and seem to have put in a lot of effort. Bring this up with your advisor again and discuss with them whether publishing at least the results that you are able to explain well is sensible. If they still refuse, ask them for some feedback or why these results are not publishable - it might be that you are overlooking some details that they are able to identify.

As for your question about which journal to publish in: this would depend on your field and the topic of your thesis. One thing I would do as a student is look up where the articles I referred to for my thesis were published (provided that they were in the same field, had a similar topic or followed a similar methodology). Doing this can give you a fair idea of your options. Some journals have open-access or other fees.

Answer 2

Can I ask him if I can publish some results for which we have explanations in a journal or at least whether my master's thesis can be published in a journal?

Sure, you can ask him. But, based on your description, it sounds like he may either not answer, which would be a way of answering "no"; or he may explicitly answer "no". Prepare yourself for the possibility that this might happen, and accept that that does not mean he is a bad person or has bad intentions, but may simply mean that he genuinely does not think the results are interesting enough to be publishable.

I do not know how academia works. [...] Nevertheless, I feel that I have worked hard on this and my work deserves to be published, rather than being stacked away on a shelf. Therefore, I cannot let it go.

One of the ways in which academia works is that publishing is not a reward for hard work. The criterion for whether something can be published is whether it is new knowledge that interests people. Research projects — even ones that involve hard work — do not always lead to such knowledge. Sometimes you find new knowledge that doesn't interest people. Other times you may find knowledge that is interesting but turns out to be already known.

We have all worked hard on projects that didn't succeed, at least in the limited sense of not leading to results that are publishable. One has to be philosophical about such things, accepting that failure is a part of academic life. Alternatively, one can be philosophical in a different way, embracing the view that each project is a learning experience, teaching us interesting things and helping us grow to become better researchers and better and wiser humans. In that sense, there is no such thing as a "failure".

That is not to say that you are not justified in being disappointed about this outcome. Not all outcomes are created equal, and some are definitely better than others. But it is what it is. I hope you will find success (or more precisely, publishable results) with your next project.

Answer 3

You don't do research to prove a point. You do it to learn what is actually true, whether it is what you expected or not. If the methodology is valid then the results tell you something about the question you asked, and in physics, something about the world. Anomalous seeming results can actually lead to new research directions.

I don't know whether all of that is valid in your case, of course.

You, along with others considered authors, can certainly submit a paper to a reputable journal. You may or may not be able to do so alone, depending on the contributions of others, including your advisor. If you do submit, you will get feedback from reviewers at the journal on the quality of the research.

Yes, you can ask the advisor about publication. It might be required to do so if they can be considered a co-author. It would be nice if they agree, but if not, you should get a reason why not.

Caveat: Yes, some people do in fact do "research" to prove a point. But that isn't really valid, especially when the "methodology" is biased toward a given result. If you know the answer before you start then there is really nothing to research.

Answer 4

As noted, you can ask. When you ask and what you do with the answer could also be important. As you seem to be getting a master's degree out of it, I'd suggest waiting until after it is awarded before doing anything that might tick him off. That the results were not what your professor expected suggests that they are noteworthy. If he says no, explicitly or otherwise, you might or might not try to publish anyway. If you do, it might be an advantage to already have your degree. You should almost certainly mention the professor in the paper, but I'd balk at listing him as co-author. Regardless of what you tell him, the editor might regard him as the author with whom to communicate. Also, the professor, even if he does not try to stop publication, might not want to be listed as co-author. If he does not want to be mentioned at all, honor that.