Perceptions of Doctoral Students: Satisfaction, Difficulties, Gained Skills and Performance in Publishing in Academic Journals

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the perceptions of doctoral students about the content of doctoral programs, faculty and doctoral field. It was also aimed at determining the indicators that affect doctoral students' performance in getting published in academic journals. For this purpose, 1367 doctoral students from 15 different universities were administered a "Doctoral Education Evaluation Survey" face-to-face and online. Principal component analysis revealed 4 factors. The majority of doctoral students at the course stage are satisfied with the content of the doctoral program, the faculty members and the doctoral field. As the students' awareness increases over time, their complaints increase. The dissatisfaction of doctoral students reaches the highest level, at the proficiency stage. Furthermore, from the second year on, there is a decline in the satisfaction of doctoral students with the content of the doctoral programs, with the faculty members and the opportunities offered by the doctoral field, to a statistically significant extent. Especially those working in the social sciences complain that research methods are not taught enough. Binary logistic regression was applied to determine the indicators affecting the publication performance of the doctoral students in academic journals. The participation of doctoral students in international academic symposiums emerged as the most important indicator. The other predictive variables are doctoral students' participation in a project, working as a research assistant at the university, and completion of the course stage. Encouraging the participation of doctoral students in academic congresses with their advisors or their colleagues will contribute to increasing their publication performance.