Fiction: It was the late 1990s, and Dr. Aisha Khan had just completed her PhD in biochemistry at a prestigious university in the United States. She had worked tirelessly for years on her thesis, conducting experiments and analyzing data in the hopes of uncovering something new and groundbreaking in the field of gene regulation.
But after completing her thesis, Dr. Khan struggled to find a publisher who was interested in her work. Her findings were interesting, but they didn’t seem to fit neatly into any of the existing theories about gene regulation. Despite her best efforts, Dr. Khan was forced to put her work aside and move on to other projects.
Years went by, and Dr. Khan became a respected researcher in her field. She worked on a number of high-profile projects and made important contributions to our understanding of gene expression and regulation. But she never forgot about her unpublished thesis, and she always wondered if there was something more to be found in her data.
Finally, in 2010, Dr. Khan decided to revisit her thesis. She dug through her old lab notebooks and data files, reanalyzing everything with fresh eyes. And to her amazement, she began to see patterns emerging that she had never noticed before.
As she dug deeper, Dr. Khan realized that she had made a groundbreaking discovery – a new mechanism for gene regulation that had never been seen before. She spent the next few years conducting further experiments and gathering more data to support her findings.
In 2015, Dr. Khan published her discovery in a leading scientific journal, causing a sensation in the field of biochemistry. Her findings challenged many of the existing theories about gene regulation and opened up new avenues for research.
Today, Dr. Khan is widely regarded as one of the leading experts in gene regulation, and her work has led to a deeper understanding of how genes are turned on and off in cells. And it all started with an unpublished thesis that she refused to give up on – a testament to the importance of persistence and the value of scientific curiosity.
It is difficult to provide accurate data on unpublished theses as there is no central database or registry for unpublished theses. Additionally, some universities may allow students to opt-out of making their theses publicly available, making it harder to track these works.
However, there are some estimates that suggest a significant portion of theses are never published. For example, a 2010 study by the UK’s Higher Education Funding Council for England found that around one-third of PhD theses in the UK were not published. Similarly, a survey of US doctoral programs by the Council of Graduate Schools found that between 20-25% of doctoral students in the sciences and engineering disciplines did not publish their dissertations, while this figure was slightly higher at 30-35% for students in the humanities and social sciences.
It is worth noting that there are various reasons why a thesis may not be published, including lack of interest from publishers or the author, or the thesis being considered incomplete or of insufficient quality for publication. However, unpublished theses can still be valuable sources of information and can be accessed through university libraries or by contacting the author directly.
A spiritual Ishmaelite 