Is a Master's thesis considered 'published'?

Question

I'm currently applying for PhD positions in the US, having completed a Master's degree in Engineering in the UK and then working in Industry for the past 13 years. I'm a bit confused as to the extent to which (if at all) a Master's thesis is considered to be 'published'?

To my knowledge, my Master's thesis was not officially published on the University website. However, I have seen some cases where Master's theses at some institutions are available online from the affiliated institution's website. To what extent are these 'available online' Master's theses considered to be published?

If they are not considered published then, if someone completes a Master's thesis and publishes it online, but doesn't follow-up by publishing it in a journal (perhaps they don't go on to do a PhD), then what is to prevent another academic taking those results and publishing them as their own? Is that considered 'fair game' in academia?

The background to this on my side is that my Master's thesis was a very successful project and was received very well at the time by the faculty in the Engineering school I studied in. It probably could have been turned into a research paper; however, given that I made the decision to start a career in Industry, I didn't push to publish the results in an academic journal at the time.

More recently, I have come across a paper that was published a few years later by researchers I am not familiar with at another institution, which seems very similar to my Master's thesis (I'd say ~75-80% the same content). Now, I am not accusing them of plagiarism - it's quite possible they may have discovered the same thing independently. However, I am just wondering, in general, to what extent a Master's thesis posted online is considered to be 'published' and how it is perceived in Academia if someone was to 'plagiarize' a Master's thesis.

I guess a follow-on question relating to my situation is: how much of this (if any) should I mention in my applications for PhD programs?

Answer 1

To what extent are these 'available online' Master's theses considered to be published?

In academia, published typically means included in conference proceedings or a journal by a publisher in some format (typically a printed book) that has an ISBN. A thesis is not published, under that definition. Nonetheless, an unpublished thesis needn't be private, e.g., it may appear online and it may be available in university library.

what is to prevent another academic taking [someone's Master's thesis] and publishing them as their own? Is that considered 'fair game' in academia?

Such behaviour isn't prevented, but it would destroy a career, so it is uncommon.

to what extent a Master's thesis posted online is considered to be 'published' and how it is perceived in Academia if someone was to 'plagiarize' a Master's thesis.

Such a thesis isn't published, but that's not the main issue: Academic fraud is intolerable and fraudsters will suffer severe consequences.

how much of this (if any) should I mention in my applications for PhD programs?

I don't see any reason to mention any of it. Do you? (Perhaps add a comment if you do.)

Answer 2

Let me clarify that published may be a bit ambiguous. When your thesis is accepted and your degree is awarded, it becomes part of the university’s archives. A few decades ago that meant a dusty copy in the university library. Nowadays it’s a publicly available repository that anyone can access. So in that sense, yes: your thesis was made public and has undergone peer review by your advisor and committee.

This is usually considered less prestigious than having your results published in a reputable journal or conference but it makes the results no less yours. Taking them and publishing them as one’s own is gross academic misconduct that’d cause serious damage to one’s career if found out.

Independent discovery is common, especially if you didn’t publish your results in a high profile venue. So someone else coming up with similar findings shouldn’t surprise you too much (great minds etc.).

I would not mention this in the CV as it’s not an achievement you can reasonably claim (someone thinking of a similar idea and publishing it is hardly a feather in your cap).

That said, it may be worthwhile to mention it if the other paper turned out to be impactful or published in a well respected venue. In that case I’d say (in the research statement): my thesis was about X; interestingly, Smith et al have independently discovered my approach, and recently published the result in Nature. Their paper has since been cited 1423 times according to favorite metrics site and has given rise to a whole research field studying the effects of X.