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I do have little research experience on "Web Security" and I made some inventions in that. I have patented my inventions and now when I was trying to apply for Masters by Research in Information Technology in some X University they are asking for Research Publications. I never came across them in my past and I don't know its importance. May anyone tell me

  1. Its role to the admissions committee.
  2. How important they are as compared to patents.
  3. How and where can I release my Research Publications?
  4. What format should I maintain while creating one?
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    Unless I'm getting the terminology wrong, when they ask about your research publications they mean has any existing publication published any papers by you. You can't self-publish in research (well, you can, but it won't really count for anything) - you need to publish somewhere respected, be peer-reviewed, etc.
    – Standback
    Commented Jul 5, 2012 at 16:35
  • On the other hand, to the best of my knowledge, research publications before beginning a Masters degree is fairly unusual. I think you'll be fine just writing that you don't have any existing research publications. Don't worry - by the end of your Masters, you will :P
    – Standback
    Commented Jul 5, 2012 at 16:36
  • Surely any official guidelines would be more accurate than asking a bunch of people on the internet. Does this university have any guidelines online? (Many do.)
    – Goodbye Stack Exchange
    Commented Jul 5, 2012 at 16:51
  • @Standback - Well, thanks for the info. But, the University asked me to publish my research asap so that they can provide me admission. In this regard can I write an essay (About my research) and submit it to IEEE? Is it that what exactly they need? Or they expecting something more? I was with that confusion what, how & where to publish.
    – Meutex
    Commented Jul 5, 2012 at 17:13
  • @NeilFein - Unfortunately, I cannot find any such guidelines in the University website. But when I contacted the people in that University they responded that my profile almost meets their requirement and all I lack is releasing some publications. So, they recommended to come up with them asap. So, any idea what I should do now?
    – Meutex
    Commented Jul 5, 2012 at 17:15

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I think the confusion may be coming from the degree title. It may be that the Master by Research is a masters degree based on existing ( or ongoing ) published research, which is possible, but implies existing published research.

Research Publications mean peer-reviewed and published research work, in a set of standard journals (in IT, the ACM is the worlds primary research publisher, with a whole lot of sub journals that you an get published in)

Depending on how you have submitted your application (and I would guess that English is not your first language, so there may have been some confusion), they might be assuming that you want to use existing work for your thesis, in which case, it needs to have been peer-review published. If it hasn't, then you are not expecting to use this, so you should make this clear.

Patents are academically worthless, because there is no evidence as such that they work - they are ideas and concepts, nothing more.

I would suggest that you play down your previous work to them, use it as an indication of interest, and nothing more. The academic community has a way of doing things, and an approach that you will need to change to fit in to. It is a whole lot more rigorous than the patents application, for good reason, because the purpose is the advancement of knowledge across the discipline.

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  • Thanks a lot for your answer. Now my doubt is, writing up an essay (of 10 pages) and submitting to IEEE (List of journals, magazines, documents, papers etc) will that be enough to fulfill admissions committee requirements? Else what do they need? where should I publish my research description?
    – Meutex
    Commented Jul 6, 2012 at 15:50
  • Find the relevant journal for your area. Read some of the articles. Make sure you fit, and then submit your article. You will need to get it accepted and published, then you will have a reference you can use. It can take weeks or months.
    – Schroedingers Cat
    Commented Jul 6, 2012 at 17:16

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