LAUSR

Abstract Scholarly publication remains an indication that doctoral students have successfully joined their field’s dialogue—that they are doing the work of scholars, which is critical to their career progression in academia and important in other contexts, as well. Yet, how best to support and instruct doctoral students in writing for scholarly publication continues to be debated, particularly in relation to online students. As such, this qualitative archival analysis of online interdisciplinary leadership doctoral students’ discussion boards from three course sections of an elective course on writing for scholarly publication uncovered behavioral and emotional barriers that inhibited students’ progression toward scholarly publication. Its aim was to discover best practices for easing and quickening doctoral students’ paths to scholarly publication. Findings resulted in the creation of a grounded theory that took a comprehensive vantage point of the issue and offered practicable tenets for programmatic implementation.