Should I publish "piecemeal"?

What does publishing piecemeal refer to?

You have collected large amounts of data from a single research study. Or your thesis or dissertation includes several theoretical or critical aspects. Should you publish everything in one journal article? Or should you divide up your work into several journal articles?

What are the advantages of publishing everything in one journal article?

Many smaller studies or theoretical papers can be described in one article

A comprehensive article is more likely to be cited and have greater impact

Piecemeal publications may give the false impression that the study was replicated, or that each article describes an independent data set

What are the disadvantages of publishing everything in one journal article?

Many academic journals have strict word or page limits, which means you may need to omit aspects of your results or conclusions

If your study or theoretical piece has multiple aims, it may be confusing to describe everything in one article

If your study is longitudinal, it doesn’t make sense to wait until the follow-up data are available, which may be several years in the future

In sum:

Consult with your co-authors and other colleagues about the feasibility of publishing piecemeal.

If publishing piecemeal, it is important to mention that your current results are part of a larger project. That is usually described in the Methods section.