🎓 How Zauresh Defended Her PhD Thesis with 2 Scopus-Indexed Articles—and Did It 6 Weeks Before the Deadline.
* The client's name has been changed to protect her privacy.
Zauresh, a PhD candidate in «Economics and Management,» received a research grant from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The grant contract required two publications in Scopus for official reporting. At the same time, those same articles were also needed for the PhD defense—they fulfilled both requirements simultaneously: the grant reporting requirements and the publication requirements for the defense. But at first, this didn’t seem like an opportunity; it felt like a double burden.
After an initial review of the materials, the situation was as follows:
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30% instances of plagiarism in the manuscript;
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33% AI detection during verification;
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None of the articles met the requirements of the target journals;
⚠️ Zauresh didn’t understand what a percentile, a quartile, or APC were, or how the peer-review process even worked. «I wrote to you in a panic—not knowing if it was even possible to get anything done in such a short time.».
What We Did—Step by Step
- Step 1. Strategy and Assessment (Week 1)
A comprehensive manuscript audit: identifying instances of plagiarism, locating AI-generated passages, and suggesting corrections. Selection of two Scopus Q2 journals with optimal percentiles and realistic review timelines. They explained in advance which documents are needed to pay the APC through the grant accounting department—so there would be no surprises later.
- Step 2. Preparing both articles simultaneously (months 1–2)
Text editing: plagiarism and AI—brought up to standard. Both articles were prepared at the same time, not one after the other. Submitted to two journals. «I thought I’d have to do them one after the other—first one, then the other. But you just went ahead and did everything at the same time.».
- Step 3. Support Through Peer Review (Months 3–8)
This is the longest and most nerve-wracking stage—and it’s exactly where most applicants fall short. Zauresh didn’t fall short because we went over every letter from the editorial board together. Responses to reviewers were prepared competently, without panic. Minor revisions were thoroughly addressed and submitted on time. Final proofreading before publication.
- Step 4. Results and Closing of Claims
Both articles have been accepted and published online in a Scopus Q2 journal (68th percentile). The grant reporting to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan has been officially completed. The publication requirements for the PhD defense have been met. My Hirsch index increased from 4 to 5 during the course of this work. The defense went smoothly—all requirements were met well in advance.
✅ 2 articles — Scopus Q2, 68th percentile
✅ Plagiarism and AI — It's Okay
✅ Grant reporting to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan — closed
✅ Requirements for the PhD defense — met
✅ Hirsch Index — 4 → 5
✅ Deadline — closed 6 weeks before the defense
✅ PhD — defended
Qalam AI will show you in just a few minutes:
the level of plagiarism and AI in your text, whether your work meets Scopus requirements, and where to start in your specific situation
📥 Zauresh: «Good afternoon 🙂 I just wanted to say a huge thank you. Yesterday I received confirmation that my second article in Scopus has been accepted and is already online…»
⚡️Article Academy: «Congratulations!! 🎉 That's really great news… without that, none of this would have been possible 💪»
📥 Zauresh: «When I first saw those 30% plagiarism cases and 33% AI issues, I thought, »That's it, it's over...' It's a good thing you resolved it so quickly..."
⚡️Article Academy: «We know how that feels 😊 But the main thing is—we got it done… We're happy to help—feel free to reach out!»
📥 Zauresh: «Thank you so much. I really mean it 🧡»
💡 Article Academy | a-articles.kz
*The client's name has been changed to protect her privacy
