PhD by publication is usually an (unofficial, unadvertised) option in many UK/Australian universities. If you published four or five good papers, that would mor

PhD by publication is usually an (unofficial, unadvertised) option in many UK/Australian universities. If you published four or five good papers, that would more than fulfil the requirements for the degree (if the university technically requires you to write a thesis, at that point you just bind your four papers together and call it a thesis). At least in Australia, you need to begin a PhD before, or at least very close to, when you start working on this stuff. So if you go this route, make sure you talk to an interested professor+university before you go off for a few years and work on stuff. The reason being is that universities get a large award from the government when students complete a PhD, and so all of the work you publish has to be “part of” your degree - you can’t bring a large amount of work along from elsewhere.