Of course a major drawback of this model is that it discriminates against independent researchers who work outside a university department. I'm in that situation, and would much rather pay a much more modest one-off fee to download an article I'm interested in reading than pay 1000 Euros to have my article published.

No idea. Ask your supervisor?

Ah thanks Wally for that information :)

You should not have to pay anything. That sounds like a scam/not-good-journal to me.

I have 550 footnotes. Each footnote can have one or more references in it. Some have many many.

Based on m own experience I definitely think it's something you can work on. My supervisor had huge problems with my writing style when I started to write PhD chapters, even though I'd sailed through the Masters and no problems had shown up then. I had to work very very hard to deal with his criticisms and overcome them, but I managed it, and got my PhD. And I didn't have to rewrite anything of substance after my viva, just fix tiny typos.

I thanked both of my supervisors in the first sentence of my page full of acknowledgements:

"I would like to thank both of my supervisors Mr Happy and Mr Jelly for their support throughout the many years of a part-time PhD, keeping me going when times were tough, asking insightful questions, and offering invaluable advice."

I walked away from a full-time PhD in 1996. It was the hardest decision I ever made, but once I made it I knew it was right. I was part-way through a fully funded PhD, but had fallen long-term ill. I didn't realise how seriously then, but I knew I couldn't complete the PhD, and going part-time wasn't an option. So I left.

It was very very painful. I grieved for that lost PhD. To complicate matters my husband was continuing with his, in the same department, and he completed it. I was very proud of him, but also found it hard to cope with at the same time.

Because of the illness I wasn't able to work, so CV/resume wasn't a concern. But I did have to declare my lost PhD when I reapplied for part-time postgraduate study years later. And I was totally up front about it, even with the funding council (opposite discipline from before) who might have restricted my funding the second-time around, but didn't.

I wish you luck, but to be honest if you're 4.5 years through and it's a question of you getting on with it I'd try to stick with it. I had no choice but to quit. You're nearly there. What have you left to do? Writing up? Could you manage that at a distance? Could you take a bit more of a break then try to get back into it again? Give it one last shot?

But if it is time to leave you'll know it, and it won't matter what anyone else says.

Good luck!

It varies hugely by many factors. In my field, humanities, the UK funding council AHRC generally award grants to about 1 in 5 of applicants. So very slim chances of getting anything. And that's, pretty much, the only source of funding for humanities students, short of self-funding.

In my experience science PhD awards can be much easier to get, because science PhD places are funded in much greater numbers. This is based on my past life as a science PhD student, and my own experience and those of many others.

But it's probably impossible to put a figure on your chances.

Age shouldn't be an issue. There were lots of older students taking the Masters course that I did, and all got on well with the younger students, and everyone was on an even-footing.

Then again most people didn't have to stay on campus. I studied at the large university in the city where I live, and some of the students were part-time, often juggling study alongside work.

But don't worry about fitting in. And have a great time!

No-one with any reasonable knowledge about PhDs (i.e. people in academia) would consider these phony PhDs to be real ones. So don't stress about it. Do your best in yours and be proud of it.

And the other thing I'd say is you need to find a working pattern that works for you. It's no good hoping that things will get better, and you'll get back to the PhD in future. You need to get back to it now, and keep going, in a sustained steady marathon-style way.

I wasn't working, but I was very seriously ill and knocked out for most of the time, sleeping for up to 17+ hours every single day, and like a zombie for much of the rest of the time due to brain damage. I'd manage an odd hour on the PhD in the evening here and there, between 8 and 9pm. Nothing at weekends. If I was lucky I'd manage 5 hours total a week. But not always. And I completed.

You also have to get really good at using your time efficiently. So, for example, if you can't have a 5 hour stint you have to learn how to get going in much shorter periods. And saying no to lots of things that won't help you complete the PhD thesis.