Hi friends,

I am a PhD student, last year, from a 3rd world country. Due to an overall unfavorable situation here , I am finding it very hard to continue my research. Following are the issues this place has:-

Lack of Resources and Research Environment (funding and facilities)
Lack of Guidance (Hardly few people familiar with academic research)
Violence and bad law n Order situation (we barely get an average of 3.5 working days per week)

Combine the above with some poor made decisions from my side i.e. starting PhD here and relying too much on my own-self, I am considering to take an early release with an M.Phil. Now that sounds like fine since a lot of people, as I have heard, do that already. All i need is a smaller version of my planned thesis without any publication of my work. For PhD we need two publications here at-least, and that doesn't seem like happening for me since Govt./Ministry is not issuing anymore funds. I need them now more than ever because I have to produce critical results, but I can't.

As I have said above, I am happy with M.Phil. Its a great research degree. My dilemma is that I already have three degrees, BS, MSc, MS. I fear that with addition of M.Phil to this list my CV might give indications of a PhD failure and a degree collecting nerd. I am a very hard working student for local standards, all my previous degrees are with medals, but the present situation is beyond my control, so I am suffering bad. Each day for me is just frustration.

Please help me and suggest something. Should I take release with a M.Phil because that can happen for me within 50 days ? or should I give it more time to see if things get better ?

My supervisor is asking me to take a long leave, he thinks I am burning out and not thinking rationally. I am 26 years old and My field is Organic Synthesis Chemistry.