General considations
Within the Australian university system, universities do not require students to publish research papers to meet graduation requirements. In other countries, however, many degrees, especially doctorates, have strict requirements on the number of papers and types of journals you are required to publish, e.g. Taiwanese university system. This also varies among schools within universities. Therefore, you should discuss with your supervisor about the publication criteria you must meet to graduate from your degree.
Publishing research papers from your Ph.D., including throughout your candidature, will boost your research profile and increase your chances of employment post Ph.D. Publishing research papers requires a balance between aiming to reach a wide and diverse readership and publishing high quality research in top tier journals. This implies the balance between the quality and quantity of research papers you publish will affect your research profile, especially as an early career researcher looking to remain or thrive in academia.
Practical example for Life Sciences
Journals in the life sciences are receptive to and encourage early career researchers, including graduate students, to publish papers. Journals have no bias toward the stage of your career when considering your paper for publication. Therefore, publishing paper during your graduate studies is an effective strategy for boosting your research profile at its early stages.
Practical example for Social Sciences
Your publication track-record is one of the primary metrics used to judge your Ph.D. success but future employers in the research domain. Similarly, for those aiming to pursue a clinically-focussed career, publications in clinical journals can improve employability because they provide peer-reviewed evidence of the applicant’s research acumen.