Yes According to the regulations of Jiaotong University, the master's thesis must be distributed at least six months before the defense, that is, before your big thesis defense, your thesis must be published or hired, otherwise you can't participate in the defense or graduate. The publication of small papers takes a certain time, that is, six months to one year. If you don't publish a small paper, it means that you are not up to standard. Xi Jiaotong University, referred to as "Xi Jiaotong University", located in Xi, Shaanxi Province, is a comprehensive research-oriented national key university directly under the Ministry of Education of China.