One must be proficient in research methodologies including qualitative and quantitative techniques. Research should also bring out something new so that other researchers could further explore findings of that research paper. If research is substantive it can find place in research journals. I have not done PhD but got my work published in research journals. You can also publish your work open source using SSRN, Research Gate and Academia (dot) edu.
You can find good resources on American Library Association website. It provides material on statistical methodologies, research writing and many other useful things there. It took me one year to produce first paper and initially I published open source through SSRN. You can submit your paper to various reputed journals on SSRN.
