This policy sets out how PGR students can integrate their publications as chapters within their dissertation.
1. PGR students are strongly encouraged to publish their work, including prior to submission and examination. In some disciplines, it is accepted practice to include publications as chapters within the dissertation, while maintaining the dissertation as a coherent, single document. Students should discuss with their supervisors whether the inclusion of publications as chapters would be appropriate.
2. This policy relates to the inclusion of complete publications as individual chapters (i.e. one publication per chapter) within a dissertation. For example, these publications could be journal articles, conference proceedings or official reports, and may be already published, accepted for publication, submitted for publication, or in a format suitable for publication.
3. A substantial amount of the researched materials in the publications must derive from original research undertaken by the student during their period of study. The integration of publications as chapters is not the same as a doctoral degree by published work, which relies on publications completed prior to registration.
4. The student can be the sole or co-author of the publications. If any of the publications have been co-authored, there must be clarity on the contribution of the student, which must be substantial. The student’s contribution to any co-authored publication must be clearly stated.
5. Faculties and schools may have discipline-specific advice in place to complement this policy.
6. All dissertations must conform to the format required in the dissertation content and format regulations. Where there are publications included as chapters (referred to as ‘publication chapters’), the rules set out in this policy also apply.
7. The dissertation must be thematically coherent and structured so that it can be read as an integrated document, including a separate introduction, a full literature review, an extended discussion that provides clarity on how the chapters are integrated as a complete text, and a separate conclusion.
8. Throughout the dissertation, there must be consistent formatting with uninterrupted pagination, and a single, unified reference list.
9. The dissertation cannot just be a series of reprints of publications.
10. The dissertation can contain a mixture of publication chapters and conventional chapters, with the category of each chapter clearly identified and, for publication chapters, referenced.
11. Where there are multi-authored publications included in the dissertation, the student must acknowledge the role and contribution of the co-authors. This can be achieved, for example, through a short statement at the beginning of the relevant chapter.
12. All dissertations submitted for examination are subject to a plagiarism check normally through Turnitin. This check must include any integrated publication chapters because they form part of the dissertation. Appropriately acknowledged and referenced publication chapters will pass the check.
13. The integration of publication chapters within the dissertation is likely to lead to some duplication as each publication will have self-contained components that might overlap with other chapters. As a result, the overall word count can exceed the standard word limit for the degree, but this should be discussed with supervisors and should only be used to address where there is duplication.
14. The examination of dissertations with publication chapters must follow the standard PGR assessment regulations. The dissertation must be coherent, consistent, and comprehensive so that it demonstrates the student’s contribution clearly to the examiners. This policy does not set a requirement on the examiners to accept publication chapters, and they can decide that it is inappropriate and make a recommendation on that basis.
15. The inclusion of publication chapters does not of itself verify the quality or significance of the work in meeting the criteria for the award of a research degree. The outcome of the examination will be decided by the Research Degrees Examination Board in response to the recommendation of the examiners.
16. Authors should respect the terms of their publishing agreement. It is rare for publishers to prevent the incorporation of published material within a dissertation for examination purposes, but it might be necessary to redact any publisher-owned material from the final version of the dissertation before it is uploaded to Pure and made publicly available by the Library.
