Doctoral Candidates - Including Publications in a Thesis Guidelines (2011/2016 PhD Statutes/General Regulations only)

These guidelines apply to PhD candidates governed by a PhD Statute other than that which came into effect on 1 October 2020, and to MD and DClinPsy candidates governed by the 2016 General Regulations for Named Doctorates. All other PhD, MD and DClinPsy candidates should consult the Doctoral Thesis Policy and Procedures.

The 2011 PhD Statute, the 2016 PhD Statute, the DClinPsy regulations and the MD regulations allow doctoral candidates to include publications as part of their theses. There is no requirement that candidates must include any publications in their theses.

Revisions to published work

Candidates are not required to include a publication in its entirety, and may choose to enhance or update it prior to inclusion in the thesis

Number of publications

• There is no requirement as to the number of publications that can be included in a thesis
• It is recommended that candidates discuss disciplinary norms and expectations with their supervisor/s
  

Co-authorship

• Co-authored papers may be included if the candidate was the lead author
  

Publication rights

• Candidates are encouraged to seek the publisher’s permission to include a work in their thesis at the time the work is accepted for publication
• If the publisher does not agree to this, candidates may wish to withdraw their work from consideration, and submit it to a publisher that allows publications to be included in theses
• The publisher’s agreement is not usually needed if a candidate reports their contribution to a published work with due reference to the published paper, but does not include the work in their thesis
• There is no requirement as to the ranking of the journal in which the candidate’s work appeared

Formatting

• The graphical elements of published articles such as diagrams, tables and photographs may be included provided the reproduction of these is of an acceptable quality
  

Examination

• Candidates should be aware that the inclusion of one or more publications in a thesis does not alter the University’s examination processes. The thesis is examined as a whole and examiners are therefore at liberty to disagree with the findings in a published paper and require revision to those parts of the thesis consisting of previously published work.

The following definitions apply to this document:

Doctoral candidates are candidates who are enrolled in a doctoral degree at the University.

Lead author means the candidate must have written all or the majority of the text and must have their contribution to the publication confirmed by all co-authors as no less than 65%.

Publications include any work that has appeared in a journal, book or other publication, and any work submitted or accepted for publication but which had not appeared at the time of submission of the thesis. Publications include ‘traditional’ hard copy works, such as books and journal articles, and works that only appear in digital form.

University means Waipapa Taumata Rau, the University of Auckland and includes all subsidiaries.

Include the following:

• PhD Statutes
• MD regulations
• DClinPsy regulations
• Doctoral Candidates – Including Publications in a Thesis Policy and Procedures
• Co-Authorship Form

Owner: Dean of Graduate Studies
Content manager: School of Graduate Studies
Approved by: Board of Graduate Studies, Senate and Council
Approval date: 19 September 2022
Review date: 19 September 2027