Guidelines on the use of solely or jointly-authored publications within a thesis submission

The Graduate Board wishes to encourage all PGRs to publish their work and disseminate their results, either before or after submission of a thesis. The Board has considered the guidance which can be issued to PGRs and supervisors upon the situations when the use of published work within a thesis (which has been carried out during the course of the candidature) is relevant and acceptable to the University.

This guidance on this page applies to those PGRs who are submitting a monograph thesis and are not undertaking an alternative style of doctoral thesis submission including published material, and is intended to provide PGRs with further information on identifying the contribution of others to the work contained within the thesis.

This is especially important when chapters might have been based on jointly authored publications as the examiners will need to be able to clearly identify the work directly attributable to the PGR to determine whether there is a substantially original contribution by the PGR and whether this contribution is at the appropriate level to merit the award of the degree.

A collection of publications bound together is not an acceptable form of submission for a research degree thesis at the University of Leeds.

For the purpose of this page, the term ‘publication’ refers to anything submitted, under review or accepted for publication, as well as work already published.

Where the PGR is the sole, lead (the term 'lead' refers to the contribution of the PGR to the work, rather than the order in which the names of the authors appear on the publication), first or primary author on a publication the University will permit the use of the work contained within the publication which the PGR was directly responsible for authoring to form the basis for all or part of a chapter of the thesis. 

The PGR would not be expected to reproduce any aspect of a publication that was not their own written work or illustrations. However it is recognised that it may sometimes be necessary to include material which is work of another author for the PGR’s own part of the published work to make sense. The PGR would only be expected to include such work where absolutely necessary to support their own arguments, and in such cases the work must be clearly and explicitly cited as for any other paper or published work.

It is not acceptable to simply include the work, as published, to form a chapter of a thesis. In all cases the work must be reformatted and, if necessary, rewritten to ensure integration with the central arguments of the thesis so that it reads as a coherent whole. 

It is recognised that it will sometimes be necessary for sections of already published material to be included word for word in the thesis. This would be considered acceptable, as long as all normal practices of citation are followed. Instances of repetition should be removed as much as possible to ensure that the thesis is a coherent and readable piece of work.

Journal articles can be very restrictive in terms of length and it is expected that, where appropriate, the thesis will include a more in depth discussion of methods, results, etc than appeared in the original publication.

In all cases, the thesis is expected to conform to the norms within the discipline for the structure of a thesis, presentation of research, methods, results, etc and must also conform to the regulations for the format and presentation of theses for research degrees as published on the submit your thesis for examination page.

Where a PGR has used work from a solely or jointly authored publication to form part of a chapter of the thesis then they must also upload copies of the publications alongside the copy of the thesis submitted for examination to GRAD, to assist the examiners. Copies of publications should not be integrated/included in the thesis itself. Copies of publications are required alongside the thesis submitted for examination only. In the event of a successful examination, candidates are not required to supply copies of publications alongside the final eThesis and these must not be integrated into the eThesis.

Where a PGR has contributed work to a multi-authored publication and their contribution is not significant the work should not be used to form part of a chapter of a thesis. Where the PGR has not directly authored the work the University would not expect the PGR to replicate any aspect of the publication.

Where work, which has formed part of a solely or jointly authored publication, is to be included within a thesis (as outlined in the 'Advice to candidates' section of this page), PGRs must declare their intention to use this work on the appropriate section of the GRAD examination entry workflow. PGRs will be prompted to:

• confirm their intention to include work already published as part of a solely or jointly authored publication (where they have been the lead or primary author).
• confirm which chapters of the thesis will include work which has been published in solely or jointly authored publications with details of the publications (for example, title, authors, publication etc.).
• in the case of work from jointly authored publications, PGRs must provide an outline of their contribution to the paper and that of the other authors to the work. The PGR’s supervisor will be asked to check and review the information, including the statement of contributions, in their section of the examination entry workflow.

The information supplied in the GRAD examination entry workflow will be copied and included with the paperwork sent to the examiners with the thesis.

Where work which has formed part of jointly authored publications has been included in a thesis, the contribution of the PGR and others should be explicitly stated in all relevant sections of the thesis. Examiners will need to be able to clearly identify the work directly attributable to the PGR to determine whether there is a substantially original contribution to the subject concerned and whether the PGR’s own contribution is at the appropriate level to merit the award of the degree.

To assist the examiners in this process, PGRs must ensure that the following information is included within their thesis as set out in more detail on the submit your thesis for examination page.

• The appropriate statement is presented on page 2 of their thesis as follows:
  • The PGR confirms that the work submitted is their own, except where work which has formed part of jointly authored publications has been included.
  • The contribution of the PGR and the other authors to this work has been explicitly indicated.
  • The PGR confirms that appropriate credit has been given within the thesis where reference has been made to the work of others.
• Page 2 of the thesis must then be used to explicitly outline:
  • The details of which chapters within the thesis have been based on work from jointly authored publications and/or manuscripts.
  • Details of the jointly authored publications which have been used (for example, title, names of authors, publication/submission details etc).
  • Details of the work contained within these publications which is directly attributable to the PGR.
  • Details of the contributions of the other authors to the work (in the case of jointly authored publications).

PGRs should seek permission from copyright owners for any substantial third party content included in their thesis. Further information is available on the Library website for fair dealing and clearing copyright.

This model of submission is currently only available to PGRs registered in the Faculties of Environment, Engineering and Physical Sciences (former Engineering schools only), Biological Sciences, Medicine and Health and Arts, Humanities and Cultures. PGRs in these faculties who wish to consider this route to submission must first discuss this with their supervisory team.

This model of thesis can only be submitted where the supervisory team supports this format of submission and is satisfied it is appropriate and meets the protocol in place for that Faculty. Please consult the Faculty protocol (see the ‘Thesis submission and examination’ section of the postgraduate research policies and procedures page) for the submission of an alternative style of doctoral thesis including published material.

Under this protocol, published material can be included in the thesis without the need for the work to be rewritten and integrated into individual chapters of the thesis. PGRs are accepted for study under the normal arrangements and the existing supervisory, training, monitoring and transfer processes will all apply. This alternative style of doctoral thesis is subject to the same examination process as a traditional, chapter style thesis and assessed against the same criteria/learning outcomes including the volume and quality of original research.

It is recognised that this alternative style of doctoral thesis is not appropriate in all disciplines and that, in some subject areas, the traditional, chapter style of thesis will remain the expected format for the thesis. For this reason not all faculties offer this alternative format of submission. In faculties where an alternative style of doctoral thesis is not offered, any published material may be used to form a chapter of a thesis but must be rewritten and integrated within the thesis as a whole – in accordance with the guidance given on this page.

Author: Graduate Board Progression and Examinations Group (Doctoral College Operations).

Version 1.0: 2022/2023.