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Thesis by Publication: Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences

Pagination  Inclusive pagination is to be used. 
Bibliography Partial: to cover general intro & integrated discussion papers and any other framing text.
Framing text   Where necessary, including expanded methodology if appropriate. A short introduction or commentary before each paper may be appropriate. Thesis should include a conclusion.
No. of papers No set number: The material presented for examination needs to equate to that which would otherwise be presented in the traditional thesis format. This remains a matter of professional judgement for the supervisor and candidate. Discipline-specific variations apply.
Photocopies Use PDF. Papers submitted for publication yet unpublished may be included in manuscript format.
% Authorship   Initiation, key ideas, development and writing up of each of the papers should be the primary responsibility of the candidate. Usually joint/ first author and at least 50%.
Declarations To be clearly specified & formatted according to MRGS templates. Co-author signatures necessary on all papers in all thesis copies except those in appendices. Rewritten, previously published papers require acknowledgement of others' contributions.
Faculty guidelines document available   No.
Status of papers   Papers must have at least been submitted for publication, though not necessarily accepted.
Other Appendix ok. List all papers published during candidature at front of thesis.

These guidelines should be read in addition to the University requirements for preparation of a thesis based or partially based on published or un-published work. See Handbook - chapter 7 and the MRGS Guidelines.

Number of Papers required

There is no set number of papers. The number should be appropriate to the research discipline and should equate to the research content of the “traditional” narrative style thesis. This remains a matter of professional judgement for the supervisor and candidate.

Overall the thesis must represent a sustained theme of research.

Candidate’s Contribution to Authorship

  • Essentially, the initiation, key ideas, development and writing up of each work should be the primary responsibility of the candidate. It is expected that papers submitted in a thesis would therefore have a substantial and significant contribution by the candidate (at least 50%). The candidate would therefore usually be first or joint first author.
  • Papers where the candidate has less than 50% contribution may be included if significant to the thesis but papers with minor contributions should be kept to a minimum or included as appendices.
  • If several papers result during candidature where the candidate has a minor contribution and where these relate to but are not vital to the argument of the thesis, these papers may be appended to the thesis.
  • A list of all papers published during candidature should be included at the front of the thesis.
  • Published papers that become the basis for thesis chapters in a revised and rewritten form, require acknowledgement of the contributions of others and references where appropriate to the original published paper.

Note: Candidates are strongly advised to arrange for the relevant authorship declaration form to be completed by contributing authors as soon as the paper is prepared or submitted for publication. This should facilitate the collation of authorship contribution when the thesis is ready for submission.

General Introduction

A general introduction should be included which covers the background and literature review of the overall research area, as well as hypotheses and aims.

Methodology (Materials and Methods)

Where methodology or a technique is critical or significant to the theme of the thesis it may be appropriate to include a fuller description than what may be included in a published paper.

Presentation of the Papers in the Bound Thesis

  • Photocopies of publications within the bound thesis should be avoided where possible. Portable Document Format (.pdf) files should be printed or alternatively, word documents. This may not be possible if the papers were produced some years ago. Although this is a stylistic issue, issues of presentation may detract from an otherwise good examiner's report
  • If papers are unpublished but have been submitted for publication the paper can be inserted in manuscript format.
  • It may be appropriate to include a short introduction or other commentary before each publication and therefore link the papers by paragraphs which introduce the themes/ideas. It is not acceptable to merely "slot" the papers into the thesis, they should ideally be "written in".

Thesis Pagination

The thesis should have inclusive pagination. Where copies of publications have their own pagination, these pages should also have pagination added that pertains to the thesis. This ensures that examiners can highlight the correct thesis pages(s) on which they are commenting

Integrative Discussion

The thesis should have an integrative discussion which ties everything together. This could be relatively brief and repeating discussion points from publications should be avoided.

Conclusion

The conclusion should include a synopsis of the original contribution the work has made to the knowledge and understanding of the area with which the thesis is concerned. It may include some indications of what the candidate sees as future directions for their particular research on the field. This may also be incorporated within the integrated discussion

References/ Bibliography

The thesis should have a consistent form of referencing with a thesis bibliography included at the back of the thesis. This should list in full the papers cited in the general introduction and integrated discussion (and any other "framing text"). The works cited in the inserted publications do not need to be included in the thesis bibliography unless these works are also cited in the framing text.