Queen's University Belfast has introduced a new thesis model, Thesis With Publications (TWP).
The model is an alternative to the traditional monograph-style submission and allows a PhD, MD, Professional Doctorate, Integrated PhD, or MPhil student to present a thesis which incorporates publications that they have authored or co-authored during their registration on their current programme of study as an RDP student at the University.
The materials acceptable for inclusion are those:
Publications should be suitable for submission to externally refereed contexts such as scholarly or scientific journals and conference proceedings and should reflect the quantity, quality and originality of research and analysis expected of a student submitting a standard monograph thesis. Please see the University guidelines for further information on this new thesis model.
Please contact the E-thesis team for copyright-related queries concerning your submission of a Thesis With Publications to the University repository.
This guidance specifically refers to the e-thesis that will be deposited into the University’s Research Repository (Pure) rather than the examination version.This thesis will include material that has already been published, and we need to know how we can hold it compliantly in our University repository.
Copyright and permissions
When you publish a piece of work with a commercial publisher it is likely that you will sign some type of publication agreement. Copyright for published material will usually be held by the publisher or authors. The doctoral researcher is responsible for obtaining the necessary permission from the copyright owners to include the material in the thesis.
Please check with the publisher and/or any copyright holders to ascertain which version of an article or book chapter is permitted to be included in the e-thesis.
The version is usually either the Author-accepted Manuscript (AM) or the Final Published Version FPV (journal-formatted). For guidance versions please contact the E-thesis team.
For co-authored papers included in the thesis, permission should be sought from co-authors, as well as the publisher, if appropriate. Even if the copyright has been transferred to the publisher, it is good academic practice to make all contributors aware that the paper is going to be included in a thesis, although it is not necessary in copyright terms.
Students submitting to this thesis model are responsible for obtaining the necessary permission from the copyright owners to include the material in the thesis and to collect approvals (or evidence of seeking approval), which may be requested as supporting evidence.
Depending on how your work has been published, there may be some instances whereby you will need to contact your publisher to request permission to use the published work in your thesis. Please contact E-Thesis team for queries on how to use your published work in your thesis.
Below is an exmaple of a letter which requests permission to use copyrighted work.
Dear [Publisher],
I am a doctoral researcher at Queen’s University Belfast, writing my PhD thesis by an alternative format. I am the author of the following article(s) published by you and would like permission to include them in my e-thesis:
[Insert complete reference for the work/s].
The e-thesis will be made publicly available on Queen's University’s research repository this is a non-commercial institutional repository for the research produced at Queen's University Belfast. All works will be appropriately referenced within the thesis. Can you please let me know if it is possible to reproduce these articles this way and if any conditions are associated with their reuse?
***The doctoral researcher must keep a copy of the response granting this request***
The version is usually either the Author-accepted Manuscript (AM) or the Final Published Version FPV (journal-formatted).
For guidance versions, please contact the E-thesis team.
For co-authored papers included in the thesis, permission should be sought from co-authors, as well as the publisher, if appropriate. Even if the copyright has been transferred to the publisher, it is good academic practice to make all contributors aware that the paper is going to be included in a thesis, although it is not necessary in copyright terms.
You can include co-authored papers in an alternative format thesis submission, including those written alongside another doctoral researcher but the substantial part must be your original work and it is expected that you will be the first author on the submitted/published papers – please check this with your supervisors.
In your introductory chapter, you need to clearly outline what major contribution you made to all aspects of the work: data collection and analysis, writing of the paper, etc. See wording example below:
'This study was conceived by all of the authors. I carried out [description of student’s contribution].'
Where a piece of work contains third-party copyright material and its use is not permitted via Fair dealing an author must obtain permission for its publication. This includes a thesis, which will be available on the Internet via the University’s Research Repository.
If the student is unable to obtain permission for the use of substantial copyright material, then we can apply an indefinite moratorium on the thesis.
Where a student is unable to obtain permission for the use of a limited range of copyright material, then the electronic copy of the thesis can be submitted in two versions: a full version with a moratorium on publication and a second version without the third-party copyright material (maintaining the original pagination) which will be placed on the Research Repository.
Please contact the E-Thesis team for any queries relating to third-party copyright and how it can be managed within your Thesis With Publications.