thesis as a collection of papers

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Open Access: Theses as a Collection of Papers: Copyright

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Theses as a Collection of Papers: Copyright

Copyright & Permissions

In some cases UCD allows PhD students to submit their thesis as a collection of previously published papers. This is known as "Thesis as a Collection of Papers," a "Cumulative Thesis," or a "Thesis by Publication." University guidelines on how this should be approached are available here .

Publishing agreements may involve copyright transfer or exclusive licence to publish. These terms determine how you and others can reuse and share your publications.

Publishers usually permit either the author's final version of the paper (Author’s Accepted Manuscript, AAM) or the published version, to be included in your thesis. The AAM has been peer-reviewed and revised into its final form by you. It does not contain the publisher's formatting or logo as in the final published version.

It is essential that you have permission to share all published papers in your thesis freely online, prior to thesis submission. This is because UCD makes all PhD theses available via Research Repository UCD .

Getting Permission

Permission before article publication.

Before submitting your article for publication, you can check the “Information for Authors" section on the publishers' website. Publishers may have a policy to allow authors include published papers as part of their PhD thesis. They may say something like “Authors can include their articles in full or in part in a thesis or dissertation for non-commercial purposes.”

If this is not clear, contact the publisher or editor of the journal to discuss inclusion of the published paper in your PhD thesis.

Rights Retention

Plan S, a coalition of funders have developed a " Rights Retention Strategy ." Your research may be funded by one of these organisations. The aim of the strategy is to ensure authors retain the copyright of their own work, and are allowed to make at least the AAM available via Open Access immediately on publication, with a CC-BY license.

If your funder requires plan S compliance, the "pre-submission letter" and the "submission cover letter" templates are available to use (see below). These can be sent to the publisher prior to submitting your work and when submitting it. More details of Plan S and rights retention are available here .

Permission after article publication

For previously published papers, look at the copyright transfer agreements under “Rights Retention.” You may also need to check the publishers' website to see if re-use is permitted. Do this for each paper.

In cases where this information is not available, contact the publisher or editor directly to get permission. Many publishers allow you to use the Rightslink service to get permission. Alternatively use the copyright request template below.

Note: if you are having any difficulties gaining permission, ensure you alert the Graduate Research Board as soon as possible.

A publisher may only allow you to include the paper with an embargo period. This means there will be a set period, after which the material can be made freely available online. An embargo can be set up by applying to the Graduate Research Board (GRB). Full details are available here .

After thesis submission, only the title, author, and basic details of your thesis will appear in the repository until the embargo expires. After this, the full text of your thesis will be available.

Copyright Request Template PhD Published Papers
Rights Retention pre-submission letter template
Rights Retention submission cover letter template

University College London (2024) Guidance on incorporating published work in your thesis . Available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/doctoral-school/rights-and-responsibilities/research-integrity-and-ethics/guidance-incorporating-published-work-your . University of Limerick (2024) Thesis Preparation: Copyright . Available at: https://libguides.ul.ie/c.php?g=681741&p=4918262 . University of Strathclyde (2024) Copyright & Your Thesis: Using Your Own Published Work in Your Thesis . Available at: https://guides.lib.strath.ac.uk/c.php?g=677408&p=4827028 .

<< Previous: OA News & Developments
Last Updated: Aug 7, 2024 5:16 PM
URL: https://libguides.ucd.ie/openaccess

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PhD thesis types: Monograph and collection of articles

Starting PhD students often face a difficult choice. They have to decide whether they want to write their dissertation in the form of a monograph, or as a collection of journal articles. Some universities have strict requirements, not leaving a choice. But most offer both options. The decision is left to students and their supervisors and requires careful consideration.

Advantages of writing a monograph

Disadvantages of writing a monograph, advantages of a cumulative dissertation, disadvantages of a cumulative dissertation, checklist before deciding on a monograph or an article-based phd, writing a thesis as a monograph.

A monograph is a detailed study in one piece. Think of a book.

A monograph resembles an academic book. It typically has an introductory chapter, a methodology chapter, and a literature review chapter. Then, the empirical results of the PhD study are presented in several chapters of analysis. The final discussion and conclusion chapter wraps up the study.

A monograph is generally the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about a PhD thesis.

In some countries, monographs are still the norm. In others, theses based on academic articles are becoming increasingly popular.

Writing a coherent thesis is easier: You can edit all chapters of your thesis until your submission deadline.
You can write very detailed empirical analyses. In contrast, many journals have word limits for their articles.
You gain valuable skills in writing and editing long (academic) texts. When you finish your PhD, you can even try to publish your monograph as a book.
You are never done. If you change something in Chapter 5, you might have to adjust Chapter 2 as well.
A PhD as a monograph does not automatically lead to journal publications. Journal publications are key indicators for academic careers.
Writing good, publishable articles for high-ranking academic journals is a skill. You are not developing these skills as part of your thesis writing process.

Writing a thesis as a collection of articles (cumulative dissertation)

A thesis based on a collection of articles is based on individual journal publications. Universities tend to require 3-5 academic articles, published or submitted to academic journals.

The specific regulations differ from university to university, so make sure that you check what applies to you!

Combined, the individual articles form the body of the thesis. Nonetheless, a PhD thesis in the form of articles begins with an introduction. Some also have an extra chapter here and there, which is not published as a journal article.

Then, the journal articles are packed together, and followed by a general conclusion that rounds up the thesis.

The overwhelming task of writing a PhD is divided into concrete parts. Many PhD students write one article every 9 to 12 months.
Once an article is published, you cannot edit it anymore. This saves you from obsessive perfectionism, editing your work over and over again.
You will have a head start in terms of publications. Publishing is a lengthy process. 3-5 completed articles at the end of your PhD is a big advantage.
Cumulative PhD theses are often less coherent than monographs. It is difficult to integrate independent journal articles into a coherent whole.
For each journal article, you need to develop a distinct theoretical framework. If the theory is not your forte, you might struggle with this.
In some countries, PhD theses based on articles are considered worth less than monographs, and are looked down upon.

There is no right or wrong. Both monographs and theses based on a collection of articles have advantages and disadvantages.

One is also not easier than the other. But one might be more suited to your specific situation.

When making a decision, ask yourself the following questions:

What are your university’s regulations when it comes to thesis types?
What is the reputation of both thesis types in your (national) context? And in the context in which you aspire to work in?
What is your strength? (conducting detailed empirical analyses vs abstract theoretical thinking)
What is your end goal? (a non-academic career vs. an academic career requiring high numbers of journal publications)
Which thesis type fits best with your research topic?