Theses by compendium of publications
Requirements
Have published or accepted for publication, after the date of commencement of their doctoral studies, a minimum number of four articles with thematic unity. Of these, three must be in scientific journals whose impact index is included in the list of journals of the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) or of comparable quality according to other classifications or in the opinion of the corresponding Academic Committee, in the case of subjects that are not indexed in the aforementioned medium.
Co-authored works may be included in only one thesis in the form of a compendium of publications.
The co-authors of the work submitted may not form part of the examining board that will judge the thesis.
The thesis presented as a compendium of publications must include, in any case, the following contents:
An initial page specifying that the thesis is a compendium of work previously published or accepted for publication. This should include full references to the articles that constitute the body of the thesis.
A general introduction presenting the objectives of the thesis and the work carried out and justifying the thematic unity of the work, accompanied by a bibliographical review of the previous knowledge on which the published work is based.
A copy of the papers published or accepted for publication (*).
An overall discussion of the work provided and the final conclusions of the thesis.
The general introduction and the discussion and conclusions will have a combined length of no less than ten thousand words and will be written in Spanish or in a language customary for scientific communication in the field of knowledge. In the latter case, the thesis must also include a comprehensive summary and conclusions in Spanish.
Appendix to include:
Copies of acceptance letters for papers pending publication, if applicable.
Impact factor of journals.
Thematic areas corresponding to the publications included in the thesis.
Justification of the PhD student's contribution if the work is co-authored.
The academic committee of each programme may indicate additional requirements that must be approved by the doctoral committee.
Processing
At the time of depositing the thesis, in addition to the documentation required in all cases, the specific documentation indicated in Documentation of the thesis deposit must be presented.
The Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme will report on the application, which will have to be previously authorised by the director(s) and tutor(s), submitting it to the Doctoral Committee for authorisation, if applicable.
(*) Information on the publication of articles and theses
The UZ Library can solve some of the most common doubts about the publication of theses by open digest (tdr@unizar.es).
Regulations require that all theses read at the university be deposited in an open access repository. In the case of compendium theses, the incorporation of the original articles raises questions about the infringement of the publisher's copyright.
Cases where I can include the original article for the repository
When the article has been published in an Open Access journal.
When the article, although published in a "closed" journal, is Open Access because it has been paid for open access.
When express permission has been requested from the publisher to include the original in the thesis. The vast majority of publishers grant such permission without any problem: Springer, ACS, etc., and this is easily done through the link that most of the articles lead to the RightsLink form of the Copyright Clearance Center. Simply select that the destination is the thesis, and that it is the author who is requesting it.
When it has been published in a journal whose publishers grant permission without request. For example, Elsevier agrees to the inclusion of originals in theses without any restrictions.
When you are unable to include the original article in the thesis for the repository
If we cannot include the definitive text, we can consult Sherpa-Romeo, which is the database that collects the copyright policies of publishers and the self-archiving, for international journals, or Dulcinea, for Spanish journals. These resources indicate the type of document that we can open: the Post-Print, the Pre-print, or the original with embargo. We will replace in the copy of the thesis that will be uploaded to Zaguan those original pdfs with the permitted version.
If the author has assigned the rights and the full version of the article cannot be published in any of its formats, the articles will be replaced by the bibliographic reference, the abstract and the url (DOI) to the article.
Regulations
See Article 20: Agreement of 25 June 2020, of the Governing Council of the University, approving the Regulations on Doctoral Theses of the UZ.
See point 12.4: Procedure for deposit, authorisation and defence of UZ theses (EDUZ Steering Committee, 28 July 2020).
In addition to the above, Doctoral Programmes may establish additional requirements which, after approval by the Doctoral Commission, will be applicable within the scope of the programme:
Consultation is recommended: