Q. I’d like to submit my Thesis as a series of papers. What are my options?

PhD candidates may submit a series of publications as their examinable work. The work must be completed during the enrolment period.

You should be the first author for any included published papers. If you are a co-author, you must clearly identify your contribution and the contribution of the co-authors.

At the completion of your examination, you will need to provide a final copy of your thesis to be added to the Research Profiles and Repository. The Graduate Research School will provide you with information about this stage of the process.

There may be copyright implications associated with including published work in your thesis. You should refer to the Library’s copyright advice or contact the University Copyright Officer further information.

General steps to publication:

1. Design a research project based on your PhD subject.
2. Write an original manuscript called an Author’s Original Manuscript (AOM), which is the version of your article before you have submitted it to a journal for peer review. You would hold the copyright for the original manuscript.
3. Choose a journal to submit your original manuscript.
4. Submit your original manuscript to the journal for peer review. If your article is accepted, it becomes the Accepted Manuscript which is defined as “The version of a journal article that has been accepted for publication in a journal.” This version has been through the peer-review process and has been accepted by a journal editor.
5. The final, definitive, citable version of your paper, which has been copyedited, typeset, and the other things that publishers do, and which has metadata applied and been allocated a DOI (Digital Object Identifier like https://doi.org/10.1109/5.771073) is the final published version which is called Version of Record (VoR)
6.  Copyright for the Accepted Manuscript and Version of Record is decided by you and/or the publisher depending on their policies and which agreement you sign.
7.  You either choose a Transfer your Copyright Agreement or a Licence to Publish with the publisher where you may or may not hold copyright for your journal article depending on the publisher, or retain copyright by purchasing an Open Access Licence (typically one of the six Creative Common Licences to publish the article).
8.  An Open Access Agreement usually has a processing fee which the publisher decides.
9.  Creative Commons Licences are copyright licences where you retain copyright and can choose what other people can do with your article.
10.  Different publishers have different guidelines, but the trend is towards publishing open-access articles with publishers, or with known, but not predatory journals.

Third-Party Copyright content to be deposited in the Institutional repository

Please seek advice from the University’s Copyright Officer using the Copyright advice forms for students and staff.