Thesis formalities

• The red UCPH logo must be included on the front page of the thesis. Please note that the official logo includes the red line that intersects with the lowest red circle. 
• The date of submission must be stated on the front page.
• See also UCPH design template.
• Please remember to change the standard text in the upper left corner of the template. Insert the name of your own department or faculty.
• Font, image use, etc. are agreed between the PhD student and the supervisor
• The entire thesis – including published articles and/or unpublished manuscripts – has to be screened for plagiarism at The Royal Library. Therefore the entire thesis has to be OCR-readable.
  This means no articles and no text can be inserted as pictures. How to convert your thesis into an OCR-readable PDF
• Your thesis must not exceed 100MB. Minimize it by compressing any images. The co-authorship declarations must be submitted in a separate PDF.

Any articles included in the thesis may be written in cooperation with others, provided that each of the co-authors submits a written declaration stating the PhD student's or the author's contribution to the work. It must appear from the co-authorship declaration if an article or manuscript is also included in a co-author’s thesis.

If a manuscript or published paper has eleven or less authors, all authors must sign a declaration of co-authorship.
If it has twelve or more authors, only the PhD student, the corresponding author(s), the senior author and the principal supervisor need to sign the declaration of co-authorship.

The contribution of the PhD student must be described in the co-authorship declaration if an article or manuscript is
also included in a co-author’s thesis.

Please note: If your thesis is a synopsis, please remember to upload the co-authorship declarations when you submit. The thesis will not be forwarded to the assessment committee without the co-authorship declarations.

Download: Declaration of co-authorship

Use of your own material from published articles

As a general rule, you may not copy text directly from your own manuscripts/papers into the thesis. This is perceived as potential self-plagiarism and is not acceptable. However, generally it is accepted to copy methods descriptions, concrete results incl. figures and tables when appropriately marked and referenced. If you have transferred copyright of your own publication to a publisher, the Graduate School recommends that you obtain permission from the copyright owner before you publish.

Of note, the Faculty screens all PhD theses for duplicate text using iThenticate immediately after submission and prior to forwarding to the assessment committee. iThenticate screens PhD theses against published papers, not your unpublished manuscripts.

To read more please see these guidelines avoiding potential plagiarism and self-plagiarism  in your PhD thesis.

Use of material from published articles in general

If you copy/adapt figures, tables or other content from published articles (including your own) it is important that the source is always clearly stated in the thesis (e.g. in the figure text).

To avoid conflicts with the owner of the copied material, the Graduate School recommends that you obtain permission from the copyright owner(s) to publish material from already published articles in your thesis. This includes your own publications if you have transferred copyright to the publisher. The allocation of the copyright often depends on which contract the journal's publisher has signed with the article's author(s). If the copied material is published open access, it is typically allowed to copy the material by referring to the Creative Commons license.

If you plan to use this kind of material, we recommend that you contact the relevant publisher to ask for permission to use the material. It can typically be done at no cost via an online permission application link on the publications website. We also advice you to consult the information on KUnet and/or contact the library if you have questions regarding copyright.

As a main rule the PhD thesis is not considered a publication, and PhD students are entitled to the copyright of their own unpublished manuscripts and the synopsis of the PhD thesis.

However, the copyright to any published articles in the PhD thesis or copied figures, tables and texts belongs to the publisher, depending on the agreement in each case.

To ensure compliance with copyright regulations, please adhere to the following guidelines:

• Publisher Permission: Ensure that the publisher permits the inclusion of the article(s) in the thesis, especially if you plan to distribute the thesis or if the articles are not Open Access.
• Clearing Copyrights: Obtain clearances for copyrights before submitting the thesis, and explicitly state in the thesis that necessary permissions have been obtained. If you ie. include figures/tables from already published papers in the synopsis, please specify permission under each figure/table. Permission for including an already published article in your thesis (typically inserted after the synopsis), should be stated in the introduction of the thesis or before each article.
• Accessibility Considerations: Be aware that even if a publisher allows articles in PhD theses, they may have policies on the accessibility of the thesis after defense, such as restrictions on digital availability.

For more information about copyright please contact the Department for Research Support, see link: Copyright – University of Copenhagen (ku.dk)

You can also read more in this guide Copyright Licenses – University of Copenhagen.

Regarding thesis accessibility and distribution, please be aware of the following guidelines:

• Pre-Defence Distribution: The Graduate School allows interested parties to obtain a copy of the thesis from the PhD student before the defence, but otherwise the thesis is not freely available online. Requests for access to your thesis prior to the defence cannot be declined.
• Managing Requests: When receiving requests to access your thesis, inform recipients that it cannot be shared with others. This is particularly crucial if the thesis includes articles that are not Open Access.
• Additional Guidance: Familiarize yourself with university policies on thesis accessibility and consider seeking guidance from your advisors or the university's copyright office if needed.