Graduate research degrees

Thesis with publications

All La Trobe graduate researchers are encouraged to publish their research, throughout their candidature and on completion. There is therefore no separate "thesis by publication" mode to choose on commencement – just do it! Any number of your thesis chapters can be submitted, accepted or published in journals.

Which publications should be included?

You should discuss your plans to include publications in your thesis with your supervisor early in your degree. Your supervisor will help you determine how to combine any potential publications with the rest of your thesis and what constitutes sufficient output in your discipline. Papers that do not link directly to your research topic, or to which you have not made a significant contribution, can be included in a list of other publications elsewhere in your thesis.

Publications submitted or published prior to commencement of candidature cannot be included unless this work was undertaken during a degree at the same level at another university from which you have transferred to La Trobe.

How many?

How many published works appear in your thesis will depend upon their significance, originality, length and disciplinary differences – discuss this with your supervisor. You will want to take into account the volume of published & unpublished chapters; the framing material; and your contribution to the publications.

As a general guideline, a thesis which wholly comprised of publications will include:

• Doctorate = c. 4-6 publications
• Master’s by research = c.3-4 publications

What is framing material?

Framing material should reveal the way the publications are thematically linked. If fully comprised of publications, it will likely include:

• at least one substantial integrating chapter, or
• a separate introduction, general discussion and conclusion
• further critical appraisal of relevant literature and/or further details of the methods or methodology

Acknowledge

You will need to include the full publication details (if published) in your thesis and/or include a contract/acceptance from publisher in your appendix.

You will also need to acknowledge the extent and nature of your own contribution to any jointly authored works and provide verification from co-authors, endorsed by your supervisor, when you are ready to submit.

In your publication

Your publications will need to state that the research supporting the publication was undertaken while completing a PhD at La Trobe. This will typically appear following the author’s name in the authorship statement and before their other institutions are credited, for example:

“The research underpinning this publication was undertaken while completing a PhD at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria”

You should also acknowledge your supervisors in the ’Acknowledgements’ section of the article and state specifically in the article that any procedures were approved by La Trobe University Human Ethics Committee, together with the ethics approval reference number.

Copyright

Normally publishers will allow the use of published material in a thesis and many permit its use in the publically available copy of your thesis – check the details with the relevant publisher.

Re-use rights will generally be described in the Copyright transfer agreement/License Agreement / Author agreement that may have been signed when the publication was accepted.

You can also check the publisher’s policy on their website or ask for an addendum to the agreement. Note that publisher’s policies relate to different versions of the work: Published; Accepted (Post Print); Submitted (Pre Print)

Examination

If your publications have been accepted when you submit your thesis, the examiners will not request any changes to these. They may, however, request related changes to unpublished or framing material.

You may also submit for examination work which has been submitted, but not yet accepted for publication. The examiners may request amendments, which you will then need to make. If this is the case, you will need to request permission from your publisher to include the amended work in Library Repository; we may also be able to include a redacted copy of your thesis in the repository if required.