Thesis including Published Works
Doctoral and research master's students are permitted to submit a Thesis Including Published Works, in accordance with the Graduate Research Thesis Examination Procedures. The Thesis Including Published Works is not a different degree, rather, it is a thesis format that includes papers that have been accepted or published during the student's enrolment in the relevant graduate research degree at Monash.
A thesis in this format must reflect a sustained and cohesive theme related to a defined research project. Framing or substantial linking text is required in introducing the research and connecting the chapters / papers and/or manuscripts. Refer to the Thesis Formatting Requirements below for guidance on framing your publications and the inclusions of compulsory information such as copyright and authorship declarations.
The number, status and quality of papers required for the Thesis Including Published Works format varies by faculty/institute. Refer to the Published Works Requirements below for further details.
You should carefully review the requirements for thesis formatting and published works at the outset of your degree, and work with your supervisory team to determine the most appropriate thesis format for your research. Your supervisor, academic unit or school should have good examples of doctoral and research master's theses available for consultation to support your decision.
Thesis Formatting Requirements
Declarations | All Theses Including Published Works must include a declaration that specifies the extent and nature of your contribution and contribution of all co-authors to each of the publications included. The Declaration for Thesis Including Published Works is included in the Thesis Preliminary Pages template. You need to customise the highlighted statements. The declaration lists the work/s written by you, and works written in collaboration with other authors and shows the publication status of those works. If you are the sole author, you only need refer to the publication status. For collaborative works, contributions of all authors must be described. Where the responsible author is not your main supervisor, your main supervisor should consult with the responsible author to agree on the respective contributions of the authors. |
Copyright and IP | Students should check the copyright status of their papers. Most publishers require transfer of copyright to them in order to publish, but will allow a paper to be included in a thesis. Some state this explicitly, whereas others do not. Refer to the Copyright website and Guidelines on Graduate Research Student Intellectual Property for more information. |
Presentation | Students should consult with their supervisors on the most effective presentation of their papers within the thesis. Students may choose the layout of the chapter provided the chapter content matches the published article. Where published articles are included in article format, high quality PDFs should be used; scanned copies of publications will not be accepted. |
Text framing the publications | The thesis including published works should include a general introduction and a thesis conclusion. A conclusion should provide a synopsis of the original contribution the work has made to the knowledge and understanding of the particular research area. Comment should be provided concerning future directions of the research (where appropriate). The Introduction should specify the research question/s covered by the thesis. The research should be contextualised in the existing literature and include an integrative discussion that ties all thesis elements together in that context. Depending on the content of the papers, it may be necessary to add text (even as a chapter) to appropriately cover existing literature/ methodology / techniques / validation. It is recommended that additional framing text be provided as introduction / linking for articles that are included as chapters and that are reporting research results / findings. |
List of research outputs | A list of the published works to be examined as part of the thesis must be included in the Declaration (see Thesis Preliminary Pages template). The status of each publication (submitted, accepted for publication, or published must be indicated. Other research outputs: papers published during candidature where the student has a minor contribution and they relate, but are not vital, to the argument of the thesis, may be appended to the thesis. They are not required to be included in the Declaration but could be listed in the Publications During Enrolment section (i.e. Thesis Preliminary Pages template). |
Pagination | Inclusive pagination is to be used. |
Bibliography | A complete, consolidated bibliography is required. |
Published Works Requirements
Number of papers | The number of papers required for the Thesis Including Published Works format is not defined but varies by discipline (see Faculty Specific Requirements for the minimum number of papers for your faculty). The material presented for examination must equate to that which would be presented in the traditional thesis format. This remains a matter of professional judgement for the supervisors and students. Publications in the visual or creative arts could include a diverse range of formats, including video, animation, film, installation, performance, as well as the more conventional art forms. |
Status of papers | Papers must have at least been submitted for publication for the Thesis including Published Works Format. Review the Faculty Specific Requirements to ensure you will meet your faculty’s minimum expectations on the status of papers for this format. |
Quality metrics | Ultimately it is the examiners who make a determination of the quality of research presented in a thesis. Examiners are likely to be influenced by the fact that articles have been published in respected, refereed journals of good standing in the relevant field of scholarship and by the quality and clarity of the framing text. Therefore, a thesis including publication is expected to contain articles published in reputable, peer-reviewed, journals, relevant to the overall theme of the thesis. And clearly tied to a distinct research project. Review the Faculty Specific Requirements to ensure you will meet your faculty’s minimum expectations on quality of publications for this format. |
Authorship | The initiation, key ideas, development and writing up of each of the works included as publications should be the primary responsibility of the student. It is expected that multi-authored papers submitted in a thesis would therefore have a substantial and significant contribution by the student (at least 50%). The student would therefore usually be first or joint first author. Papers where the student has less than 50% contribution may be included if significant to the thesis, but a case will need to made. Papers with minor contributions should be kept to a minimum: these can be included in the List of Research Outputs. Review the Faculty-Specific Requirements to ensure you will meet your faculty’s minimum expectations on authorship for this format. |
Faculty-Specific Requirements | Students should refer to the following Faculty Requirements, as most faculties have minimum standards in terms of the number, status and quality of papers to be included in this format. Other criteria may also apply: |