phd thesis in medicine

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Formal MD Thesis Requirement

All students at Yale School of Medicine engage in research and are required to write an MD thesis during medical school. The only exceptions are students who have earned a PhD degree in the health sciences before matriculation and students enrolled in Yale’s MD/PhD program. The YSM MD Thesis is under the governance of the EPCC, which meets regularly to recommend rules, regulations, and deadlines.

Deadlines/Important Dates

Thesis approval process, thesis awards, required formatting and components of the md thesis, examples for reference section formatting, avoiding the risk of copyright violation and liability when submitting your md thesis, instructions for submitting a thesis to the yale medicine thesis digital library, thesis depositors declaration form, evaluations of advisor, student evaluation of thesis advisor.

• Yale School of Medicine Digital Thesis Depositor’s Declaration Form
• Thesis Deadline Extension Request Form

Thesis Deadlines for the 2023-2024 Academic Year

Md students:.

The Office of Student Research, in conjunction with the Dean’s Office, has established the following deadlines for theses submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation in May 2024. The deadlines ensure that (1) students have sufficient time to complete their theses; (2) that there is sufficient time for rigorous departmental review and subsequent revision by students before final approval. These deadlines are strictly followed. Students are strongly encouraged to submit their theses well before the Class of 2024 Thesis Deadlines provided below. This timeliness will provide students, advisors, and sponsoring departments sufficient time for useful review and revision. It should be recognized by all concerned that the integrity of the thesis requirement and effective, rigorous review requires adherence to these deadlines. OSR will hold periodic “Thesis Check-in Sessions” via zoom for the Class of 2024 and will send periodic reminder emails with more detailed instructions as these deadlines approach.

*Students missing the August 4th, January 19th, and/or March 29th deadlines will be referred to the Progress Committee to ensure they receive adequate support to make progress towards this graduation requirement. Students missing the January 19th and/or March 29th deadlines will be ineligible for thesis prizes at graduation.

Extensions beyond the above thesis deadlines will be granted only for special circumstances and must have the approval of the student’s thesis mentor/advisor, academic advisor, and the Departmental Thesis Chairperson . Students seeking an extension for the January 19, 2024, deadline must submit a Thesis Deadline Extension Request Form to their Academic Advisor, and the Departmental Thesis Chair, for approval. Students missing the August 4th, January 19th, and/or March 29th deadlines will be referred to the Progress Committee to ensure they receive adequate support to make progress towards this graduation requirement. In the event of an extension, if granted, the following ABSOLUTE Class of 2024 Thesis Extension Deadlines will apply:

*All late theses require an extension. The student must submit the Thesis Deadline Extension Request Form before January 19, 2024.

MD/MHS Students:

Consistent with degree requirements, MD/MHS students must present their thesis to their three-person committee prior to the January 19th deadline. Students are encouraged to start arranging the date of this committee meeting in the fall to avoid unanticipated delays.

MD/PhD Students:

A different process applies to students in the MD/PhD program. For students enrolled in the combined MD/PhD Program, the dissertation submitted to and approved by the Graduate School will satisfy the MD thesis requirement. Therefore, MD/PhD students who have already defended their dissertation and received their PhD should provide this information to OSR via email as soon as possible.

To ensure compliance with YSM graduation deadlines, MD/PhD students in the class of 2024 who have not defended and submitted their dissertation to the Graduate School by the October 1, 2023, deadline will need to submit a copy of their dissertation directly to OSR via the MD/PhD Box Upload Link by March 15, 2024. OSR will convene a committee to review the dissertation, obtain feedback, and provide approval for graduation. Please note that MD/PhD students must also defend and submit their dissertation to the Graduate School no later than March 15, 2024, to meet the Graduate School spring degree deadline for conferral of the PhD degree. MD/PhD students who have not yet defended their dissertation should provide this information to OSR. If there are any questions about the process, please contact the MD/PhD Office.

Financial support is not provided for writing the thesis.

Thesis Preparation and Approval

Preparation for thesis submission begins in the summer of the fourth year with the OSR leadership. At this time, timeline and practices are distributed via email and reviewed with students in class meetings. Because thesis approval is a lengthy process involving three levels of review, students are encouraged to manage their time well and start writing their first draft early in the fall semester of their final year of medical school. A suggested timeline is provided below.

July : Thesis deadlines are distributed via email to all students in the graduating class and an informational session is held. Students should be on track to complete their thesis research by mid-fall. Any student anticipating a challenge in this regard should contact the OSR as soon as possible. All students expecting to graduate in May of a given year must, provide the OSR with information regarding their thesis title and mentor/advisor. Students will receive an email from the OSR containing a Medtrics link requesting this information. The OSR will contact all thesis mentors/advisors to confirm this role and to provide information and expectations regarding the thesis process.

August – December : Students should be finalizing research and writing their thesis draft. As the semester progresses, activities should shift from the data generation/analysis to the writing of the actual thesis. Students should do their best to complete the first draft of the thesis by mid-late December. Because students are also involved in the residency application and interview process, they are discouraged from starting new projects at this time.

December – January : This period is devoted to reviewing and editing of thesis draft that is ultimately approved by their thesis mentor/advisor and submitted by the student to the Thesis Chair of their sponsoring department. The YSM thesis mentor/advisor will be asked to complete a thesis assessment that evaluates the student’s mastery of YSM’s research-related educational objectives and provides formative summative feedback to the student.

January – March : The Departmental Thesis Chair coordinates thesis review by external reviewers. An “external reviewer” is defined as an individual who is not directly involved in the project. This individual may be a Yale faculty member internal or external to YSM or may hold a faculty appointment at an outside institution. This reviewer is required to complete a thesis assessment and provide formative summative feedback, as well as recommendations for any required changes, to the thesis. Departmental Thesis Chairs review assessments, notify students of departmental approval, and transmit these approvals to the OSR.

March : Theses and their associated assessments undergo school-level review by the OSR. Students receive YSM approval of their thesis along with summative feedback obtained during the review process. Students incorporate any required changes into their thesis and upload to the Yale Medicine Digital Thesis Library/Eli Scholar via the ProQuest platform (see below).

April : The OSR confirms that theses have been deposited into the Yale Medicine Digital Thesis Library and the registrar receives the names of students who have completed the thesis requirement.

The central role of the medical student thesis is to assess student’s performance on the YSM’s research-related educational objectives. As such, all students are expected to produce an excellent piece of scholarly work. In recognition of these achievements, the OSR has worked to develop an award process that celebrates the wonderful research being done by our students without creating a competitive atmosphere surrounding the thesis. Hence, thesis awards are based on competency-based assessments submitted by thesis mentors/advisors and reviewers during the approval process, and internal review of the final thesis that was deposited into the Yale Medicine Digital Thesis Library. Consistent with all other graduation prizes, YSM MD Thesis Awards will remain confidential until they are announced in the YSM Commencement Program on May 20, 2024. While some departments may elect to confer thesis “honors” based upon their own internal review, this recognition is distinct from YSM graduation prizes and is not under OSR’s purview.

Read about the required formatting and components for the thesis .

See helpful examples for reference section formatting.

Read about avoiding the risk of copyright violation and liability when submitting your MD Thesis.

Learn more about submitting a thesis to the Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library .

Learn more about the Thesis Depositors Declaration Form.

Learn more about evaluating your experience with your thesis advisor .

Apply for a Thesis Extension

Read about the required formatting and components for the thesis.

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How to write a Doctoral Thesis

Prof. HR Ahmad, Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. E-mail: [email protected]

Note: * Ahmad HR. In: Medical Writing. Eds. SA Jawaid, MH Jafary & SJ Zuberi. PMJA, 1997 Ed II: 133-142.

PATIENT care and teaching are rather well established components of our medical career. However, with the passage of time a third component has started to influence our medical culture, namely research. 1 - 4 How to accept this challenge is a question. 5 Indeed, teaching and research form a dialectic unit, meaning that teaching without a research component is like a soup without salt. It is a well-established fact that the research activity of an institution is directly proportional to the number of qualified and committed PhD candidates. An inspiring infrastructure, laboratory facilities and libraries are pre-requisites for a research culture to grow. 6 - 8 This forms the basis of a generation cycle for an institution, so that research activity and its culture continues to grow from one generation to the next. The main objective of doctoral work in biomedical sciences is to develop a galaxy of scientist physicians and surgeons possessing high degree of humility, selflessness and ethical superiority. Such a programme will add a scholastic dimension to the clinical faculty.

Education in how to write a doctoral thesis or dissertation should be a part of the postgraduate curriculum, parallel to the laboratory work and Journal Club activities during the PhD studies and/or residency levels. 9 , 10 The overall structure of a doctoral thesis is internationally standardized. However, it varies in style and quality, depending upon how original the work is, and how much the author has understood the work. Therefore a thorough discussion with supervisor, colleagues and assistance from other authors through correspondence can be useful sources for consultation.

The choice of a topic for a doctoral thesis is a crucial step. It should be determined by scanning the literature whether the topic is original or similar work has already been done even a hundred years ago. It is the responsibility of both the supervisor and the PhD candidate to sort out this problem by continuous use of internet and a library. 11 The work leading to the PhD degree can originate from research in following spheres: 12

• b) Methodology
• c) Diagnostic
• d) Therapeutic and Management
• e) Epidemiology

The availability of internationally standardized methods, as well as research committed supervisors can enable physicians and surgeons to do PhD work in both basic and clinical health sciences. The importance of research in basic health sciences cannot be overemphasized. It is rather the base of the applied sciences. There are many instances where the elucidation of a mechanism involved in a process awaits the development of an adequate methodology. 13 In such a scenario; a new method is like a new eye. Research activity in the field of (a) and (b) illuminates the research directions for (c) (d) and (e). It is worth noting that sometimes important basic questions can come from (e) and stimulate research activity in the domain of basic health sciences. 14 , 15

Types of Doctoral Thesis

TYPE-I: Book Form: a classical style. The blueprint of this form is shown in Table-I .

Type-I: The Classical Book Form

TYPE-II: Cumulative Doctoral thesis: A modem but quite useful practice.

INTRODUCTION

A book containing the pearls of a PhD work has standardized divisions and formats, where the number of pages should be weighted in terms of content rather than container. The book includes summary, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, conclusions, references and acknowledgements.

Two exercises are mandatory before starting a PhD programme:

• Literature survey using a regular library hours and internet surfing
• Familiarization with the hands-on-experience of methodology involved in the work
• The importance of a continuous literature survey using library, internet and direct correspondence with authors across the globe in the same field cannot be over-emphasized. The main goal of this exercise is to pinpoint the unresolved problem in the literature. An attempt to solve this problem now becomes the topic of the PhD thesis. All the relevant references should be collected, and carefully preserved in the form of a card system arranged alphabetically according to themes and authors. The introduction of the thesis should be styled like a review article with a critical analysis of the work of authors in the literature. The aims of the present PhD work can then also be addressed in the form of questions. The objectives would then deal with how to achieve the aims of the proposed study.

MATERIALS / SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Now comes the most crucial and functional part of the doctoral work, the materials/subjects and methods section. This part can be considered as the motor of the PhD work. The reliability, sensitivity and specificity of the motor must be checked before embarking on a long journey. Controlling the controls is the best guide for a precise and authentic work. Usually materials and methods contain components such as a description of the species involved, their number, age, weight and anthropometric parameters, types of surgical procedures and anesthesia if applied, and a detailed description of methodology. Continuous or point measurements should be thoroughly described. However, a dynamic method should always be preferred to static one.

The experimental protocol should be designed after a small pilot study, which is especially advisable in research on human subjects. A detailed and well-thought experimental protocol forms the basis of conditions under which the results would be obtained. Any deviation from the experimental protocol will affect the outcome, and the interpretation of results. It may be noted that great discoveries are usually accidental and without a protocol, based merely on careful observation! However, for the sake of a publication, a protocol has to be designed after the discovery. After having described the different phases of the experimental protocol with the help of a schematic diagram e.g., showing variables, time period and interventions, the selection of a statistical method should be discussed. Negative results should not be disregarded because they represent the boundary conditions of positive results. Sometimes the negative results are the real results.

It is usual practice that most PhD candidates start writing the methodological components first. This is followed by writing the results. The pre-requisites for writing results are that all figures, tables, schematic diagrams of methods and a working model should be ready. They should be designed in such a way that the information content of each figure should, when projected as a frame be visually clear to audience viewing it from a distance of about fifty feet. It is often observed that the presenters themselves have difficulty in deciphering a frame of the Power-Point being projected in a conference.

The results of a doctoral thesis should be treated like a bride. The flow of writing results becomes easier if all figures and tables are well prepared. This promotes the train of thoughts required to analyze the data in a quantitative fashion. The golden rule of writing results of a thesis is to describe what the figure shows. No explanation is required. One should avoid writing anything which is not there in a figure. Before writing one should observe each diagram for some time and make a list of observations in the form of key words. The more one has understood the information content of a figure; the better will be the fluency of writing. The interruption of the flow in writing most often indicates that an author has not understood the results. Discussion with colleagues or reference to the literature is the only remedy, and it functions sometimes like a caesarean procedure.

Statistical methods are good devices to test the degree of authenticity and precision of results if appropriately applied. The application of statistical technique in human studies poses difficulties because of large standard deviations. Outliers must be discussed, if they are excluded for the sake of statistical significance. Large standard deviations can be minimized by increasing the number of observations. If a regression analysis is not weighted, it gives faulty information. The correlation coefficient value can change from 0.7 to 0.4 if the regression analysis is weighted using Fisher’s test. The dissection of effect from artifact should be analysed in such a way that the signal to noise ratio of a parameter should be considered. A competent statistician should always be consulted in order to avoid the danger of distortion of results.

The legend of a figure should be well written. It contains a title, a brief description of variables and interventions, the main effect and a concluding remark conveying the original message. The writing of PhD work is further eased by a well maintained collection of data in the form of log book, original recordings, analyzed references with summaries and compiling the virgin data of the study on master plan sheet to understand the original signals before submitting to the procedures of statistics. The original data belong to the laboratory of an institution where it came into being and should be preserved for 5-7 years in the archive for the sake of brevity.

This is the liveliest part of a thesis. Its main goal is to defend the work by staging a constructive debate with the literature. The golden rule of this written debate should be that a rigid explanation looks backward and a design looks forward. The object is to derive a model out of a jig-saw puzzle of information. It should be designed in such a way that the results of the present study and those of authors from the literature can be better discussed and interpreted. Agreement and disagreement can be better resolved if one considers under what experimental conditions the results were obtained by the various authors. It means that the boundary conditions for each result should be carefully analyzed and compared.

The discussion can be divided into the following parts:

• criticism of material/subjects and methods
• a list of important observations of the present study
• interpretation and comparison of results of other authors using a literature table
• design of a model
• claim of an original research work
• The criticism of the methodological procedure enables a candidate to demonstrate how precisely the research work has been carried out. The interpretation of results depends critically on the strict experimental protocol and methods. For example, an epidemiological work is a study of a population. However, if the population sampling is done regularly at a specific location; the question arises as to how a result derived from a localized place can be applied to the whole population.
• After having discussed at length the strong and weak points of material/subjects and methods, one should list in a telegraphic design the most important observations of the present study. This may form a good agenda to initiate interpretation, argument, reasoning and comparison with results of other authors. The outcome of this constructive debate should permit the design of a working model in the form of a block diagram. All statements should be very carefully referenced. The ratio of agreement and disagreement should indicate the ability of the author to reconcile conflicting data in an objective and quantitative way. Attempts should be made to design a solution out of the given quantum of information. It is also well known that most of the processes of human physiology can only be understood if their time course is known. The dynamic aspect of interpretation of results is therefore more powerful and superior to the static one. 16 Therefore a continuous record of variables should be preferred and sought to reveal the secrets hidden in the kinetics.
• Finally, the discussion should conclude how far the study was successful in answering the questions being posed at the end of the introduction part. Usually a doctoral thesis raises more questions than it answers. In this way research does not come to a standstill and does become a life time engagement for a committed scientist. Also it is important to note that all scientific theses should be quantifiable and falsifiable, otherwise they lose the spirit and fragrance of a scientific research.
• The author’s claim of original work is finally decided by the critical review of his research work by the literature and the number of times being cited. It can be easily read by a high rate of a citation index of a publication and invitation. When a methodological research clicks, one becomes a star overnight.

Type-II: CUMULATIVE DOCTORAL THESES

Another way of writing a doctoral work is a cumulative type of thesis. 11 It consists of a few original publications in refereed journals of repute. It is supplemented by a concise summary about the research work. This type of thesis is usually practiced in Sweden, Germany and other countries. It has the advantage of being doubly refereed by the journals and the faculty of health sciences. Additionally, papers are published during a doctoral work. A declaration has to be given to the faculty of science about the sharing of research work in publications, provided there are co-authors. The weightage should be in favour of the PhD candidate, so that the thesis can ethically be better defended before the team of august research faculty.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A critical review of this manuscript by Dr. Roger Sutton, Dr. Khalid Khan, Dr. Bukhtiar Shah and Dr. Satwat Hashmi is gratefully acknowledged.

Dedicated to the memory of Mr. Azim Kidwai for his exemplary academic commitment and devotion to the science journalism in Pakistan.

PhD Thesis Guide

This phd thesis guide will guide you step-by-step through the thesis process, from your initial letter of intent to submission of the final document..

All associated forms are conveniently consolidated in the section at the end.

Deadlines & Requirements

Students should register for HST.ThG during any term in which they are conducting research towards their thesis. Regardless of year in program students registered for HST.ThG in a regular term (fall or spring) must meet with their research advisor and complete the  Semi-Annual PhD Student Progress Review Form to receive credit.

Years 1 - 2

• Students participating in lab rotations during year 1, may use the optional MEMP Rotation Registration Form , to formalize the arrangement and can earn academic credit by enrolling in HST.599. 
• A first letter of intent ( LOI-1 ) proposing a general area of thesis research and research advisor is required by April 30th of the second year of registration.
• A second letter of intent ( LOI-2 ) proposing a thesis committee membership and providing a more detailed description of the thesis research is required by April 30th of the third year of registration for approval by the HST-IMES Committee on Academic Programs (HICAP).

Year 4 

• Beginning in year 4, (or after the LOI-2 is approved) the student must meet with their thesis committee at least once per semester.
• Students must formally defend their proposal before the approved thesis committee, and submit their committee approved proposal to HICAP  by April 30 of the forth year of registration.
• Meetings with the thesis committee must be held at least once per semester. 

HST has developed these policies to help keep students on track as they progress through their PhD program. Experience shows that students make more rapid progress towards graduation when they interact regularly with a faculty committee and complete their thesis proposal by the deadline.

Getting Started

Check out these resources  for finding a research lab.

The Thesis Committee: Roles and Responsibilities

Students perform doctoral thesis work under the guidance of a thesis committee consisting of at least three faculty members from Harvard and MIT (including a chair and a research advisor) who will help guide the research. Students are encouraged to form their thesis committee early in the course of the research and in any case by the end of the third year of registration. The HST IMES Committee on Academic Programs (HICAP) approves the composition of the thesis committee via the letter of intent and the thesis proposal (described below). 

Research Advisor

The research advisor is responsible for overseeing the student's thesis project. The research advisor is expected to:

• oversee the research and mentor the student;
• provide a supportive research environment, facilities, and financial support;
• discuss expectations, progress, and milestones with the student and complete the  Semi-Annual PhD Student Progress Review Form each semester;
• assist the student to prepare for the oral qualifying exam;
• guide the student in selecting the other members of the thesis committee;
• help the student prepare for, and attend, meetings of the full thesis committee, to be held at least once per semester;
• help the student prepare for, and attend, the thesis defense;
• evaluate the final thesis document.

The research advisor is chosen by the student and must be a faculty member of MIT* or Harvard University and needs no further approval.  HICAP may approve other individuals as research advisor on a student-by-student basis. Students are advised to request approval of non-faculty research advisors as soon as possible.  In order to avoid conflicts of interest, the research advisor may not also be the student's academic advisor. In the event that an academic advisor becomes the research advisor, a new academic advisor will be assigned.

The student and their research advisor must complete the Semi-Annual PhD Student Progress Review during each regular term in order to receive academic credit for research.  Download Semi Annual Review Form

*MIT Senior Research Staff are considered equivalent to faculty members for the purposes of research advising. No additional approval is required.

Thesis Committee Chair

Each HST PhD thesis committee is headed administratively by a chair, chosen by the student in consultation with the research advisor. The thesis committee chair is expected to:

• provide advice and guidance concerning the thesis research; 
• oversee meetings of the full thesis committee, to be held at least once per semester;
• preside at the thesis defense; 
• review and evaluate the final thesis document.

The thesis committee chair must be well acquainted with the academic policies and procedures of the institution granting the student's degree and be familiar with the student's area of research. The research advisor may not simultaneously serve as thesis committee chair.

For HST PhD students earning degrees through MIT, the thesis committee chair must be an MIT faculty member. A select group of HST program faculty without primary appointments at MIT have been pre-approved by HICAP to chair PhD theses awarded by HST at MIT in cases where the MIT research advisor is an MIT faculty member.**

HST PhD students earning their degree through Harvard follow thesis committee requirements set by the unit granting their degree - either the Biophysics Program or the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).

** List of non-MIT HST faculty approved to chair MIT thesis proposals when the research advisor is an MIT faculty member.

In addition to the research advisor and the thesis committee chair, the thesis committee must include one or more readers. Readers are expected to:

• attend meetings of the full thesis committee, to be held at least once per semester;
• attend the thesis defense; 

Faculty members with relevant expertise from outside of Harvard/MIT may serve as readers, but they may only be counted toward the required three if approved by HICAP.

The members of the thesis committee should have complementary expertise that collectively covers the areas needed to advise a student's thesis research. The committee should also be diverse, so that members are able to offer different perspectives on the student's research. When forming a thesis committee, it is helpful to consider the following questions: 

• Do the individuals on the committee collectively have the appropriate expertise for the project?
• Does the committee include at least one individual who can offer different perspectives on the student's research?  The committee should include at least one person who is not closely affiliated with the student's primary lab. Frequent collaborators are acceptable in this capacity if their work exhibits intellectual independence from the research advisor.
• If the research has a near-term clinical application, does the committee include someone who can add a translational or clinical perspective?  
• Does the committee conform to HST policies in terms of number, academic appointments, and affiliations of the committee members, research advisor, and thesis committee chair as described elsewhere on this page?

[Friendly advice: Although there is no maximum committee size, three or four is considered optimal. Committees of five members are possible, but more than five is unwieldy.]

Thesis Committee Meetings

Students must meet with their thesis committee at least once each semester beginning in the fourth year of registration. It is the student's responsibility to schedule these meetings; students who encounter difficulties in arranging regular committee meetings can contact Julie Greenberg at jgreenbe [at] mit.edu (jgreenbe[at]mit[dot]edu) .

The format of the thesis committee meeting is at the discretion of the thesis committee chair. In some cases, the following sequence may be helpful:

• The thesis committee chair, research advisor, and readers meet briefly without the student in the room;
• The thesis committee chair and readers meet briefly with the student, without the advisor in the room;
• The student presents their research progress, answers questions, and seeks guidance from the members of the thesis committee;

Please note that thesis committee meetings provide an important opportunity for students to present their research and respond to questions. Therefore, it is in the student's best interest for the research advisor to refrain from defending the research in this setting.

Letters of Intent

Students must submit two letters of intent ( LOI-1 and LOI-2 ) with applicable signatures. 

In LOI-1, students identify a research advisor and a general area of thesis research, described in 100 words or less. It should include the area of expertise of the research advisor and indicate whether IRB approval (Institutional Review Board; for research involving human subjects) and/or IACUC approval (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee; for research involving vertebrate animals) will be required and, if so, from which institutions. LOI-1 is due by April 30 of the second year of registration and and should be submitted to HICAP, c/o Traci Anderson in E25-518. 

In LOI-2, students provide a description of the thesis research, describing the Background and Significance of the research and making a preliminary statement of Specific Aims (up to 400 words total). In LOI-2, a student also proposes the membership of their thesis committee. In addition to the research advisor, the proposed thesis committee must include a chair and one or more readers, all selected to meet the specified criteria . LOI-2 is due by April 30th of the third year of registration and should be submitted to HICAP, c/o Traci Anderson in E25-518.

LOI-2 is reviewed by the HST-IMES Committee on Academic Programs (HICAP) to determine if the proposed committee meets the specified criteria and if the committee members collectively have the complementary expertise needed to advise the student in executing the proposed research. If HICAP requests any changes to the proposed committee, the student must submit a revised LOI-2 for HICAP review by September 30th of the fourth year of registration. HICAP must approve LOI-2 before the student can proceed to presenting and submitting their thesis proposal. Any changes to the thesis committee membership following HICAP approval of LOI-2 and prior to defense of the thesis proposal must be reported by submitting a revised LOI-2 form to HICAP, c/o tanderso [at] mit.edu (Traci Anderson) . After final HICAP approval of LOI-2, which confirms the thesis committee membership, the student may proceed to present their thesis proposal to the approved thesis committee, as described in the next section.

Students are strongly encouraged to identify tentative thesis committee members and begin meeting with them as early as possible to inform the direction of their research. Following submission of LOI-2, students are required to hold at least one thesis committee meeting per semester. Students must document these meetings via the Semi- Annual PhD Student Progress Review form in order to receive a grade reflecting satisfactory progress in HST.ThG.

Thesis Proposal and Proposal Presentation

For MEMP students receiving their degrees through MIT, successful completion of the Oral Qualifying Exam is a prerequisite for the thesis proposal presentation. For MEMP students receiving their degrees through Harvard, the oral qualifying exam satisfies the proposal presentation requirement.

Proposal Document

Each student must present a thesis proposal to a thesis committee that has been approved by HICAP via the LOI-2 and then submit a full proposal package to HICAP by April 30th of the fourth year of registration. The only exception is for students who substantially change their research focus after the fall term of their third year; in those cases the thesis proposal must be submitted within three semesters of joining a new lab. Students registering for thesis research (HST.THG) who have not met this deadline may be administratively assigned a grade of "U" (unsatisfactory) and receive an academic warning.

The written proposal should be no longer than 4500 words, excluding references. This is intended to help students develop their proposal-writing skills by gaining experience composing a practical proposal; the length is comparable to that required for proposals to the NIH R03 Small Research Grant Program. The proposal should clearly define the research problem, describe the proposed research plan, and defend the significance of the work. Preliminary results are not required. If the proposal consists of multiple aims, with the accomplishment of later aims based on the success of earlier ones, then the proposal should describe a contingency plan in case the early results are not as expected.

Proposal Presentation

The student must formally defend the thesis proposal before the full thesis committee that has been approved by HICAP.

Students should schedule the meeting and reserve a conference room and any audio visual equipment they may require for their presentation. To book a conference room in E25, please contact Joseph Stein ( jrstein [at] mit.edu (jrstein[at]mit[dot]edu) ).

Following the proposal presentation, students should make any requested modifications to the proposal for the committee members to review. Once the committee approves the proposal, the student should obtain the signatures of the committee members on the forms described below as part of the proposal submission package.

[Friendly advice: As a professional courtesy, be sure your committee members have a complete version of your thesis proposal at least one week in advance of the proposal presentation.]

Submission of Proposal Package

When the thesis committee has approved the proposal, the student submits the proposal package to HICAP, c/o Traci Anderson in E25-518, for final approval. HICAP may reject a thesis proposal if it has been defended before a committee that was not previously approved via the LOI-2.

The proposal package includes the following: 

• the proposal document
• a brief description of the project background and significance that explains why the work is important;
• the specific aims of the proposal, including a contingency plan if needed; and
• an indication of the methods to be used to accomplish the specific aims.
• signed research advisor agreement form(s);
• signed chair agreement form (which confirms a successful proposal defense);
• signed reader agreement form(s).

Thesis Proposal Forms

• SAMPLE Title Page (doc)
• Research Advisor Agreement Form (pdf)
• Chair Agreement Form (pdf)
• Reader Agreement Form (pdf)

Thesis Defense and Final Thesis Document

When the thesis is substantially complete and fully acceptable to the thesis committee, a public thesis defense is scheduled for the student to present his/her work to the thesis committee and other members of the community. The thesis defense is the last formal examination required for receipt of a doctoral degree. To be considered "public", a defense must be announced to the community at least five working days in advance. At the defense, the thesis committee determines if the research presented is sufficient for granting a doctoral degree. Following a satisfactory thesis defense, the student submits the final thesis document, approved by the research advisor, to Traci Anderson via email (see instructions below).

[Friendly advice: Contact jrstein [at] mit.edu (Joseph Stein) at least two weeks before your scheduled date to arrange for advertising via email and posters. A defense can be canceled for insufficient public notice.]

Before the Thesis Defense 

Committee Approves Student to Defend: The thesis committee, working with the student and reviewing thesis drafts, concludes that the doctoral work is complete. The student should discuss the structure of the defense (general guidelines below) with the thesis committee chair and the research advisor. 

Schedule the Defense: The student schedules a defense at a time when all members of the thesis committee will be physical present. Any exceptions must be approved in advance by the IMES/HST Academic Office.

Reserve Room: It is the student's responsibility to reserve a room and any necessary equipment. Please contact imes-reservation [at] mit.edu (subject: E25%20Room%20Reservation) (IMES Reservation) to  reserve rooms E25-140, E25-141, E25-119/121, E25-521. 

Final Draft: A complete draft of the thesis document is due to the thesis committee two weeks prior to the thesis defense to allow time for review.  The thesis should be written as a single cohesive document; it may include content from published papers (see libraries website on " Use of Previously Published Material in a Thesis ") but it may not be a simple compilation of previously published materials.

Publicize the Defense:   The IMES/HST Academic Office invites the community to attend the defense via email and a notice on the HST website. This requires that the student email a thesis abstract and supplemental information to  jrstein [at] mit.edu (Joseph Stein)  two weeks prior to the thesis defense. The following information should be included: Date and time, Location, (Zoom invitation with password, if offering a hybrid option), Thesis Title, Names of committee members, with academic and professional titles and institutional affiliations. The abstract is limited to 250 words for the poster, but students may optionally submit a second, longer abstract for the email announcement.

Thesis Defense Guidelines

Public Defense: The student should prepare a presentation of 45-60 minutes in length, to be followed by a public question and answer period of 15–30 minutes at discretion of the chair.

Committee Discussion:  Immediately following the public thesis presentation, the student meets privately with the thesis committee and any other faculty members present to explore additional questions at the discretion of the faculty. Then the thesis committee meets in executive session and determines whether the thesis defense was satisfactory. The committee may suggest additions or editorial changes to the thesis document at this point.

Chair Confirms Pass: After the defense, the thesis committee chair should inform Traci Anderson of the outcome via email to tanderso [at] mit.edu (tanderso[at]mit[dot]edu) .

Submitting the Final Thesis Document

Please refer to the MIT libraries  thesis formatting guidelines .

Title page notes. Sample title page  from the MIT Libraries.

Program line : should read, "Submitted to the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, in partial fulfillment of the the requirements for the degree of ... "

Copyright : Starting with the June 2023 degree period and as reflected in the  MIT Thesis Specifications , all students retain the copyright of their thesis.  Please review this section for how to list on your title page Signature Page: On the "signed" version, only the student and research advisor should sign. Thesis committee members are not required to sign. On the " Accepted by " line, please list: Collin M. Stultz, MD, PhD/Director, Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology/ Nina T. and Robert H. Rubin Professor in Medical Engineering and Science/Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

The Academic Office will obtain Professor Stultz's signature.

Thesis Submission Components.  As of 4/2021, the MIT libraries have changed their thesis submissions guidelines and are no longer accepting hard copy theses submissions. For most recent guidance from the libraries:  https://libguides.mit.edu/mit-thesis-faq/instructions  

Submit to the Academic Office, via email ( tanderso [at] mit.edu (tanderso[at]mit[dot]edu) )

pdf/A-1 of the final thesis should include an UNSIGNED title page

A separate file with a SIGNED title page by the student and advisor, the Academic Office will get Dr. Collin Stultz's signature.

For the MIT Library thesis processing, fill out the "Thesis Information" here:  https://thesis-submit.mit.edu/

File Naming Information:  https://libguides.mit.edu/

Survey of Earned Doctorates.  The University Provost’s Office will contact all doctoral candidates via email with instructions for completing this survey.

Links to All Forms in This Guide

• MEMP Rotation Form (optional)
• Semi-Annual Progress Review Form
• Letter of Intent One
• Letter of Intent Two

Final Thesis

• HST Sample thesis title page  (signed and unsigned)
• Sample thesis title page  (MIT Libraries)

Guidance on Doctoral Theses at the Faculty of Medicine

Adopted by the Programme Board for the PhD programme on 05.09.2016. Last revised on 20.11.2019

Main content

Definition of terms used in this document:

Thesis refers to the complete written PhD work, and includes the synopsis, the articles and any appendixes, or a monograph. Synopsis refers to the candidate’s general presentation and discussion of the work that forms the basis for the PhD. Summary or abstract - refers to a brief introductory presentation of the thesis, and normally include the thesis’ purpose, methods, main findings and conclusions. The summary is usually less than one page.

General information about the doctoral thesis

1.1 Other Regulations and guidelines The formal requirements of the doctoral degree PhD at the University of Bergen are found in Regulations for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) at the University of Bergen , adopted on 29.11.2018 and in the Faculty of Medicine’s supplementary regulations, which can be found in the Programme description.

In addition, the Faculty of Medicine has adopted Guidelines for the evaluation process of the doctoral degree at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Bergen.

The degree of Dr. philos. has its own regulations . This document is written with the degree of PhD in mind, but may nevertheless provide some guidance for dr.philos.

1.2 Scientific quality A PhD thesis should contain new observations of scientific value within the field of the Faculty. The thesis must be an independent academic work that meets international standards, and be at an advanced scientific level with respect to the formulation of the research topic, conceptual clarification and methodical, theoretical and empirical rationale, as well as in respect of the documentation of sources and formal presentation. The thesis must contribute to the development of new knowledge within its field and must qualify for publication as a part of the academic literature in the field.

The requirement for scientific quality is absolute. The problems addressed should be clearly and precisely expressed. The materials and methodology employed must be adequate and appropriate. The results must provide good, verifiable documentation. The use of figures/illustrations should improve the quality of the text and make it more interesting. It is recommended that the candidates use their own figures/illustrations. If part of a previously published figure or a figure in its entirety is used in the thesis, the candidate must seek approval of use according to established practice. Tables, figures and other illustrations must be appropriately presented. The conclusions drawn must be justifiable. The treatment of the literature must be adequate with regard to critical selection and evaluation. The references must be correct. The presentation of the text must be clear, precise and linguistically satisfactory.

All departments and sections have authorized English names and these should be applied to ensure that the origin of all publications is clearly and correctly indicated and reported.

1.3 The synopsis An article based doctoral thesis should, in addition to the individual scientific articles published in or prepared for peer-reviewed international journals, include a synopsis with a presentation of the results and a thorough scientific discussion. This synopsis should be a scientific document where the candidate can extend, criticize, or correct aspects of the individual articles. The synopsis should showcase a scientific overview and maturity, and the candidate’s ability to penetrate specialized scientific problems. Please see Part 3 for further details about the structure and requirements of the synopsis.        

1.4 Correction of formal errors and changes after submission The thesis will be evaluated exactly in the form in which it has been submitted. However, the candidate may apply for permission to correct formal errors in the thesis after submission. The application must include a complete overview of the errors (errata) which the candidate wishes to correct. The deadline for applying for correction of formal errors is one week after the candidate has received the recommendation. If the application is approved, the errata list can be added as an insert to the thesis which is available during the public defence. Neither the corrected version of the thesis nor the errata list shall be submitted to the assessment committee.

1.5 Joint work A complete thesis may, on exception, be the joint effort of two doctoral candidates. In such cases, the thesis should be equivalent in scope to two normal doctoral theses. The independent efforts of each individual candidate must also be clearly defined and should be equivalent to about half of the scientific work involved. This also applies to the synopsis.

Publications and manuscripts in doctoral theses

2.1 Introduction Most theses at the Faculty of Medicine consist of multiple papers published or prepared for publication in international peer-reviewed journals, and in addition, a synopsis for the thesis. The synopsis should document the relationship between the individual parts of the thesis (please see part 3).

Monographs are also accepted for assessment to the PhD degree. The requirements on scientific quality and scope are identical for monographs and article-based theses.

2.2 Scope A doctoral thesis should be at an international PhD-level, and the scope of the thesis should correspond to 2.5 years of full-time work. Normally, this is interpreted as three papers published in or prepared for international, peer-reviewed journals.

If a publication is not published at the time of submission, the plan for publication should be included in the co-authorship statement. The number of papers depends on the size and quality of the papers, and the candidate’s contribution. Where the candidate has put an unusually large amount of work into a paper and that paper is of a very high quality, the number of papers can be reduced.

Generally, the doctoral candidate should be the principal author of at least two articles. Where the candidate is not the principal author, he or she should have contributed considerably to the collection of data, interpreting of results, and writing of the article.

For the degree of Dr.Philos. there are other requirements on the scope of the thesis. Please refer to the Dr.Philos.  regulations section 5-1  and especially note that "The absence of a required educational component shall be compensated by thesis work which is somewhat more extensive than what is required in the organised doctoral programmes". 

2.3 Co-authorship/Joint authorship Joint authorship suggests that the work has been conducted by several researchers jointly, please refer to the PhD regulations section 10-2. It is required that the candidate's contribution represents an independent contribution which can be identified to the extent necessary for assessment.

A statement of co-authorship must be attached to the application for submission. The statement must be given on a separate form by the main supervisor and include a description of the candidate's contribution to each of the individual papers. It should also mention other relevant factors, such as extensive cooperation with other institutions that have resulted in an unusually large number of collaborators, or papers that are included in more than one thesis. The statement of co-authorship will be sent to the evaluation committee along with the thesis, and should be written to help identify the candidate’s contribution. The statement of co-authorship must be written in English.

The faculty follows the Vancouver rules. If a publication has many authors, one should especially ensure that the requirements for authorship have been followed. Particular care must be taken when using data from "service divisions" performing routine analyses for others.

The role of the first author should be such that they naturally can regard the work as their own. This involves having completed the main data collection or experiments, data processing, initial interpretations, drafting the manuscript, and organized the writing until the final publication. The candidate should be the first author of most of the papers in their own thesis. Shared first authorship should be avoided as far as possible. Where the candidate is not first author, this should be addressed in the co-authorship statement. Normally the first author is also corresponding author, but the supervisor may contribute in the beginning. The supervisor is responsible for the sequence of authors for papers included in a PhD thesis. Preferably, the sequence of authors should be decided as early as possible. Any disagreements should be resolved at the lowest possible level.

2.4 Work that has previously been assessed for an academic degree It is a basic requirement that a doctoral thesis must contain original research results. This means that work that has previously been evaluated for an academic degree cannot be evaluated for a new degree. This general rule has only a few exceptions:

A single paper can be shared by two theses if each candidate's contribution is clearly defined. However, this is not recommended. Both candidates involved must agree beforehand that the article in question can be used in both theses. Also, the co-authorship statement must address that the article is included in another thesis (with the name of the other candidate specified, and it must be clear how both candidates have contributed in a way that qualifies the paper to feature in both theses).

Joint work: A “double thesis” where two PhD candidates submit together may be accepted. This could exceptionally be an appropriate solution within a group, but it requires that the two candidates are at a similar scientific level and approximately at the same stage in the PhD programme. It is a requirement that the final thesis has the scope and quality of two full theses.

An article that has been evaluated as part of the Medical Student Research Programme can be part of a PhD thesis.

2.5 Work that cannot be assessed Work that has been assessed for previously completed exams or degrees may not be accepted for assessment unless the work is included as a smaller part of a thesis that consists of multiple interrelated works. Data, analyses or methods from previous degrees may nevertheless be used as the basis for the work on the PhD project. Overview style review articles should not normally be included in a thesis and will never be accepted as a basis for the assessment.

Published articles may not be accepted as part of the thesis if they at the time of admission are older than five (5) years from the date of publishing. Dispensation from this requirement may be made in very extraordinary circumstances.

Guidelines for the synopsis

3.1 Introduction The synopsis shall include a presentation of the results and contain an in-depth and up-to-date discussion of the articles as a whole, demonstrating scientific maturity at an international PhD level.

3.2 General format requirements 3.2.1 Scope The synopsis should be between 50 and 80 pages long, not counting the reference list and actual articles. Extensive use of tables and figures may justify a longer synopsis.

3.2.2 Format Use font: Times New Roman, font size: 13 and line spacing: 1.5. A template for the PhD thesis can be found at the University’s webpage about printing and public availability. A front page should be added for submission, but this should be removed for printing (for technical reasons).

3.2.3 Language It is recommended that the thesis is written in English, but Norwegian or another Scandinavian language is accepted. The synopsis should not be in Norwegian if the papers are in English. It is essential to keep all text concise, and the thesis should be proofread before submission. It is recommended to keep the use of abbreviations to a minimum and restrict the use to well-established concepts.

3.3 Structure of the synopsis 3.3.1The title of the thesis The title of the thesis must be specific, concise, and appropriate. It should contain important keywords. (The title is used for indexing purposes and its format is important for traceability in library databases).

3.3.2 List of abbreviations The synopsis must include a list of all abbreviations used in the thesis.

3.3.3 Scientific environment This is where the name of the faculty(-ies)/department(s)/ centre(s) /research group(s) /research school involved in the study should be mentioned.

3.3.4 Acknowledgements This section is used to acknowledge and thank persons, groups, sources of funding etc. Be generous! (This could also be placed before “References”.)

3.3.5 Summary (abstract) Maximum 1 page (background, objective/purpose, materials/methods, results, conclusions, and consequences). All theses submitted after 19 April 2022 must include a summary in Norwegian and one in English.

3.3.6 List of papers (Note: Not relevant for monographs) The synopsis must contain a list of all papers that are included in the thesis. The list must include all authors for each paper, the title, and the publication where the paper has been published (if applicable).

3.3.7 Introduction to the synopsis The introduction to the synopsis shall describe the background for the PhD project, what the research is based upon, and introduce the fundamental issues discussed in the thesis. The literature review must be detailed and present leading knowledge and research while remaining focused on the subject in question, and with a firm basis in relevant original works/publications. The introduction should have an academic and contemporary context and may mention past studies of importance. It may also contain an evaluation of factors considered to be highly relevant or less relevant, with more detailed information provided on this evaluation in the actual thesis. The date on which the author completed his/her study of literature shall be specified.  

3.3.8 Objective of the study The overall objective of the study must be presented clearly and concisely with a high degree of linguistic precision, and categorised into main goal and secondary goals.

3.3.9 Materials and methods The presentation of materials and methods must be clearly described and should include relevant details. It is advantageous to refer to methods which have already been published/documented. A critical evaluation of the choice of methods and techniques (methodological considerations) should be included if they are not mentioned in the discussion. This applies irrespective of whether quantitative or qualitative methods are utilised. Ethical considerations shall comply with international standards and necessary approvals shall also be mentioned (for example, in relation to the Norwegian Health Research Act, GDPR and other relevant legislation and regulations).

3.3.10 Results The results can be described paper by paper or as a whole. It is advantageous to highlight the description of the most relevant/important finds and observations.

3.3.11 Discussion The discussion shall contain a critical evaluation of the author’s own academic choices and results. Moreover, the author should describe both strengths and weaknesses of the methods used and the results achieved, while referring to existing knowledge. This section shall also highlight how the individual parts of the thesis are connected to each other. The discussion is the candidate’s opportunity to showcase their academic maturity and development by extending and, if necessary correct, aspects of the papers. Where appropriate, the sections for Results and Discussion may be combined into one chapter.

3.3.12 Conclusion The conclusion shall summarize the most important results and describe how they highlight and respond to the objectives set in the introduction.

3.3.13 Future perspectives New knowledge often generates new problems and opportunities. The section on future perspectives must contain a description of how the work on the thesis forms the basis for continued work in the field of research. The author may also state if the results of the thesis promote a change of opinion on a specific issue, be it national or international. Will the findings in the thesis result in new or amended procedures or new concepts?

3.3.14 Literature list/References The literature list should be complete and the PhD candidate must have read all sources listed. The full title of referenced work must be listed here. Listing the references in the same order as in the text is preferred, meaning that reference number 1 is the first reference mentioned in the text. The list of references should be formatted as in journals. Use of a program for reference management, such as EndNote or Reference Manager is recommended. The reference list must include all sources used for material, including figures.

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The following materials are to be delivered to the Registrars Office upon completion of degree requirements:

• Graduation Worksheet
• Curriculum Vitae (personal information, published, etc.) in the required format.  Be sure student name appears on CV.   
• Oral Examination form (results and all signatures)            
• Abstract of thesis or dissertation (should include title page). Title of dissertation MAY NOT contain any Greek or scientific symbols and all words must be spelled out.
• Names of dissertation referees (2)
• Letter(s) of dissertation approval addressed to the Chair of the MA/PhD Committee by the referees 
• Certificate of Completion of Department or Committee Requirements for an Advanced Degree  form (dated last)        
• Email from the bindery stating the thesis has been approved
• Graduation Clearance Form-for postgraduate plans, etc.
• Survey of Earned Doctorates : a Certificate of Completion must be submitted
• All outstanding grades, including the current research grade if the student is not on leave of absence

NOTE: TITLE OF DISSERTATION/THESIS MUST BE EXACTLY THE SAME ON ALL MATERIALS.

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Starting with the Yale School of Medicine (YSM) graduating class of 2002, the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library and YSM Office of Student Research have collaborated on the Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library (YMTDL) project, publishing the digitized full text of medical student theses on the web as a valuable byproduct of Yale student research efforts. The digital thesis deposit has been a graduation requirement since 2006. Starting in 2012, alumni of the Yale School of Medicine were invited to participate in the YMTDL project by granting scanning and hosting permission to the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, which digitized the Library’s print copy of their thesis or dissertation. A grant from the Arcadia Fund in 2017 provided the means for digitizing over 1,000 additional theses. IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF THE YALE COMMUNITY AND NEED ACCESS TO A THESIS RESTRICTED TO THE YALE NETWORK, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR VPN (VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK) IS ON.

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How to write a PhD thesis: a step-by-step guide

A draft isn’t a perfect, finished product; it is your opportunity to start getting words down on paper, writes Kelly Louise Preece

Kelly Louise Preece

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Congratulations; you’ve finished your research! Time to write your PhD thesis. This resource will take you through an eight-step plan for drafting your chapters and your thesis as a whole. 

Organise your material

Before you start, it’s important to get organised. Take a step back and look at the data you have, then reorganise your research. Which parts of it are central to your thesis and which bits need putting to one side? Label and organise everything using logical folders – make it easy for yourself! Academic and blogger Pat Thomson calls this  “Clean up to get clearer” . Thomson suggests these questions to ask yourself before you start writing:

• What data do you have? You might find it useful to write out a list of types of data (your supervisor will find this list useful too.) This list is also an audit document that can go in your thesis. Do you have any for the “cutting room floor”? Take a deep breath and put it in a separate non-thesis file. You can easily retrieve it if it turns out you need it.
• What do you have already written? What chunks of material have you written so far that could form the basis of pieces of the thesis text? They will most likely need to be revised but they are useful starting points. Do you have any holding text? That is material you already know has to be rewritten but contains information that will be the basis of a new piece of text.
• What have you read and what do you still need to read? Are there new texts that you need to consult now after your analysis? What readings can you now put to one side, knowing that they aren’t useful for this thesis – although they might be useful at another time?
• What goes with what? Can you create chunks or themes of materials that are going to form the basis of some chunks of your text, perhaps even chapters?

Once you have assessed and sorted what you have collected and generated you will be in much better shape to approach the big task of composing the dissertation. 

Decide on a key message

A key message is a summary of new information communicated in your thesis. You should have started to map this out already in the section on argument and contribution – an overarching argument with building blocks that you will flesh out in individual chapters.

You have already mapped your argument visually, now you need to begin writing it in prose. Following another of Pat Thomson’s exercises, write a “tiny text” thesis abstract. This doesn’t have to be elegant, or indeed the finished product, but it will help you articulate the argument you want your thesis to make. You create a tiny text using a five-paragraph structure:

• The first sentence addresses the broad context. This locates the study in a policy, practice or research field.
• The second sentence establishes a problem related to the broad context you have set out. It often starts with “But”, “Yet” or “However”.
• The third sentence says what specific research has been done. This often starts with “This research” or “I report…”
• The fourth sentence reports the results. Don’t try to be too tricky here, just start with something like: “This study shows,” or “Analysis of the data suggests that…”
• The fifth and final sentence addresses the “So What?” question and makes clear the claim to contribution.

Here’s an example that Thomson provides:

Secondary school arts are in trouble, as the fall in enrolments in arts subjects dramatically attests. However, there is patchy evidence about the benefits of studying arts subjects at school and this makes it hard to argue why the drop in arts enrolments matters. This thesis reports on research which attempts to provide some answers to this problem – a longitudinal study which followed two groups of senior secondary students, one group enrolled in arts subjects and the other not, for three years. The results of the study demonstrate the benefits of young people’s engagement in arts activities, both in and out of school, as well as the connections between the two. The study not only adds to what is known about the benefits of both formal and informal arts education but also provides robust evidence for policymakers and practitioners arguing for the benefits of the arts. You can  find out more about tiny texts and thesis abstracts on Thomson’s blog.

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Write a plan

You might not be a planner when it comes to writing. You might prefer to sit, type and think through ideas as you go. That’s OK. Everybody works differently. But one of the benefits of planning your writing is that your plan can help you when you get stuck. It can help with writer’s block (more on this shortly!) but also maintain clarity of intention and purpose in your writing.

You can do this by creating a  thesis skeleton or storyboard , planning the order of your chapters, thinking of potential titles (which may change at a later stage), noting down what each chapter/section will cover and considering how many words you will dedicate to each chapter (make sure the total doesn’t exceed the maximum word limit allowed).

Use your plan to help prompt your writing when you get stuck and to develop clarity in your writing.

Some starting points include:

• This chapter will argue that…
• This section illustrates that…
• This paragraph provides evidence that…

Of course, we wish it werethat easy. But you need to approach your first draft as exactly that: a draft. It isn’t a perfect, finished product; it is your opportunity to start getting words down on paper. Start with whichever chapter you feel you want to write first; you don’t necessarily have to write the introduction first. Depending on your research, you may find it easier to begin with your empirical/data chapters.

Vitae advocates for the “three draft approach” to help with this and to stop you from focusing on finding exactly the right word or transition as part of your first draft.

This resource originally appeared on Researcher Development .

Kelly Louse Preece is head of educator development at the University of Exeter.

If you would like advice and insight from academics and university staff delivered direct to your inbox each week, sign up for the Campus newsletter .

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The doctoral thesis provides the final evidence that you have acquired knowledge and skills to achieve scientific work independently and competently. With your thesis you produce evidence of the capability of solving an essential scientific problem successfully and increasingly independently as well as of your understanding of integrating new results into the frame of the current state of knowledge.

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For further details concerning the scope and content of your doctoral thesis please study the rules of your doctoral programme.

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Where and how can you submit your doctoral thesis? Which guidelines need additional attention?

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• Manuscript Preparation

Know How to Structure Your PhD Thesis

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In your academic career, few projects are more important than your PhD thesis. Unfortunately, many university professors and advisors assume that their students know how to structure a PhD. Books have literally been written on the subject, but there’s no need to read a book in order to know about PhD thesis paper format and structure. With that said, however, it’s important to understand that your PhD thesis format requirement may not be the same as another student’s. The bottom line is that how to structure a PhD thesis often depends on your university and department guidelines.

But, let’s take a look at a general PhD thesis format. We’ll look at the main sections, and how to connect them to each other. We’ll also examine different hints and tips for each of the sections. As you read through this toolkit, compare it to published PhD theses in your area of study to see how a real-life example looks.

Main Sections of a PhD Thesis

In almost every PhD thesis or dissertation, there are standard sections. Of course, some of these may differ, depending on your university or department requirements, as well as your topic of study, but this will give you a good idea of the basic components of a PhD thesis format.

• Abstract : The abstract is a brief summary that quickly outlines your research, touches on each of the main sections of your thesis, and clearly outlines your contribution to the field by way of your PhD thesis. Even though the abstract is very short, similar to what you’ve seen in published research articles, its impact shouldn’t be underestimated. The abstract is there to answer the most important question to the reviewer. “Why is this important?”
• Introduction : In this section, you help the reviewer understand your entire dissertation, including what your paper is about, why it’s important to the field, a brief description of your methodology, and how your research and the thesis are laid out. Think of your introduction as an expansion of your abstract.
• Literature Review : Within the literature review, you are making a case for your new research by telling the story of the work that’s already been done. You’ll cover a bit about the history of the topic at hand, and how your study fits into the present and future.
• Theory Framework : Here, you explain assumptions related to your study. Here you’re explaining to the review what theoretical concepts you might have used in your research, how it relates to existing knowledge and ideas.
• Methods : This section of a PhD thesis is typically the most detailed and descriptive, depending of course on your research design. Here you’ll discuss the specific techniques you used to get the information you were looking for, in addition to how those methods are relevant and appropriate, as well as how you specifically used each method described.
• Results : Here you present your empirical findings. This section is sometimes also called the “empiracles” chapter. This section is usually pretty straightforward and technical, and full of details. Don’t shortcut this chapter.
• Discussion : This can be a tricky chapter, because it’s where you want to show the reviewer that you know what you’re talking about. You need to speak as a PhD versus a student. The discussion chapter is similar to the empirical/results chapter, but you’re building on those results to push the new information that you learned, prior to making your conclusion.
• Conclusion : Here, you take a step back and reflect on what your original goals and intentions for the research were. You’ll outline them in context of your new findings and expertise.

Tips for your PhD Thesis Format

As you put together your PhD thesis, it’s easy to get a little overwhelmed. Here are some tips that might keep you on track.

• Don’t try to write your PhD as a first-draft. Every great masterwork has typically been edited, and edited, and…edited.
• Work with your thesis supervisor to plan the structure and format of your PhD thesis. Be prepared to rewrite each section, as you work out rough drafts. Don’t get discouraged by this process. It’s typical.
• Make your writing interesting. Academic writing has a reputation of being very dry.
• You don’t have to necessarily work on the chapters and sections outlined above in chronological order. Work on each section as things come up, and while your work on that section is relevant to what you’re doing.
• Don’t rush things. Write a first draft, and leave it for a few days, so you can come back to it with a more critical take. Look at it objectively and carefully grammatical errors, clarity, logic and flow.
• Know what style your references need to be in, and utilize tools out there to organize them in the required format.
• It’s easier to accidentally plagiarize than you think. Make sure you’re referencing appropriately, and check your document for inadvertent plagiarism throughout your writing process.

PhD Thesis Editing Plus

Want some support during your PhD writing process? Our PhD Thesis Editing Plus service includes extensive and detailed editing of your thesis to improve the flow and quality of your writing. Unlimited editing support for guaranteed results. Learn more here , and get started today!

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• PhD Study in Sweden – A Guide for 2024

Written by Mark Bennett

A PhD in Sweden is an opportunity to study in a country that combines a historic higher education system with a culture of ingenuity and invention. The country’s universities date back to the fifteenth century, whilst Swedish brands and technologies such as Spotify, IKEA and Bluetooth continue to shape the modern world.

This covers what you need to know about PhD study in Sweden , including information on applications, funding opportunities and doctoral fees (spoiler: there aren’t any).

PhD opportunities in Sweden – what’s on offer for 2024?

If the goal for your doctorate is to produce original and potentially innovative work (it should be) then a PhD in Sweden may well be the ideal choice.

Like its Scandinavian neighbours, Sweden is also a highly tolerant country, with progressive and inclusive laws that support LGBT rights and welcome international students and visitors.

Here's some reasons to consider a PhD in Sweden for international students:

• Creativity and originality – You may not discover the next big music streaming solution (and even a PhD may not help you understand *that step* in those IKEA instructions) but your doctoral research will be right at home in a country that celebrates free-thinking and supports new ideas
• Prize-winning research - Sweden's status as the home of the Nobel Prize (with 34 winners) reflects its proud history of recognising and rewarding research, excellence and innovation
• No PhD fees – Swedish PhD programmes normally charge no tuition fees to their students (regardless of nationality)
• Historic (and respected) universities – Higher education in Sweden dates back to the 1400s and the country’s universities are well placed in modern rankings, with particular specialisms in Medicine, Life Sciences and related subjects

We’ve studiously avoided making any ABBA references in this section, but if you want a university to take a chance on your research proposal and eventually give you, give you, give you a PhD without charging much money, money, money for fees*. . . well, there are worse destinations to choose than Sweden.

*We're sorry.

Swedish universities

There are 39 state-funded universities and equivalent institutions in Sweden, alongside a smaller number of privately funded higher education providers.

Degrees are organised using a three-cycle system , in common with the wider European Higher Education Area . Your PhD in Sweden will be a third-cycle qualification , usually taking place after Bachelors (first cycle) and Masters (second cycle) study.

Universities and university colleges

Higher education providers in Sweden are divided into two types:

• Universities ( universitet ) are large institutions awarding degrees in a broad range of subjects. They carry out original research alongside academic teaching and therefore have the capacity to support and train PhD students.
• University colleges ( högskola ) focus on technical and professional training, often in applied sciences and related subjects. They are less likely to award PhDs but may do so in certain subject areas.

The distinction between these two categories isn’t always obvious or clear from an institution’s name (university colleges may simply refer to themselves as universities). The good news is that you don’t need to worry too much about it. As a PhD student you’re likely to end up studying at a university, but the smaller number of doctoral programmes offered by university colleges are equally rigorous and respected.

Swedish university rankings

Sweden is home to one of Europe’s top-performing higher education systems, at least so far as university rankings are concerned. Of the 38 universities in Sweden, 10 rank within the current Times Higher Education world top 400.

Do rankings matter for PhD study?

University rankings can help you choose a PhD project or programme, provided you know what to look at. Our guide explains how to use rankings as a prospective postgraduate.

PhD structure

A PhD in Sweden represents the highest level of academic achievement for students. As in other countries, the emphasis is on your independent research towards an original thesis that makes a new contribution to knowledge in your field.

Swedish doctoral degrees

Doctoral level study in Sweden takes one of two forms:

A standard PhD in Sweden requires a minimum of four years full-time work (equivalent to 240 ECTS credits ) and awards a full doctorate (along with the all-important title of ‘doctor’).

Alternatively, you may choose to study for a shorter licentiate degree. This generally only requires two years of full-time work towards a shorter and less ambitious thesis (equivalent to 120 ECTS credits ). The Swedish licentiate is similar to the Master of Philosophy (MPhil) offered in the UK or other countries and some students initially enrol for this qualification before upgrading to become full PhD candidates.

The academic year in Sweden runs from August to June with two teaching terms (August to January and January to June) separated by summer and winter holidays. As a PhD student you’ll normally work more flexibly throughout the year, but some additional courses and other activities may be linked to specific teaching periods.

Supervision

You’ll complete your PhD (or licentiate) with the support of two or more expert supervisors whose job it will be to guide your work. Their roles will vary slightly depending on your field:

• Supervisors for Arts , Humanities and some Social Science projects will serve primarily as mentors. They won’t be directly involved in your research, but they will be able to advise on the direction your project is taking.
• Supervisors for Science , Technology , Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) projects may also be carrying out similar research as the lead or principal investigator for the laboratory or research group your PhD is part of. This means they may also work alongside you or even collaborate on some experiments. However, your PhD thesis will still be an independent piece of work, based on your personal findings and analysis.

You’ll always have at least two PhD supervisors, one of whom will be the principal supervisor for your PhD. Some universities also appoint additional assistant supervisors with responsibility for specific tasks (such as training or pastoral care and support).

Your supervisors’ roles and expectations will be set by your university. As a minimum they’ll usually include arranging regular progress meetings, reviewing results and drafts and supporting you as you prepare to submit your thesis. Some additional responsibilities might include identifying and fulfilling training needs or assisting with other aspects of your professional and academic development.

PhD supervision

Our guides explain how to choose (and contact ) a PhD supervisor and introduce the working relationship you'll have with yours as a doctoral student.

Programme structure

Your main focus during a PhD in Sweden will be the original research required for your thesis. You’ll normally begin by assessing the scholarship in your subject (a literature review) before moving on to collecting sources or experimental data and eventually writing up your conclusions and results.

Some universities also offer more structured training alongside your research. This may involve attending short courses and / or attending short courses on research methods and other useful skills for your project.

It’s also common for PhD students at Swedish universities to serve as junior academic staff within their departments or faculties as part of their funding arrangements. If so, you’ll also have additional duties such as teaching or demonstrating.

Assessment and examinations

The assessment of a Swedish PhD is based on the quality of the doctoral thesis you submit at the end of your research. This needs to demonstrate that your work has been original, that it has made a significant contribution to your subject and that you have personally been responsible for designing and carrying out the research involved.

All of these qualities will be formally assessed during a final public defence of your thesis.

This is similar to the viva voce used in the UK and other countries but follows a slightly different procedure. Instead of being examined in private, you will present your thesis to an examining committee in front of an audience that may include other academics, fellow PhD students and your family and friends.

One of the committee will be an external expert (from outside your university) appointed to serve as your ‘opponent’. They will ask questions about your thesis and challenge you to explain your findings and conclusions. Other members of the committee (and audience) may also ask questions.

At the end of the examination your committee will decide whether or not you have successfully defended your thesis and can be awarded your PhD. This ‘live’ examination process may seem daunting, but you should think of it as an appropriate climax for your research, allowing you to assert your expertise and prove your qualification. It’s also quite rare for students to fail at this stage.

Masters study in Sweden

Looking to study a Masters in Sweden? We have all the information you need on our sister site, FindAMasters .

Fees and funding

There are no fees for PhD study in Sweden at state-funded universities (note that this doesn’t apply to Masters or Bachelors degrees). Doctoral programmes are free for EU, EEA and international (non EU) students.

The same applies to application fees – you don’t need to pay these for a PhD in Sweden.

You will need to cover your accommodation and living costs, but support may be available from your university to help with this.

Study grants

It’s common for PhD students in Sweden to also be recognised as staff, subject to an employment contract with their university. If applicable, this pays you to a salary known as a study grant ( utbildningsbidrag ) worth approximately €1,500 per month (but subject to tax).

Your employment status may vary during your PhD. For the first two years you will receive your study grant, but not be entitled to benefits and social security. For the final two years you will normally hold a full employment contract ( anställning ) and be entitled to support during illness, parental leave or other circumstances. More information will be available from your university.

In return for your study grant you will normally be required to carry out some responsibilities within your department, such as teaching undergraduates or assisting with administrative work.

PhD funding

Other scholarships and bursaries for PhD study in Sweden may also be available to help top up (or substitute for) a study grant.

The main source of PhD funding for international students in Sweden is the Swedish Institute (SI). They offer scholarships for students from specific regions including Turkey, the Balkans and the Baltic. More information is available on the official Study in Sweden website.

Other funding may be available from universities in Sweden, or from specific academic organisations and research charities relevant to your subject area. Our guides provide information on a range of PhD scholarships and other funding options .

Applying for a PhD in Sweden

You should apply directly to universities for PhD study in Sweden. How you do so will depend on the kind of project you are interested in:

• PhDs in Science , Technology , Engineering and Mathematics will often be advertised as specific projects. You should view current opportunities and apply according to the guidelines set by specific adverts. This will often mean submitting a personal statement along with your academic CV and references .
• Students in Arts , Humanities and Social Sciences are more likely to put forward their own project ideas. You’ll need to submit a strong research proposal , perhaps after contacting a potential supervisor for guidance and advice.

However you apply, make sure you check the specific requirements and procedure with your university.

Admissions requirements

Swedish universities are free to set their own entry requirements for PhD study . The minimum qualification will usually be a Bachelors degree in an appropriate subject, but a Masters is also desirable – particularly if you’re applying for funding.

Just as important as your previous qualifications will be your ability to demonstrate previous research experience . This could simply be the dissertation project for one or both of your previous degrees, but it’s important that you can show some preparation for the independent research you’ll be doing on your PhD.

The general eligibility criteria for PhD applications in Sweden is similar to most other countries in the EU.

Language requirements

A large proportion of teaching at Swedish universities takes place in English. This means you won’t necessarily need to know Swedish to study abroad in Sweden, but it’s worth checking with the specific university or department you plan to study within. Even if English isn’t required, picking up some language skills will help you settle in and enjoy your degree.

If English isn’t your first language you may need to submit a recognised test score . Exceptions might be made if you’ve completed a previous university degree taught in English.

Your university may invite you for an interview as part of the admissions process (in person, or online). This is a good sign! It means your application is suitably interesting and impressive and the university wants to hear more from you.

Student visas

Visa information for uk students in sweden.

UK students will no longer be EU citizens from the 2021-22 academic year onwards. This means you may be considered as an international student when studying in Sweden. You may be subject to different visa requirements and fee rates, unless otherwise stated.

You won’t need a visa to study in Sweden as a PhD student (student visas are required for visits of less than three months, but your PhD is guaranteed to take longer than this!).

EU, EEA and Nordic students

If you’re a citizen of an EU, EEA or Nordic country (a group that includes Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Norway as well as Sweden) you won’t need a residence permit to live in Sweden during your PhD. However, you will need to register with a local branch of the Swedish Tax Agency ( Skatteverket ).

You’ll need to bring your passport plus any marriage or birth certificates (if you are married and / or have children). You’ll also need to bring proof of admission to a Swedish university and a signed declaration that you have sufficient funds to live on during your PhD (the minimum requirement is €826 per month ).

Other international students

Students from countries outside the EU, EEA and Nordic group must formally apply for a residence permit in order to study in Sweden for longer than three months.

You can do this online. You’ll need to provide copies of your passport, along with proof that you have been admitted to a Swedish university, have paid the first instalment of your tuition fees and can support yourself financially during your PhD the minimum requirement is €826 per month ).

Health insurance

All students in Sweden will need full health insurance. If you already hold a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) you will normally be automatically covered. Alternatively, your university may provide cover as part of your study grant, or offer an affordable policy for you to purchase.

Sweden is a multicultural and inclusive country with plenty of opportunities for talented PhD graduates to apply their skills and expertise. Who knows – your work could be part of the next great Swedish innovation.

Can I work in Sweden after my PhD?

EU, EEA and Nordic students can live and work in Sweden without restriction. Other international students will need to apply for a post-study residence permit , allowing you to stay in Sweden for another six months as you look for work. To obtain this you’ll need to have completed your degree, still be in Sweden and hold a valid passport.

If you are successful in finding a job within six months, you can go on toapply for a work permit. Further information is available from the Swedish Migration Office .

Find a PhD in Sweden

Ready to start browsing some current PhD opportunities in Sweden ? Alternatively, you can look at our other guides to PhD study abroad .

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Interested in studying your PhD in Sweden? In this guide we've collected some of the global university rankings to help you decide the best university to study at in Sweden.

What's it like to live in Sweden during a PhD? Our guide covers accommodation, student living costs, working and other key information.

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The Shodhganga@INFLIBNET Centre provides a platform for research students to deposit their Ph.D. theses and make it available to the entire scholarly community in open access. The repository has the ability to capture, index, store, disseminate and preserve ETDs submitted by the researchers. [Read More]

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As of May 29th, 2024, Parul University has contributed 100 % Theses (196) to the Shodhganga.

New University added & UC created 769. Maganbhai Adenwala Mahagujarat University (Prof Dr Krup Vasavda) 783. Shri Rawatpura Sarkar University (Mr Sachin Kumar Diwan) MoU List

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Shodhganga crossed 5,35,000 Theses on 27th May 2024.

5,00,000th Thesis is uploaded into Shodhganga by Prof Yogesh Singh, Hon'ble Chairman, Governing Board, INFLIBNET Centre & Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi, Delhi in the august presence of Prof J P Singh Joorel, Director, INFLIBNET Centre, Gandhinagar and other Governing Board Members on 14.12.2023.

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Theses received at the Centre till 30th November 2020 have been uploaded.

770+ Universities started contributing Theses Repository.

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• Universities Contributed in Shodhganga
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• Shodhgangotri

Anna University 16181

University of madras 15040, university of calcutta 14280, savitribai phule pune university 12852, university of mumbai 11692, aligarh muslim university 10336, andhra university 10283, chhatrapati sahuji maharaj university 10193, babasaheb bhimrao ambedkar bihar university 9675, panjab university 9483, abhilashi university 17, academy of scientific and innovative research (acsir) 2679, acharya nagarjuna university 2298, acharya narendra deva university of agriculture and technology, ayodhya 908, adamas university 45, adesh university 25, adichunchanagiri university, mandya 9, adikavi nannaya university, rajahmundry 58, agriculture university, jodhpur 3, agriculture university, kota 13, ahmedabad university 19, aks university 30, alagappa university 2476, alliance university 53, all india institute of medical science, bhopal 1, all india institute of medical sciences rishikesh 7, ambedkar university, delhi 60, amet university 141, amity university haryana 212, amity university, kolkata 2, amity university madhya pradesh 63, amity university, mumbai 32, amity university, noida 1207, amity university rajasthan 233, amrita vishwa vidyapeetham university 604, anand agricultural university 122, annamalai university 3244, apeejay stya university 23, apex university, rajasthan 41, a p goyal shimla university 15, apj abdul kalam technological university, thiruvananthapuram 53, arka jain university 3, arni university 8, arunachal university of studies 2, arunodaya university 2, aryabhatta knowledge university 33, ashoka university 1, assam agricultural university 151, assam don bosco university 123, assam down town university 83, assam rajiv gandhi university of cooperative management 2, assam science and technology university 8, assam university 2297, atal bihari vajpayee indian institute of information technology and management 103, atmiya university 20, auro university 1, avinashilingam institute for home science and higher education for women 725, awadhesh pratap singh university 979, baba ghulam shah badshah university 100, baba mastnath university 98, babasaheb bhimrao ambedkar university 525, babu banarasi das university 148, baddi university of emerging sciences & technology 7, bahra university 5, banaras hindu university 8180, banasthali vidyapith 2274, bangalore university 2518, bankura university 31, bareilly international university 9, barkatullah university 421, bennett university 39, berhampur university 239, bhagat phool singh mahila vishwavidyalaya 140, bhagwan mahavir university 2, bhagwant university 315, bhaikaka university 3, bhakta kavi narsinh mehta university 79, bharathiar university 7416, bharathidasan university 8300, bharath institute of higher education and research 711, bharati vidyapeeth deemed university 654, bhartiya skill development university jaipur 20, bhupendra narayan mandal university 5, bihar agricultural university 89, birla institute of management technology 11, birla institute of technology and science 1630, birla institute of technology, mesra 184, blde (deemed to be university) 54, bml munjal university, gurugram 7, bodoland university 108, brainware university 36, b s abdur rahman crescent institute of science & technology 321, bundelkhand university 2213, calorx teachers university 2, career point university 29, central institute of technology kokrajhar 19, central sanskrit university 358, central university of gujarat 360, central university of haryana 95, central university of himachal pradesh 131, central university of jammu 124, central university of jharkhand 87, central university of karnataka 155, central university of kashmir 259, central university of kerala 173, central university of odisha 36, central university of punjab 194, central university of rajasthan 269, central university of south bihar 39, central university of tamil nadu 118, centurion university of technology and management 95, centurion university of technology and management, vizianagaram 0, cept university 82, chaitanya university, hanamkonda 25, chanakya national law university 1, chandigarh university 136, chandra shekhar azad university of agriculture and technology 123, charotar university of science and technology 169, chaudhary charan singh university 3099, chaudhary devi lal university 285, chaudhary ranbir singh university 19, chaudhary sarwan kumar himachal pradesh krishi vishvavidyalaya 406, chettinad academy of research and education 164, chhatrapati shivaji maharaj university 3, chhattisgarh swami vivekanand technical university 149, childrens university 18, chitkara university 31, chitkara university, punjab 310, christ university 362, cmj university 3, cmr university 51, cochin university of science & technology 2773, cooch behar panchanan barma university 34, cotton university 34, ct university 77, c.u. shah university 200, c.v. raman global university 30, datta meghe institute of medical sciences 218, davangere university 118, dav university 32, dayalbagh educational institute 1231, dayananda sagar university 53, deccan college post graduate and research institute 432, deenbandhu chhotu ram university of science and technology, sonipat 193, deen dayal upadhyay gorakhpur university 841, defence institute of advanced technology 44, delhi pharmaceutical sciences & research university (dpsru) 20, delhi technological university 506, desh bhagat university 246, devi ahilya vishwavidyalaya 2296, dev sanskriti vishwavidyalaya 13, dharmsinh desai university 24, dhirubhai ambani institute of information and communication technology (da-iict) 77, diamond harbour women's university 12, dibrugarh university 982, dit university 95, doon university 55, dr. a.p.j. abdul kalam technical university 409, dravidian university 58, dr. babasaheb ambedkar marathwada university 5581, dr. babasaheb ambedkar open university 186, dr. babasaheb ambedkar technological university 51, dr b r ambedkar national institute of technology jalandhar 109, dr. b. r. ambedkar open university, hyderabad 1, dr. b. r. ambedkar university agra 6008, dr. c.v. raman university 318, dr. d. y. patil vidyapeeth, pune 167, dr. harisingh gour vishwavidhyalay 2305, dr. k n modi university 28, dr. m.g.r. educational and research institute 505, dr. panjabrao deshmukh krishi vidyapeeth, akola 50, dr. rammanohar lohia avadh university, faizabad 4638, dr ram manohar lohiya national law university 58, dr. sarvepalli radhakrishnan rajasthan ayurved university 191, dr shakuntala misra national rehabilitation university 74, dr. shyama prasad mukherjee international institute of information technology naya raipur 9, dr. vishwanath karad mit world peace university 23, dr. y.s. parmar university of horticulture and forestry 177, dr.y.s.r. horticultural university 24, d y patil university, kolhapur 67, entrepreneurship development institute of india 1, eternal university 7, fakir mohan university, balasore 166, forest research institute university 350, galgotias university 90, gangadhar meher university 88, ganpat university 165, garden city university 8, gauhati university 6336, gautam buddha university 241, g.b.pant university of agriculture & technology 172, gd goenka university 124, geetanjali university 44, g h raisoni university, amravati 23, giet university, gunupur 25, gitam university 932, gla university 234, glocal university 97, gls university 123, gna university 27, goa university 1125, gokhale institute of politics and economics 31, gokul global university 2, gondwana university 182, graphic era hill university dehradun 17, graphic era university 157, gujarat ayurveda university 5, gujarat forensic sciences university 26, gujarat national law university 21, gujarat technological university 367, gujarat university 4541, gujarat vidyapith 620, gulbarga university 1130, guru angad dev veterinary and animal sciences university 5, guru ghasidas university 353, guru gobind singh indraprastha university 640, guru jambheshwar university of science & technology 684, guru kashi university 367, gurukul kangri vishwavidyalaya 411, guru nanak dev university 2043, harcourt butler technical university 16, hemchandracharya north gujarat university 582, hemchand yadav vishwavidyalaya 50, hemwati nandan bahuguna garhwal university 953, himachal pradesh national law university 1, himachal pradesh university 3152, himalayan garhwal university 64, himgiri zee university 37, hindustan institute of technology and science 323, homi bhabha national institute 2576, homoeopathy university 26, icfai foundation for higher education, telangana 89, icfai university, dimapur nagaland 25, icfai university himachal pradesh 5, icfai university, jaipur 17, icfai university, jharkhand 45, icfai university, tripura 14, iec university 18, iftm university 297, iilm university, gurugram 14, iimt university, meerut 20, iis (deemed to be university) 448, i k gujral punjab technical university 856, ims unison university 15, indian institute of engineering science and technology, shibpur 450, indian institute of foreign trade 68, indian institute of information technology, allahabad 204, indian institute of information technology, design and manufacturing, iiitdm jabalpur 144, indian institute of information technology design & manufacturing kancheepuram 70, indian institute of information technology dharwad 2, indian institute of information technology guwahati 21, indian institute of information technology kalyani 9, indian institute of information technology nagpur 3, indian institute of informationtechnology, vadodara 1, indian institute of management ahmedabad 15, indian institute of management bangalore 47, indian institute of management (iim),indore 38, indian institute of management kashipur 21, indian institute of management kozhikode 27, indian institute of management lucknow 104, indian institute of management mumbai (formerly nitie) 72, indian institute of management raipur 47, indian institute of management rohtak 6, indian institute of management shillong 16, indian institute of management udaipur 1, indian institute of science bangalore 1207, indian institute of science education and research (iiser) bhopal 46, indian institute of science education and research (iiser) mohali 356, indian institute of science education and research (iiser) pune 521, indian institute of science education and research (iiser) thiruvananthapuram 210, indian institute of science education and research kolkata 105, indian institute of space science and technology 179, indian institute of teacher education 7, indian institute of technology bhilai 17, indian institute of technology bhubaneswar 76, indian institute of technology bombay 1739, indian institute of technology delhi 2123, indian institute of technology dharwad 9, indian institute of technology gandhinagar 39, indian institute of technology goa 3, indian institute of technology guwahati 2525, indian institute of technology hyderabad 290, indian institute of technology iit (bhu), varanasi 985, indian institute of technology indore 399, indian institute of technology (ism), dhanbad 1051, indian institute of technology jammu 23, indian institute of technology jodhpur 149, indian institute of technology kanpur 1, indian institute of technology kharagpur 814, indian institute of technology madras 1608, indian institute of technology mandi 259, indian institute of technology palakkad 16, indian institute of technology patna 148, indian institute of technology roorkee 490, indian institute of technology ropar 204, indian institute of technology tirupati 11, indian maritime university 1, indian school of mines 53, indian veterinary research institute, izatnagar 354, indira gandhi delhi technical university for women 59, indira gandhi institute of development research 105, indira gandhi national open university ignou 976, indira gandhi national tribal university, amarkantak 155, indira gandhi university meerpur,rewari 43, indira kala sangeet vishwavidyalaya 133, indraprastha institute of information technology, delhi (iiit-delhi) 139, indrashil university 4, indus international university 7, indus university 46, institute of advanced research, gandhinagar 14, institute of advanced studies in education (iase) 191, institute of chemical technnology, mumbai 108, institute of infrastructure technology research and management 35, institute of trans-disciplinary health science & technology 32, integral university 614, international institute for population sciences iips 366, international institute of information technology bangalore 66, international institute of information technology, hyderabad 194, international management institute 9, international management institute kolkata 2, invertis university, bareily 1, isbm university 1, isbr business school 1, islamic university of science and technology 49, itm university, gwalior 28, jadavpur university 3973, jagadguru ramanadacharya rajasthan sanskrit university 2, jagannath university 212, jagannath university, jhajjar 66, jagran lakecity university 32, jai narain vyas university 604, jain university 754, jain vishwa bharati university 246, jai prakash vishwavidyalaya 3, jaipur national university 350, jamia hamdard university 941, jamia milia islamia university 2514, janardan rai nagar rajasthan vidhyapeeth 1, jawaharlal nehru architecture and fine arts university 7, jawaharlal nehru centre for advanced scientific research 42, jawaharlal nehru technological university, anantapuram 1321, jawaharlal nehru technological university, hyderabad 1468, jawaharlal nehru technological university, kakinada 310, jawaharlal nehru university 7540, jayoti vidyapeeth women s university 327, jaypee institute of information technology 337, jaypee university of engineering & technology, guna 122, jaypee university of information technology, solan 281, j. c. bose university of science and technology, ymca, faridabad 67, jecrc university 88, jharkhand rai university 48, jis university, kolkata 18, jiwaji university 2317, jk lakshmipat university 22, jodhpur national university 2, jss academy of higher education & research 403, jss science and technology university, mysuru 22, j.s. university, shikohabad 26, junagadh agricultural university 1, kadi sarva vishwavidyalaya 597, kakatiya university, warangal 540, kalasalingam university 406, kalinga institute of social sciences (kiss) 10, kalinga university 238, kamdhenu university 8, kameshwara singh darbhanga sanskrit vishwavidyalaya, darbhanga 3, kannada university 101, kannur university 881, karnataka samskrit university 61, karnataka state law university 15, karnataka state open university 17, karnataka state womens university 300, karnataka veterinary, animal and fisheries sciences university 102, karnatak university 5125, karnavati university 15, karpagam university 298, karunya university 582, kavayitri bahinabai chaudhari north maharashtra university 1280, kavikulaguru kalidas sanskrit university 149, kazi nazrul university 26, kerala agricultural university 13, kerala university of health sciences 3, khwaja moinuddin chishti urdu, arabi-farsi university 16, kiit university 1077, king george medical university 21, kle technological university 13, kle university 187, kolhan university 32, koneru lakshmaiah education foundation 933, krantiguru shyamji krishna verma kachchh university 124, krea university 1, krishna institute of medical sciences, deemed to be university karad 68, krishna kanta handiqui state open university 36, krishna university, machilipatnam 69, k.r. mangalam university, gurgaon 101, kumaun university 1719, kurukshetra university 1487, kushabhau thakre patrakarita avam jansanchar vishwavidyalaya 7, kuvempu university 1388, lakshmibai national university of physical education 225, lakulish yoga university 19, lalit narayan mithila university 6859, lingayas vidyapeeth 96, lnct university 136, lovely professional university 863, madan mohan malaviya university of technology 92, madhav university 241, madhyanchal professional university 3, madhya pradesh bhoj (open) university 9, madurai kamaraj university 5837, magadh university 22, mahapurusha srimanta sankaradeva viswavidyalaya 40, maharaja agrasen university 109, maharaja ganga singh university 2278, maharaja krishnakumarsinhji bhavnagar university 1506, maharaja ranjit singh punjab technical university 19, maharaja sayajirao university of baroda 4072, maharaja sriram chandra bhanja deo university 16, maharaja vinayak global university 108, maharana pratap university of agriculture and technology 162, maharashtra animal and fishery sciences university 17, maharashtra national law university nagpur 5, maharashtra university of health sciences 221, maharishi markandeshwar university, mullana 512, maharishi markandeshwar university, sadopur (ambala) 27, maharishi university of information technology 50, maharshi dayanand saraswati university 210, maharshi dayanand university 4689, mahatma gandhi antarrashtriya hindi vishwavidyalaya 254, mahatma gandhi chitrakoot gramodaya vishwavidyalaya 149, mahatma gandhi kashi vidyapith 4972, mahatma gandhi univeristy of medical sciences & technnology , jaipur 39, mahatma gandhi university 3942, mahatma gandhi university, nalgonda 18, mahatma jyotiba phule rohilkhand university 1676, makhanlal chaturvedi national university of journalism and communication, bhopal 22, malaviya national institute of technology jaipur 361, malwanchal university, indore 44, management development institute gurgaon 25, manav rachna international institute of research and studies 233, manav rachna university 58, mandsaur university 64, mangalayatan university 144, mangalore university 2029, manipal academy of higher education 1710, manipal university jaipur 323, manipur university 1824, manonmaniam sundaranar university 7498, martin luther christian university 44, marwadi university 18, mats university 89, maulana abul kalam azad university of technology 95, maulana azad national institute of technology bhopal 282, maulana azad national urdu university 391, m.b.m. university 15, medi caps university, indore 25, meenakshi academy of higher education and research 169, mewar university 335, mgm institute of health sciences 135, mica, ahmedabad 26, mit-adt university, pune 51, mizoram university 783, mody university of science and technology 122, mohammad ali jauhar university 4, mohan lal sukhadia university 1055, monad university 37, motherhood university 1, mother teresa womens university 1072, motilal nehru national institute of technology 582, m s ramaiah university of applied sciences 71, mvn university,palwal 70, nagaland university 520, narsee monjee institute of management studies 279, national brain research centre 97, national institute of educational planning and administration (niepa) 34, national institute of fashion technology delhi 30, national institute of food technology entrepreneurship and management - niftem (k)kundli 25, national institute of food technology entrepreneurship and management thanjavur (niftem-t) 27, national institute of pharmaceutical education and research, ahmedabad 29, national institute of pharmaceutical education and research, guwahati 23, national institute of pharmaceutical education and research, hajipur 11, national institute of pharmaceutical education and research, hyderabad 41, national institute of pharmaceutical education and research kolkata 14, national institute of pharmaceutical education and research, raebareli 6, national institute of technology agartala 175, national institute of technology arunachal pradesh 54, national institute of technology calicut 228, national institute of technology delhi 69, national institute of technology durgapur 160, national institute of technology goa 49, national institute of technology hamirpur 94, national institute of technology jamshedpur 124, national institute of technology karnataka 494, national institute of technology,kurukshetra 158, national institute of technology manipur 72, national institute of technology mizoram 34, national institute of technology nagaland 11, national institute of technology (nit) meghalaya 99, national institute of technology (nit), warangal 555, national institute of technology patna 346, national institute of technology puducherry 56, national institute of technology raipur 194, national institute of technology, rourkela 398, national institute of technology sikkim 29, national institute of technology silchar 69, national institute of technology srinagar 189, national institute of technology tiruchirappalli 234, national institute of technology uttarakhand 35, national law institute university, bhopal 8, national law school of india university 48, national law university and judicial academy, guwahati 9, national law university, delhi 37, national law university, odisha 12, national museum institute of hisotry of art conservation and musicology 2, national sanskrit university 47, navrachana university 25, nehru gram bharati university 155, netaji subhas open university 1, netaji subhas university of technology 9, niilm university 2, niit university 15, nims university rajasthan 359, nirma university 386, nitte university 94, noida international university 81, noorul islam centre for higher education 351, north-eastern hill university 2738, north eastern regional institute of science and technology (nerist) 100, odisha university of agriculture and technology 160, om sterling global university 106, o.p. jindal university 8, opjs university 21, oriental university 92, osmania university 1667, pacific university 2309, padmashree dr. d.y. patil vidyapeeth, navi mumbai 76, pandit deendayal petroleum university 176, pandit s. n. shukla university, shahdol 10, parul university 195, patna university 335, peoples university, bhopal 7, periyar maniammai university 157, periyar university 3287, pes university 23, p.k. university 25, pondicherry university 2509, poornima university 75, potti sreeramulu telugu university 1, p p savani university 3, pravara institute of medical sciences 47, presidency university 113, presidency university, karnataka 161, prist university 86, pt. ravishankar shukla university 2927, pt. sundarlal sharma open university bilaspur 250, punjab engineering college (deemed to be university) 60, punjabi university 3194, rabindra bharati university 421, rabindranath tagore university, bhopal 325, raffles university 16, raiganj university 182, rai university 308, rajasthan technical university, kota 149, rajiv gandhi institute of petroleum technology 37, rajiv gandhi national institute of youth development 7, rajiv gandhi national university of law punjab 32, rajiv gandhi proudyogiki vishwavidyalaya 630, rajiv gandhi university 659, rama devi womens university 12, ramakrishna mission vivekananda educational and research institute 222, ramakrishna mission vivekananda university 1, rama university, uttar pradesh 78, ramchandra chandravansi university 11, ranchi university 100, rani channamma university 120, rani durgavati vishwavidyalaya 356, rashtrasant tukadoji maharaj nagpur university 313, rashtriya raksha university 19, ravenshaw university 486, rayat bahra university, mohali 16, regional centre for biotechnology 1, reva university 219, rimt university 38, rkdf university 127, rkdf university ranchi 1, rk university 287, rnb global university 4, sage university, indore 82, sai nath university 138, sambalpur university 1784, sam higginbottom institute of agriculture, technology and sciences 482, sampurnanand sanskrit vishwavidhyalaya 3, sanchi university of buddhist-indic studies, bhopal 6, sandip university 39, sangam university 63, sanjay gandhi post graduate institute of medical sciences, lucknow 12, sanjay ghodawat university 2, sankalchand patel university 54, sanskriti university 49, sant baba bhag singh university 38, sant gadge baba amravati university 3038, sant longowal institute of engineering and technology 315, santosh deemed to be university 104, sardarkrushinagar dantiwada agricultural university 0, sardar patel university 3357, sardar vallabhbhai national institute of technology surat 411, sarvepalli radhakrishnan university 148, sastra university 553, satavahana university 9, sathyabama institute of science and technology 422, saurashtra university 3283, saveetha university 837, school of planning and architecture, bhopal 22, school of planning and architecture, new delhi 49, school of planning and architecture vijayawada 10, seacom skills university 111, sgt university 105, sharda university 215, sher-e-kashmir university of agricultural sciences and technology of jammu 137, shivaji university 4902, shiv nadar university 176, shobhit university, gangoh 29, shobhit university, meerut 166, shoolini university of biotechnology and management sciences 511, shree somnath sanskrit university 110, shri govind guru university 73, shri guru ram rai university 69, shri jagdishprasad jhabarmal tibarewala university 3655, shri khushal das university 129, shri lal bahadur shastri national sanskrit university 545, shri mata vaishno devi university 232, shri ramswaroop memorial university 151, shri rawatpura sarkar university 1, shri vaishnav vidyapeeth vishwavidyalaya 47, shri venkateshwara university, uttar pradesh 2, shyam university 9, sidho kanho birsha university 108, sido kanhu murmu university 21, sikkim manipal university 88, sikkim university 213, siksha "o" anusandhan university 568, singhania university 23, sir padampat singhania university 75, sndt womens university 1263, solapur university 270, south asian university 2, s. p. jain institute of management and research 5, sree sankaracharya university of sanskrit 721, sri balaji vidyapeeth 53, sri chandrasekharendra saraswathi viswa mahavidyalaya 417, sri devaraj urs academy of higher education and research 44, sri guru granth sahib world university 84, sri guru ram das university of health sciences 9, sri krishnadevaraya university 3434, srinivas university 19, sri padmavathi womens university 245, sri ramachandra institute of higher education and research 372, sri sai university 2, sri sathya sai institute of higher learning 110, sri satya sai university of technology & medical sciences 80, sri siddhartha academy of higher education 69, sri sri university 17, sri venkateswara institute of medical sciences 24, sri venkateswara university 5461, srm institute of science and technology 1576, srm university- ap 21, srm university, delhi-ncr, sonepat 83, starex university 2, st. joseph university, dimapur 17, st. peter’s institute of higher education and research 394, st. xaviers university, kolkata 1, sumandeep vidyapeeth deemed to be university 49, sunrise university 5, suresh gyan vihar university 387, sushant university (earlier ansal university) 59, swami rama himalayan university 14, swami ramanand teerth marathwada university 5633, swami vivekanad subharti university 178, swami vivekananda yoga anusandhana sansthana 145, swami vivekanand university 80, swarnim gujarat sports university 7, symbiosis international university 524, tamil nadu agricultural university 1417, tamil nadu dr. ambedkar law university 59, tamil nadu open university 49, tamilnadu physical education and sports university 259, tamil nadu teachers education university, chennai 203, tamil nadu veterinary and animal sciences university 79, tamil university 161, tantia university 248, tata institute of fundamental research 1015, tata institute of social sciences 583, techno india university 4, teerthanker mahaveer university 93, teri school of advanced studies 138, tezpur university 925, thapar institute of engineering and technology 1203, the assam kaziranga university 23, the assam royal global university 14, the charutar vidya mandal cvm university 5, the english & foreign languages university, hyderabad 787, the gandhigram rural institute 1390, the icfai university, dehradun 47, the iihmr university, jaipur 35, the indian law institute, new delhi 19, the lnm institute of information technology 34, the national academy of legal studies and research (nalsar) university of law 50, the national university of advanced legal studies 4, the neotia university 4, the northcap university 109, the tamil nadu dr. m.g.r. medical university 438, the university of burdwan 3079, the west bengal national university of juridical sciences 35, thiruvalluvar university 289, thunchath ezhuthachan malayalam university 16, tilak maharashtra vidyapeeth 911, tilka manjhi bhagalpur university 269, tripura university 470, tumkur university 299, uka tarsadia university 118, university of agricultural sciences, bangalore 453, university of agricultural sciences, dharwad 286, university of agricultural sciences, raichur 63, university of allahabad 2604, university of calicut 2271, university of delhi 5326, university of engineering and management, kolkata 17, university of gour banga 12, university of hyderabad 2769, university of jammu 1228, university of kalyani 2836, university of kashmir 1942, university of kerala 7264, university of kota 125, university of lucknow 6208, university of mysore 4357, university of north bengal 2072, university of patanjali 32, university of petroleum and energy studies (upes) 398, university of rajasthan 1810, university of science and technology, meghalaya 101, u.p. pt. deen dayal upadhyaya pashu chikitsa vigyan vishwavidhyalaya evam go anusandha sansthan 27, u p rajarshi tondon open university 336, usha martin university 21, utkal university 5683, uttarakhand open university 19, uttarakhand sanskrit university 57, uttarakhand technical university 275, uttaranchal university 73, vardhaman mahaveer open university, kota 23, v. b. s. purvanchal university 9163, veer kunwar singh university, arrah 32, veer narmad south gujarat university 3363, veer surendra sai university of technology 189, vellore institute of technology bhopal 8, vellore institute of technology, vellore 2277, vellore institute of technology (vit-ap) 73, vels university 951, vel tech rangarajan dr. sagunthala r&d institute of science and technology 235, vidyasagar university 889, vignans foundation for science technology and research 212, vijayanagara sri krishnadevaraya university, bellary 131, vikram university 95, vinayaka missions research foundation 361, vinoba bhave university 257, vishwakarma university 27, visva bharti university 1600, visvesvaraya national institute of technology 287, visvesvaraya technological university, belagavi 1078, vivekananda global university 74, william carey university 1, xim university 26, yashwantrao chavan maharashtra open university 330, ybn university 44, yenepoya (deemed to be university) 135, yogi vemana university 92, about shodhshuddhi.

Based on the recommendation of Sub-Committee, National Steering Committee (NSC) of e-ShodhSindhu, The Ministry of Education, Govt. of India has initiated a programme "ShodhShuddhi" which provides access to Plagiarism Detection Software (PDS) to all universities/Institutions in India since Sept 1, 2019 [Read More...]

Under this initiative, URKUND a Web Based Plagiarism Detection Software system is being provided to all users of universities/Intuitions in the country. This initiative is formally launched by Honorable Minister of HRD (now renamed as Minister of Education) on September 21, 2019

The INFLIBNET Centre receives numerous queries from Colleges regarding membership to Shodhganga and e-ShodhSindhu. Following clarifications are being provided in this regard: Read More.

Full Text Theses

Synopses/mrps/pdfs/fellowships, universities contributing, universities+cftis/inis signed mou, prof devika p madalli, sh. manoj kumar k, general / technical query, antiplagiarism query.

The Shodhganga@INFLIBNET Centre provides a platform for research students to deposit their Ph.D. theses and make it available to the entire scholarly community in open access. The repository has the ability to capture, index, store, disseminate and preserve ETDs submitted by the researchers. [Read l]