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PhD thesis: formal requirements and submission

 

DOCTORAL REGULATIONS: Section 22 [Requirements for Obtaining the Degree Related to Publications]

(1) The candidate’s scientific and publication activities, as well as the requirements for obtaining the degree (Annexes III.3.-7-9.), must be assessed and determined based on the mode of preparation and the scientific classification of the topic. In the scientific publications of doctoral students participating in organized training, the following institutional affiliations must be indicated:

  1. a) In the case of research conducted at a university training site: the name of the university institute/clinic,
  2. b) In the case of research conducted at a non-university training site: the name of the Doctoral School of Semmelweis University,
  3. c) For students participating in the Translational Medicine Training Program: the name of the Center for Translational Medicine.

After the defense of the dissertation, the Doctoral Council awards the doctoral degree to the candidate.

Deadline for submission of the doctoral thesis

The thesis must be submitted within 3 years after the complex exam.
The deadline may be extended by up to one year in exceptional cases requiring special consideration (e.g. childbirth, illness).

All the accepted thesises are available at the website of the Hungarian Doctoral Council.

Guidelines for Preparing the Doctoral Dissertation

The dissertation is a synthesis of the candidate’s scientific work and not a simple compilation of published articles. Therefore, it is expected that the introduction and literature review, which jointly underpin all results, as well as the comprehensive discussion of the results, are prepared independently. The results chapter may also include unpublished results.

If the dissertation uses the work, data, hypotheses, etc., of other authors, they must be properly cited.

Plagiarism is committed when someone uses the original author’s work in their own published work without citation or source indication, presenting it as their own. When using images, figures, etc., the permission of the copyright holder is also required, so it is recommended to obtain them from reliable, verifiable sources (journals, books). The possible ways to request permission are listed below.

If plagiarism is detected in the dissertation, Semmelweis University will reject the PhD thesis, initiate disciplinary proceedings against the doctoral candidate, and revoke the already awarded PhD degree. The doctoral candidate must declare compliance with the rules on originality and copyright (see documents to be submitted: Statement about the authenticity and Copyright).

During the preliminary review, it is always considered which parts of the thesis are affected by the matches found by running Turnitin or other plagiarism detection programs and how critical the extent of the matches may be.

The doctoral candidate may use their own previously published figures and texts in their PhD thesis. However, it must be clearly indicated that these are their own previously published works, which must be properly cited (permission from the copyright holder may be required, see below). The results and materials of co-authors (including the supervisor) cannot be presented as the candidate’s own. The candidate must declare their own works included in the dissertation, which must be accepted by the first and corresponding/last authors of the published articles (see documents to be submitted: Formal pre-review about the doctoral thesis).

Attaching copies of the candidate’s own publications to the thesis may infringe copyright, so it is necessary to check what rights were transferred to the publisher when the “publishing or copyright agreement” was signed. It is advisable to check the “rights retained” section on the publisher’s website, as it may contain the necessary information.

In online journals, next to individual articles, there are often links labeled “ask permission,” “permissions,” or similar, which allow you to request permission for the use of a specific figure, table, or even the entire document by filling out a form. If the agreement is not clear, it is advisable to request permission from the publisher. Major publishers usually operate automatic permission request services, such as https://www.elsevier.com/authors/permission-request-form

The Copyright Clearance Center also provides a quick way to request permissions, where it is possible to obtain permission for many journals.

Many publishers offer “open access” publishing under the Creative Commons attribution license, which allows the article to be attached to the thesis. If the article has a CC-BY license, no permission is required.

Publications published in predator journals listed on MTMT Norwegian list cannot be accepted to submit the dissertions if the publications were published after the journals had been placed on the list.

Publication of the Thesis, Copyright

The PhD dissertation will be uploaded in a publicly accessible form on the website of the National Doctoral Council. The publisher is Semmelweis University, and the copyright belongs to the author. (The author may retain all rights or use the CC-BY-NC license).

Language of the thesis

The language of the PhD thesis of the international students can be Hungarian or English irrespective of the language of the candidate’s publications.

Length of the thesis

The thesis must be A4 format  (every page should be numbered and  the copy of  the pages of  publications do not count into the length).

  • If the candidate  started  the PhD studies after 1/09/2020,  the thesis must be: minimum 30, maximum 60 pages.
  • If the candidate started the  PhD studies before 1/09/2020, the candidate can choose betweeen the longer version: minimum 70, maximum 150 pages or the shorter version: minimum 30, maximum 60 pages 

Formal requirements:

Cover Page samples:

References:

  • numbered with Arabic numbers in the text – e.g. (6, 12)   In the reference section the references should be either alphabetically or chronologically ordered,
  • references are listed with all the authors of the publications
  • journals are to be referred due to their abbreviated forms in PubMed or Social Science Citation Index, Hungarian journals are to be referred by the abbreviation applied by their editorial boards
  • referred publications must be given with the year, volume, first and last page number
  • book chapters are to be referred as below:
  1. Jaiswal SP, Jain AK, Naik G Soni N, Chitnis DS. (2001) Viral hepatitis during pregnancy. Int J Gynaecol Obstet, 72: 103-108.
  2. Marby T, Markham KR, Thomas MB. The systematic identification of flavonoids. Springer-Verlag, New-York, 1970: 62-68.
  3. Rácz K. Adrenocorticotropin. Cushing-kór, Nelson-szindróma. In: Leövey A (szerk.), A klinikai endokrinológia és anyagcsere-betegségek kézikönyve. Medicina, Budapest, 2001: 178-186.

 

Thesis-book: the short version of the thesis

Length: 8-20 pages, A5 format

Structure of the thesis book:

    • Introduction
    • Objectives
    • Methods
    • Conclusions
    • Bibliography
      (only the candidate’s publications, publications related to the thesis separetely from the others)


Preliminary origin inspection

Before submitting the dissertation, an originality check is required, which is carried out by the Doctoral Office.

According to Section 23 (4) of the Doctoral Regulations:

The doctoral candidate is required to send the dissertation to the Doctoral Office for plagiarism screening prior to the actual submission. The result of the check will be sent by the Office to both the candidate and the supervisor within 3 working days. Submitting the dissertation is conditional upon the supervisor’s confirmation that the submitted dissertation does not infringe upon the copyright of others. This declaration can be downloaded from the official template repository and must be attached at the time of submission.

For plagiarism screening, only the dissertation must be submitted to the following email address:
📧 phd.oktatasadmin@semmelweis.hu

Guidelines for interpreting the results of the Turnitin originality checking system

By sending the dissertation, the student automatically consents to the Doctoral Office creating a free Turnitin profile for the purpose of checking the dissertation.


Binding and Number of Copies

Number of copies

For the preliminary review, a printed copy is NOT required until further notice. After the preliminary review, one bound copy, including the publications, must be submitted. Additional bound copies may be required only upon the request of the opponent.


Binding of the Doctoral Dissertation after the Formal Preliminary Review

We inform the degree candidates that after the preliminary review, each dissertation will receive a serial number before binding.

  • The serial-numbered cover page will be sent electronically by the administrator of the Doctoral Office.

  • The serial-numbered cover page must be bound in front of the dissertation cover.

  • One copy of the dissertation, along with the publications forming the basis of the dissertation, must be submitted to the Doctoral Office within two weeks.

  • The dissertation and the publications must be bound together (hardcover binding).

  • If requested by the opponent(s), additional bound copies must also be submitted.

Download the EndNote program:
ttps://lib.semmelweis.hu/endnote

Formal Requirements for the Binding of Doctoral Dissertations


Submission of the thesis

The submission of the thesis, along with the scanned related documents, is done exclusively electronically to the email address phddisszertacio@semmelweis.hu. We can only accept the documents in PDF format.

To be attached:

Exceptionally, a book or an artistic piece can be considered of similar value to a PhD thesis. The summaries and PhD thesis outlines are required in this case as well (depending on the nature of the work). The Doctoral Council of the University can determine other requirements or dispensations for individual cases.

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