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PhD thesis: formal requirements and submission

The thesis (or dissertation) is a document prepared by the PhD candidate in order to obtain the doctoral degree, and in which the candidate’s research results and findings are included.

Deadline for submission of the doctoral thesis

The thesis must be submitted within 3 years after the complex exam.

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 The results chapter may also include unpublished results.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.

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 the submission the thesis it is supposed to be sent to the Doctoral Office by email phd.oktatasadmin@semmelweis.hu so that the originality can be revised.  After the revision the Doctoral Office sends the originality report back to the supervisor and the candidate within 3 weekdays. By sending the thesis the candidate agrees on creating a Turnitin profile by the Doctoral Office to accomplish the revision of the thesis. Please  do not send in any printed documentation (not a printed copy of the thesis, either) to the Doctoral Office while submitting.

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

 

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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