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Theses

Doctoral and Postdoctoral Theses

Publication

Have you successfully defended your doctoral or postdoctoral thesis? Congratulations!

In order to complete the process of obtaining your PhD or postdoctoral degree at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, the publication of the written work is required. The publication process is completed by submitting deposit copies of your work to the Theses Office of the University and State Library of Saxony-Anhalt (ULB) and must generally take place within one year. Some faculties also grant longer deadlines or the option of an extension.

The text of your doctoral or postdoctoral thesis has to be published in the defended version. Subsequent corrections are not permitted, unless the responsible examination committee has ordered change requests. Only the names of the reviewers and the date of the defence must be added.

There are three options for publication: you can submit either the electronic version (online publication), print copies or copies released by a publishing house. The relevant terms on the options and the number of copies can be found in the respective doctoral or postdoctoral regulations of your faculty. The following minimum requirements apply to the Faculty of Medicine.

Deposit Copies

Electronic Version (Online Publication)

The publication of the electronic version takes place via Share_it, the open access and research data repository of all university libraries in Saxony-Anhalt, which is hosted by the University and State Library of Saxony-Anhalt.

If you have chosen the online publication, please submit the following copies and documents to us:

deposit licence signed and as a scan in 1 file by e-mail;
PDF/A file of the electronic version by e-mail;
1 Word file with the following metadata on the content in the language of the work (for cumulative works in the language of the framework text):
- an abstract with a maximum of 1,000 characters including spaces,
- a maximum of 10 keywords;

at least 1 hardback copy, see Print Copies for specifications.

Our repository "Share_It"

Deposit Licence

In order to be able to publish the electronic version of your doctoral or postdoctoral thesis online on our repository, please fill in the “Deposit Licence for the Publication of an Electronic Doctoral/Postdoctoral Thesis via the Publication Server Share_it”. You will find the necessary specifications in the attached information sheet as well.

With the deposit licence, you decide under which Creative Commons licence your work will be published. The default licence of our repository Share_it is CC BY 4.0 International. An overview of the licences, further information as well as the licence specifications are published at creativecommons.org (the site is in English, but the subpages for the individual licences can also be displayed in other languages).

Deposit Licence

Creative Commons

PDF Document

Your PDF file should comply with the following specifications:

PDF/A (see Share_it help for instructions);
no copy protection;
no password protection;
identical to the print version.

Personal information relevant to data protection law, such as date and place of birth, home address, telephone number, school grades or signature, must be removed from the electronic version. Some faculties also allow the complete removal of the CV upon written request. Please enquire about this option at your dean’s office. Please also note that the pagination of the publication may not be changed by the removal.

Create PDF/A files

Print Copies

Should you submit print copies, you have to produce at least 4 of them with the following specifications:

bound as hardcover;
printed on non-aging, wood- and acid-free paper;
Preferably printed duplex;
in A4 or A5* format.

There are generally no specifications for the design of the cover in terms of colour and imprinting.

* Please be aware of the requirements for A5 format laid down in the Postdoctoral Regulations for Agricultural Sciences (Faculty of Natural Sciences III) in art. 11, para. 1 (German only).

Publisher’s Copies

Do you want to publish your doctoral or postdoctoral thesis in cooperation with a publishing house? Then the layout of the book edition is usually based on the publisher’s specifications regarding format, typeface, and design of the title page. However, when the publisher implements the layout, please assure that either the original title page is printed as well, or that at least a so-called university thesis note is included, e.g. in the imprint, stating the name of the university (preferably written in full), the type of the thesis, and the year of the defence. You have to submit at least 2 copies of the finished publisher’s edition to the ULB.

Clarification of Rights

Material for which you do not hold the copyright or right of use may not be (re)published without authorisation. This applies to any form of material – texts, images/illustrations, graphics, etc. (e.g. including X-ray images and questionnaires). The publication of your thesis is therefore only possible once all rights have been clarified – regardless of whether you choose the online publication or submit print copies only. Please submit all necessary authorisations to us without being asked.

At best, please clarify the reproduction rights, consent of persons shown and uses covered within the scope of the right to quote at the moment you want to use the material in your work. When using the material, please also ensure that it is anonymised or pseudonymised in accordance with data protection regulations.

In the case of publisher’s copies, please clarify these questions with the publishing house.

Cumulative Theses

Cumulative theses are so-called publication-based works in which texts previously released by a publishing house (usually journal articles) are published together with a framework text. Rights clearance is also required here. This is independent of whether a text has already been released by a publishing house or is still unpublished and whether your work is to be published online or in print. In any case, please provide us with the permission of the relevant publisher or, in the case of unpublished texts, the consent of the co-authors. If texts have been published under a Creative Commons licence, please check the licence to determine which use is permitted.

Please note that some publishers require a specific phrase or citation of the published text. You can found the conditions in the respective permissions, licence rights or similar.

It is also important to note that cumulative works cannot be published under a Creative Commons licence without further ado. Therefore, please fill in the most restrictive licence in the deposit licence – in relation to the texts contained in the work.

Formatting

Before you submit your work to the library, here are a few suggestions for the layout:

Title Page

For the design of your title page, please follow the specifications given in the valid doctoral or postdoctoral regulations of your faculty or on the respective homepage. In addition, the ULB requires you to provide the names of the reviewers and the date of the defence (this information is necessary for the creation of catalogue metadata).

Pagination

To ensure that your work can be cited properly, you should consider a few aspects when formatting the page numbering:

do not repeat the type of page numbering – example: I-XI, 1-122, i-iii;
alternatively, continue the existing count – example: I-XI, 1-122, XII-XIV;
cumulative works: also count the pages with reprinted articles;
appendices: count through or use a count in different format.

Before submission, please check that the page numbers are correct.

Images and Graphics

If you have decided in favour of online publication, please check the quality of the images and graphics in the generated PDF/a file. Some ways of creating a PDF result in reduced data quality. Unfortunately, it is not possible to make subsequent changes after the publication on our repository.

Procedure

If you have decided in favour of the electronic version or print copies, please send us a PDF file of your work by e-mail first. We will check the file and give you feedback if any corrections are necessary. Changes to copies that have already been submitted without prior checking are always very time-consuming. Please refer to the previous section for information on formatting – we do not explicitly check the aspects listed there.

Please send us the electronic version by e-mail. You can hand in the bound print or publisher’s copies

in person at the main circulation desk (location: August-Bebel-Str. 50, drop-off times: Mon-Thu 8am-6pm, Fri 8am-3pm)
by sending them by post to the address below,
or by dropping them in the mailbox at August-Bebel-Str. 13, in the left wing of the outside door (not suitable for several or very thick copies).

If you are writing your doctoral or postdoctoral thesis at one of the Faculties of Humanities I, II or III, please also provide us with the printing permission as a scan by e-mail or as a copy enclosed with the printed copy.

As soon as we have received all the required copies and associated documents, the submission will be confirmed by the Theses Office Team at the relevant dean’s office. You will the receive your certificate and the process is complete – if you have any questions, please contact your dean’s office.