You may need to supplement this with analysis of literature published between writing the article and submitting your thesis.
Incorporating your published work in your thesis
The authorship requirements for incorporated published work have changed for graduate researchers who submit their thesis after 1 January 2025. These changes have been made to provide more flexibility. They are now part of the explanations on this page.
Overview
- Unpublished material not submitted for publication
- Submitted for publication to [publication name] on [date]
- In revision following peer review by [publication name]
- Accepted for publication by [publication name] on [date]
- Published by [publication name] on [date]
Accepted statuses for publications
You may include in progress or published material written during your enrolment, with approval of your advisory committee, as part of your thesis. These may be either 'included publications' or 'included material'.
- Included publications: publications that are included as components that are distinct from the rest of the thesis. These must use a specific format.
- Included material: work that is drawn from your publications and combined with text that is written specifically for the thesis.
In this page we refer to both of these as 'incorporated publications'. The first format, where the publications are included as distinct components, is also known as 'thesis with publications'.
The Graduate Research Training Policy (section 4.65) explains what can be included in the thesis. Your thesis must include a literature review that clearly outlines the research questions and a general discussion that connects the publications to the research question.
You may have to supplement the incorporated publications with additional methods sections as they are often abbreviated in published articles. You are also encouraged to include any data and discussion that was excluded from the article. If you include a literature review or survey paper, it should be supported by an analysis of relevant work that has been published since the review was written.
Where a publication is included as a distinct component, you are encouraged to include a critical reflection on the work. This could acknowledge or address limitations, strengths or impacts of the work that have appeared since publication.
Don’t forget to include your Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) when submitting your work to publishers, conference organisers and so on. This will help you to identify your research activities and outputs and ensure that you get credit for your work throughout your career.
Declaration of incorporated publications
When submitting your thesis, you will be required to confirm that:
- the work in the incorporated publications is your own
- co-authors give permission for the article to be included in the thesis.
To do this, you must complete the Declaration for publication incorporated in a thesis form. You will need to submit a completed form for each in progress or published work included in your thesis.
Your principal supervisor must sign the Declaration form for each publication. Where there is more than one author of a publication, at least one co-author, by agreement among the authors, should be nominated as the coordinating author, as defined in the University’s Authorship Policy.
The coordinating author is responsible for:
- communicating between the publishers and managing communication between the co-authors
- maintaining records of any authorship agreement
- signing the Declaration form.
You must upload all completed Declaration forms as a single combined file to the Thesis Examination System (TES) when submitting your thesis for examination. The signed forms should not be included in the thesis itself. Plan well ahead to obtain the required signatures to avoid delays to your examination.
The Preface
As detailed in the Preparation of Graduate Research Theses rules, your preface should outline:
- the publication status of any incorporated publications
- a detailed description of your contribution to any incorporated publications, including identifying the components that your regard as your sole work
- any work carried out in collaboration with others
- editorial assistance received
- parts of the work completed outside of your candidature.
There is no prescribed format for a preface. You may wish to include a written description or a table outlining the tasks performed by others and the proportion of the contribution as a percentage.
Authorship
Usually this means you will have written the initial draft and you performed any subsequent editing in response to co-authors' and editors' reviews.
The authorship requirements for incorporated published works included in your thesis are changing. This may affect you if you are currently preparing to submit your thesis.
2024 thesis submissions
If you are submitting your thesis in 2024, the current Graduate Research Training Policy will remain in effect. Under this policy, your principal supervisor and coordinating author must declare that:
- you are the primary author of the included material
- you contributed more than 50 per cent of the work towards the publication.
2025 thesis submissions
If you are submitting your thesis after 1 January 2025, the new requirements will be that:
- you demonstrate a substantial contribution to the publication
- you clearly state your actual contribution to the publication in the preface of your thesis.
For more details on the requirements and responsible practice, please refer to the Authorship page.
- Why are the authorship requirements changing?
The new 2025 authorship requirements are being changed to offer you more flexibility. The updated requirements prioritise the quality and relevance of your contribution rather than the exact percentage.
- I will be submitting my thesis in 2025. How will the new authorship requirements affect my thesis preparation?
The current requirement that you must have contributed more than 50 per cent of the work will no longer apply. Instead you will need to clearly state your substantial contribution to the publication within the preface of your thesis. Learn more about what your preface should include.
- I contributed 50 per cent of the work with another author. Can I include this publication as a chapter in my thesis?
If you are submitting your thesis in 2024, you need to have contributed more than 50 per cent for it to be included. You could, however, include this paper as an appendix.
- Are changes made by the publisher in the peer review and publication editing process considered a form of editorial assistance?
Yes. Any parts of the thesis that have been published or accepted for publication are expected to have gone through an editorial process. These editorial changes must be clearly acknowledged.
Format of the thesis
When including complete publications, you should use the author-accepted manuscripts of articles that have been accepted or published. This is the final draft as accepted by the publishers, including any changes based on referees’ suggestions before it has undergone copy editing, typesetting and proofing. If you are certain you will not breach your agreement with your publisher, you may include the published version in your thesis.
While some journals request that the version you send them includes any figures or tables at the end of the submitted document, when you reproduce the article in your thesis you should place them where they logically flow within the text. It is also recommended that you use similar formatting (e.g. line spacing, font type and size) as the rest of the thesis.
View suggested formats for arranging the chapters of a thesis that includes publications as distinct components. See also example theses in the University of Melbourne repository.
- A literature survey is included in each of the papers. Is an additional literature survey required?
In most cases it is preferred that you include a separate literature survey. Even with the literature reviews included in your publications, you may still need to add further supplementary material if the publications do not directly address all the research questions in your thesis. Your supervisors and advisory committee are best able to advise you whether the literature reviews included in your incorporated publications will meet disciplinary expectations and satisfy your examiners that you:
- have clearly detailed your research question/s and how they connect with the current literature
- have demonstrated sufficient familiarity with, and understanding and critical appraisal of the relevant literature. - I produced several publications during my candidature. Can I just bind them together and submit them for examination?
No. The policy allows the thesis to be submitted with publications; it is not a thesis by publication. You must include a literature review that clearly outlines the research question, and a concluding general discussion that connects to the research questions. You should also introduce each publication that is included as a distinct component, explaining its role in the work, and, where appropriate, provide a critical reflection on its contribution.
- I want to use part of a publication in my thesis, but not the entire publication. Can I do that?
Yes, but you must cite it correctly and indicate in the preface the source of the information. For example, state that the text on page(s) xx is from [name of publication], or that chapter yy is adapted from [name of publication]. In each case you should give its publication status and your contribution to the publication). You will assist your examiners if, at the start of each chapter that includes work drawn from a publication, there is a footnote explaining where the work came from and how it has been used in the chapter. You may wish to include the entire publication as an appendix so that your examiners can see where the material came from.
- Is there a different word-length expectation for theses that include publications?
- Theses that include publications in a 'thesis-with-publications' style can typically be slightly shorter. For example, the typical PhD length is 80,000 words, but a PhD including publications as distinct components has a typical length of 50,000 to 80,000 words.
- While the writing style may be more concise, there is no difference in the expected volume and requirements of work presented in theses with publications. The examination criteria remain the same whether or not publications are incorporated. Your examiners are asked to consider your thesis on its merits as an independent piece of research. Refer to the information available for examiners.
- Maximum limits apply to all theses.
- Do I need to list the references used in a publication in the overall reference list/bibliography for my thesis?
If you are including the list of references as part of the publication, they do not need to be repeated in the overall reference list/bibliography for the thesis.
- Should incorporated publications be included in the overall reference list?
Incorporated publications can be referenced via a footnote, but if references to them are included in the bibliography an examiner may be unsure as to whether the work was completed as part of the research.
- When creating my list of tables and figures, do I also need to include the tables and figures from a publication that I have included in my thesis?
No, but you may do so if you think that it will assist readers of your thesis.
- If the publication has a different reference/spelling style, should I update it to use a similar style as the rest of the thesis?
It is up to you whether you update the publication style or not. Whatever you choose, you should acknowledge your choice in the Preface, stating the differences between the publication and thesis, due to the requirements of different publishers.
- If the result of my examination is deferred and I have to ‘revise and resubmit’ for second round of examination, can I include a new publication?
Yes. Revised and resubmitted theses are examined in their entirety and the inclusion of a new incorporated publication may strengthen your response to examiners.
- Which version of my publication should I include in my final thesis?
In most cases you should include the latest version, up to the author-accepted version and update the publication status in the preface. If your examiners request changes that conflict with the editorial or peer review advice you have since received from your publisher, you may choose to address this elsewhere in your thesis, or in your written response to the examiners’ reports.
Publication suitability
A work is suitable for inclusion if the research was conducted and the publication was in progress or published during your enrolment in your current degree. This includes:
- literature reviews where you are the primary author
- systematic reviews of a research question as a results chapter
- a protocol paper involving novel method development
- material exploring key methodological issues.
- I published work that is relevant to my thesis prior to my enrolment. Can I include this publication in my thesis?
No. Only work completed during your candidature can be included in the thesis. You can cite your earlier work just like you would any work that is relevant to your research. The work should be listed in the preface of your thesis.
- My publication is not peer reviewed. Can I include it as a chapter of my thesis?
Yes. You will need to clearly acknowledge in the preface that its status is ‘in progress’ or, that the paper has been published but not peer reviewed.
All methods need to be covered to a high degree of detail in your thesis.
Completing the forms
- I want to include part of a co-authored publication, for which I am the primary author, in my thesis. I will be adapting it for my thesis and will not use the published version. Do I need to complete a Declaration for publication incorporated in a thesis form?
Yes. You may wish to include the entire publication as an appendix so that your examiner can see where the information came from.
- Does the Co-Authorship section (Part C) of the Declaration form need to be completed if I am, or if my principal supervisor is, the coordinating author?
Yes. All sections of the form must be completed for any multi-authored material. The coordinating author is required to reassure that all co-authors have had an opportunity to agree to the inclusion of the material in the thesis and to the contribution declared on the form. The authorship agreement template is available here.
- One of my figures has been used in a publication. The data collection and the creation of the figure was my only contribution to the paper. Do I need to complete the Declaration for publication incorporated in a thesis form?
No. You can use the figure in your thesis without completing the form. However, you should acknowledge the origin of the figure in the preface and appropriately cite the publication in your thesis.
- Do I need to provide the Examinations Office with proof that my paper has been accepted and in press, or has been published?
No. You should provide this evidence to your advisory committee when you are discussing the proposed format for your thesis. Your principal supervisor must sign the Declaration for publication incorporated in a thesis form, which confirms their agreement to the inclusion of any publication/s. The coordinating author will need to sign the form for any multi-authored material.
- How do I combine multiple Declaration forms?
You can use Nitro Pro's 'Create and Combine' tool, which will allow you to combine files of different file types into a PDF. Alternatively, you use the 'Pages' navigation tab to display the pages pane, which will allow you to drag additional pages where you can then save it as a single file.
iThenticate report
You should run your whole thesis through iThenticate, including the chapters comprised wholly or partly of your published work. You can then exclude the specific matching publication source/s that correspond to the publications you have included in your thesis in a 'thesis with publications' style.
This means that the thesis chapter or publication is reviewed against the other literature in the repository, but not matched to itself. You should only exclude matching sources that are articles which you have appropriately included. You should outline and explain any filters and exclusions you applied in iThenticate in an accompanying declaration which you can also upload to TES.
You should not exclude publications from which you have included material (but not the complete publication). This is because the iThenticate report will then show where the material is present in the thesis, allowing your supervisors and Chair of Examiners to verify that it has been included appropriately.
For more information on the use of iThenticate, visit the iThenticate text-matching tool.
The examination
The criteria for examination remain the same whether or not publications are incorporated. See the Graduate Research Training Policy for more information. You can also view the information for examiners.
If the publication status of your article changes between submission for examination and submission of your final thesis, it is appropriate to include the most recent version (up to the author-accepted version).
You should also update the preface to reflect the new status. If you are submitting a list of corrections for approval and/or resubmitting for re-examination you should also note this in your index of changes.
Examples of theses with publications
The following theses are available openly, or with a University of Melbourne log-in, through the University of Melbourne repository that include publications as distinct components in a 'thesis-with-publications' style.
Al Zein, Eza (2019). Taskscape: Caring for Migrant Materials. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/235841
Arundel, Jonathan Paul (2015) The spatio-temporal distribution of honey bees and floral resources in Australia. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/59612
Bamford, Nicholas James (2016) Relationships between diet, obesity and insulin dysregulation in horses and ponies. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/148423
Bibb, Jennifer Louise (2016) Musical recovery: the role of group singing in regaining healthy relationships with music to promote mental health recovery. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/124271
Burfurd, Ingrid Ellen (2018) Beliefs and learning in the laboratory: essays in experimental economics. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/219180
Fan, Yi (2019) Quantification of mandibular morphological changes in 3D. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/225588
Kriesner, Peter (2017) Wolbachia fitness benefits and symbiont interactions in Drosophila. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/207959
Mody, Fallon (2019) Doctors down under: European medical migrants in Victoria (Australia), 1930-60. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/221550
Nencini, Sara (2018) Tackling bone pain at the source: identifying and exploring new therapeutic targets. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/216858
Pan, Xuan (2018) Graphene quantum dot based electronic devices. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/222013
Seibt, Susanne (2018) In-situ investigations of molecular self-assembly using microfluidics. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/214671
Smith, Merryn (2018) Non-structural carbohydrate storage and use in eucalypt trees of south-east Australia. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/221163
Uddin, Shihab (2019) Functional aspects of root and leaf development in dryland crop water use under elevated CO2. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/219849
Vahedi, Andisheh (2018) The work-family interface and child mental health: longitudinal associations via family functioning across childhood. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/217236
Al Zein, Eza (2019) Taskscape: Caring for Migrant Materials. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/235841
Schlichthorst, Marisa (2020) Engaging men in conversations about masculinity and suicide – An evaluation of the Man Up social media campaign. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/265962