Article-based dissertations at the Faculty of Arts

The doctoral researcher and their supervisor(s) are advised to decide on the form and publication plan of the article-based dissertation at the beginning of doctoral studies. The decision to choose the article-based form for the doctoral thesis should be made as early as possible so that the preparation of the publications can be taken into account when planning and scheduling the different stages of the research.

The supervisor and the doctoral candidate will ensure that the doctoral thesis is limited in terms of topic and content so that it can be completed in three to four years of full-time work.

The doctoral thesis must meet equitable academic criteria. The thesis must

• contain new scholarly knowledge
• illustrate the doctoral candidate’s critical thinking
• demonstrate profound familiarity with the field
• showcase mastery of research methods, including their application
• be academically convincing
• present justified results
• abide by the principles of research integrity and the norms of research ethics.

Article-based theses consist of scholarly publications on the same research problem (see more specific criteria below) and of a summarising report compiled by the doctoral candidate.

• Publications in article-based thesis must be peer-reviewed scientific articles; in addition, peer-reviewed book chapters in edited collections, may be accepted (in the text, the term "article" will be used to refer to both).
• Articles must be either published or approved for publication before submitting the doctoral manuscript for preliminary examination.
• In addition to published articles and articles pending publication, article manuscripts not yet accepted for publication may also be included in the dissertation. Acceptable manuscripts must meet the academic requirements set, and their assessment will take into account a lack of prior peer review.
• The dissertation may consist of co-authored articles, provided that the doctoral candidate’s independent contribution to the articles can be verified.
• The summarising report must be a balanced work based on both the publications included in the thesis and relevant research literature. The length of the summarising report should be 30–60 pages (about 66,000–132,000 characters). 

At the Faculty of Arts,  article-based doctoral thesis consists as a rule of three articles, of which at least two articles are peer-reviewed articles that have already been published or accepted for publication and one article may still be undergoing academic peer review or is a finalized full-length manuscript for an article. 

The doctoral candidate must be the main author of at least one of the published or accepted articles (sole author or first author or the doctoral candidate has shared first authorship). If some of the articles are narrower than usual, or if the doctoral candidate is not the main author, more articles should be included in the doctoral thesis.

The number of articles required depends on the scope of the articles, their academic quality and significance, their publishing forum, and the author’s independent contribution if the dissertation contains co-authored articles. It is the responsibility of the supervisor to assess the appropriate scope of the dissertation and to recommend the initiation of a preliminary examination process.

The report must be a balanced work based on both the publications included in the thesis and relevant research literature. The length of the summarising report should be 30–60 pages (about 66,000–132,000 characters). 

The summarising report is the core of an article-based dissertation: it serves as an analytical introduction to the work and plays a crucial role in its assessment. Hence it is more than an extended summary of the articles. 

The summarising report of an article-based doctoral thesis should outline the overall objectives of the compilation and present the research background and objectives, present the theoretical framework and methods, materials, summarise the results, discussion, and conclusions. 

The summarising report shows how the articles are connected and form a scientifically relevant whole. The summarising report should not introduce new research or material. The writer should aim for a comprehensive and critical examination and assessment of the research presented in the articles.

The author should aim to publish the articles in peer-reviewed publications, primarily in Finnish and international scholarly journals and edited volumes. 

• Each article should present new results.
• Published articles cannot be edited or revised before submitting the dissertation for preliminary examination or after it has been examined, so minor overlaps and repetition can be allowed.
• Article-based dissertations may include articles written in different languages. When selecting the publication language, however, it should be noted that a wide variety of languages may complicate the selection of examiners.
• The doctoral thesis should contain at least two published articles or articles accepted for publication, and the number of not yet accepted manuscripts should not exceed the number of accepted articles.
• Most of the articles must be either published or accepted for publication before the dissertation manuscript is submitted for preliminary examination. However, in order to speed up the dissertation process, in addition to published articles and articles pending publication, article manuscript(s) still undergoing academic peer review or finalized full-length manuscript for an article can be included in the thesis manuscript. 
• Published articles, and articles accepted to be published must be peer-reviewed, and their publishing forum must be relevant for the dissertation. 
• Articles not accepted for publication (i.e. manuscript for an article) should reflect normal standards for journal publication with respect to length, formatting, and scientific quality. It is the responsibility of the supervisor to assess whether an unpublished article is a finished manuscript that can be included in the doctoral thesis.

When planning the publishing venues, it is important to consider the varying processing schedules of different journals and series. 

• Supervisors play a central role in charting possible publishing venues.
• The publishing forum of the articles must be relevant for the dissertation.
• There are no limitations regarding the time of publication; in other words, published articles do not date. 
• If the doctoral researcher and the supervisor are concerned that the results of an article may be outdated, it is recommended that the issue is addressed in the summarising report in connection with the assessment of the results of the dissertation.

Article-based doctoral theses may include co-authored publications, provided that the doctoral candidate’s independent contribution to the articles can be verified. It is important that the candidate carefully documents what their contribution to each article has been. The doctoral candidate must be the main author of at least one of the published or accepted articles (sole author or first author or the doctoral candidate has shared first authorship). 

If the doctoral candidate’s contribution to the articles is not indicated in the publications or the summarising report, the doctoral researcher and their supervisor must together draw a report on doctoral candidate’s independent contribution in each co-authored publication to be appended to the thesis manuscript. 

• This report needs to determine the doctoral candidate’s and other author’s contributions, and it must be approved by each author.
• The doctoral researcher is responsible for informing the other authors of the publication about the report and ensure that they agree with it.
• The supervisor’s responsibility is to assess whether the overall input of the doctoral candidate meets the faculty’s requirements regarding the scope of article-based dissertations.

The doctoral researcher must deliver the report to their faculty when submitting their manuscript for preliminary examination. The report will be sent to the preliminary examiners to enable them to assess whether the scope of the dissertation is appropriate.

The same co-authored publication may be used in several theses by different authors with the support of the above-mentioned report detailing the contribution of each author. If a co-authored publication has been or will be used in another thesis, this must be mentioned in the report. However, an article-based dissertation may not contain articles from a previous doctoral dissertation by the same author.

Article-based doctoral theses undergo the same preliminary examination process as monographs. The dissertation can be submitted for preliminary examination when at least two of the articles have either been published or accepted for publication: The doctoral thesis should contain at least two published articles or articles accepted for publication, and the number of not yet accepted manuscripts should not exceed the number of accepted articles.

The articles accepted for publication should be versions revised on the basis of the peer-review process and as close to the eventual published version as possible.

According to the instructions issued by the faculty, the preliminary examiners should assess the academic standard of the entire dissertation (including both the summarising report and the articles) irrespective of whether the articles have been published. The examiners should evaluate whether the various sections form a coherent whole of sufficient scope. 

After the preliminary examination, the doctoral candidate may revise the summarising report but not the published articles. Details of the published articles may be commented upon in the summarising report. The public examination and grading of article-based doctoral theses follow the same procedures as for monographs.

For further information on the preliminary examination and assessment of doctoral theses, please see the instructions for preliminary examiners and grading committees of doctoral theses.

Should the doctoral researcher be unable to have the articles published or accepted for publication according to the work schedule, they may revert to monograph form. However, editing an article-based doctoral thesis into a monograph can be an arduous task. The structure of the dissertation must be revised thoroughly; if the structure of a compilation dissertation is evident in the monograph, it is likely to have a negative effect on the grade of the thesis.