UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
School Guidelines on Preparation and Submission for the PhD Degree
v2.1 (28.02.2012)
The University’s Regulations for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy allow for submission of doctoral-level research in formats other
than the traditional thesis. The specific regulation relating to this is PhD Regulation 21.1. Schools who wish to facilitate preparation
and submission of a body of work for examination for the PhD degree in an alternative format must publish guidelines which define
the criteria according to which such submissions are deemed acceptable, in accordance with prevailing international norms for the
conduct and presentation of the student’s research within the relevant discipline. Any such guidelines shall be subject to review and
approval by the relevant College Graduate School Board and the University Graduate Programmes Board. This template may be
used by Schools to establish these guidelines.
In facilitating and preparation and submission of alternative formats, the University recommends the following:
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Where a School is willing to accept preparation and submission of doctoral research through a collection of papers (including
published papers or papers submitted or prepared for submission), this collection of papers must have been published or
prepared for publication in peer-reviewed journals of international standing, must illustrate a coherent programme of
research, and must be accompanied by a critical and theoretical overview of the work presented in the papers.
The School must define the parameters and minimum standards relating to the authorship status of an individual student for
all papers prepared and submitted for examination of the degree of PhD.
Where an individual student’s doctoral research, or a PhD programme, will have a substantive practice-based research
component, this may be reflected in submission of an alternative format for examination. A brief statement about the
nature of any such alternative format must be included in the nomination of the relevant student for admission to the
programme which is forwarded to, and approved by, the relevant College Graduate School Board. Information regarding
any such alternative format must also be provided as part of any formal Transfer Assessment which may occur throughout
the duration of the programme.
Preparation and submission of doctoral research in an alternative format for examination may include, but is not limited to,
dance, theatre or music performance, multimedia presentation, installation or exhibition, web-based output, CD/DVD, piece
of creative writing (novel, short story, poetry, play texts, screenplays), work of art, building or other structure, or other
research output compiled in portfolio format.
There must be a permanent record of all elements of the submission, including audio or video recordings of performances or
exhibitions. The format of the electronic version of all elements of the submission, which must be submitted to the librarian
for deposition in the UCD Library, must be agreed with the Librarian and clearly stated in the School guidelines.
Submission of any alternative format for examination for the degree of PhD must be accompanied by a piece of written work
(thesis) which contextualises the creative practice and “not only clarifies the basis of the claim for the originality and location
of the original work, it also provides the basis for a judgement as to whether general scholarly requirements are met. This
could be defined as judgement of the submission as a contribution to knowledge in the field, showing doctoral powers of
analysis and mastery of contextual knowledge, in a form which is accessible to and auditable by knowledgeable peers.”1
The length of the accompanying written work (thesis) will usually be 30,000-40,000 words – except in the case of musical
composition.
The submitted work must constitute an independent and original contribution to knowledge, and there must be a clear
statement about the specific contribution made by the student being examined in relation to all elements of the submitted
body of work.
The submission, in all its elements, must demonstrate an understanding of research methods appropriate to the relevant
discipline.
The Principal Supervisor, and the Extern Examiner, must be familiar with prevailing international norms for the conduct and
presentation of research within the relevant discipline that allows for submission of alternative formats.
The written thesis and the creative work must be treated as being of equal, or near equal, importance.
There must be an oral examination which exams the submitted body of work in its entirety.
The relevant College Graduate School Board and the University Graduate Programmes Board are responsible for reviewing
and approving all School Guidelines on Preparation and Submission for the PhD Degree.
Schools may use the following template to articulate the requirements specific to their School:
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p.14, UKCGE (1997) Practice-based Doctorates in the Creative and Performing Arts and Design
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School Guidelines on Preparation and Submission for the PhD Degree
OVERVIEW
The University’s Regulations for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) allow for submission of doctoral-level research in formats other than the traditional
thesis. The specific regulation relating to this is PhD Regulation 21.1. Schools who wish to facilitate preparation and submission of a body of work for
examination for the PhD degree in an alternative format must publish guidelines which define the criteria according to which such submissions are deemed
acceptable, in accordance with prevailing international norms for the conduct and presentation of the student’s research within the relevant discipline. This
template must be used to articulate these guidelines, and any such guidelines shall be subject to review and approval by the relevant College Graduate School
Board and the University Graduate Programmes Board.
1.0
College
Human Sciences
1.1
1.2
School
School Co-ordinator for graduate research
programmes
Please include contact details.
1.3
PhD Degree Programme(s)
Politics and International Relations (SPIRe)
Ben Tonra
Tel. 706 8195, G307 Newman Building
ben.tonra@ucd.ie
Politics and International Relations
Normally the subject area(s) in which doctoral students
conduct their research within the School, but including also
any Thematic Doctoral Programme(s) that the School is
involved in.
1.4
Programme Board or Graduate School Board
responsible for the programme
Graduate School, College of Human Sciences
2.1
Acceptable format(s) for preparation and submission of doctoral research in the School
Please outline the acceptable format(s) for preparation and submission of doctoral research in the School. This may include traditional
thesis format, submitted papers, or other alternative format as described in the attached guidelines. With respect to traditional thesis
formats, please indicate the recommended word length and any other additional requirements. With respect to submitted papers,
please provide information about requirements relating to authorship status (first author, second author, etc), including the number of
papers required and the requirements or minimum standards relating to the authorship status of an individual student for all papers
prepared and submitted for examination of the degree of PhD. With respect to alternative formats, please outline the range of
acceptable formats with reference to the provisions contained in the attached guidelines.
All PhD students in the UCD School of Politics and International Relations are required to complete a doctoral thesis
constituting a significant and original contribution to scholarship. Subject to the approval of the Supervisor and Doctoral
Studies Panel, students may choose to write:
a) a single full-length monograph (of up to approximately 100,000 words) or
b) an equivalent collection of at least three papers on a single theme (see below)
Regardless of which format the student chooses, final determination of the acceptability of the thesis is made by the
examiners and every thesis shall be held to the same standard of scholarly excellence.
Under mode b) the thesis will be a collection of papers (including published papers or papers submitted or prepared for
publication in peer reviewed journals of international standing) which must add up to a sustained contribution to a
clearly defined research problem and represent the culmination of a coherent and integrated programme of supervised
research. Such a thesis should begin with an introduction that identifies the general issues that the thesis addresses,
explains how the work was designed to address those issues, and provides a literature review (if not contained
sufficiently within the separate papers). The conclusions should discuss the implications of the papers’ findings for the
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issues identified in the introduction and for future scholarship in this area. Papers that have been published since the
start of PhD studies may be included by printing the published version on paper of the same size as that used for the
rest of the thesis. Additional important material may be included in appendices. All pages of the thesis should be
consecutively numbered (with pages from published papers conforming to the thesis numbering system rather than
that of the original publication).
Co-authored papers may be included in the thesis under mode b). However, in this case, the overriding principle is that
the thesis as a whole should remain an original contribution to the field by the student and this will be a core field of the
Examiners’ assessment of the work. If co-authored papers are included, a detailed statement must be provided within
the introduction to the thesis describing precisely the respective roles and contributions of the authors.
In addition to an overall introduction, a literature review / theoretical chapter that embeds the thesis in the wider
literature, and an overall conclusion, a dissertation under mode b) will normally consist of at least three single-authored
papers, of which at most one can be replaced by two co-authored papers of which at least approximately half the work
is done by the author of the dissertation. Additional papers can be either single- or co-authored.
2.2
Acceptable format(s) for doctoral research within the Discipline or Subject Area
Please provide information about the ways in which the nature of the acceptable formats detailed in 2.1 align with standards or trends
within the relevant disciplinary area(s), with reference also to the latest research in that area and any comparable third level institutions
which take the same or similar approaches.
There has been an evolution in recent years – primarily from the natural sciences into the social sciences – for the
development of PhD outputs that offer a choice between the traditional monograph and the submission of a collection
of published or publishable research papers. A clear distinction must be drawn however. This is not a PhD through
publication, i.e. the submission of a set of career publications which are then judged appropriate to the award of a PhD.
Instead, this is a pathway constructed on the same basis as a traditional PhD (i.e. a single, integrated programme of
supervised research) but one whose outputs are the publication of a series of thematically integrated papers which
cumulatively address a single research question or theme of enquiry. This pathway is available in politics, political
science and international relations at the following universities: University of Aarhus, University of Helsinki, Leiden
University, London School of Economics and Political Science, and Uppsala University.
Within the disciplines of politics, political science and international relations (and their associated sub-fields and areas
of study) the following arguments/trends are observable in prompting the development of mode b) theses as outlined
above:
1) Notwithstanding the centrality of the single-author research monograph as the gold-standard research output
in the disciplines mentioned above, there are particular sub-fields and areas of study in which the publication of
original research articles has become the scholarly norm. In the light of this, it is appropriate that the form
which the PhD thesis may take should be allowed to reflect this disciplinary and professional development.
2) Writing a dissertation on the basis of articles promotes a publications culture among graduate research
students and this is argued to contribute significantly to career development.
3) It encourages the production of written research material at an earlier point in the PhD cycle than on average.
4) If a number of articles have already been accepted by editors of reputable journals, it will be a significant
indicator of the scholarly standing of the final thesis.
5) The candidate and supervisor(s) also receive at an early stage external feedback from independent reviewers on
the research
6) By means of publication the student is aware of how the research is progressing and is able to see the results of
the research.
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Signatures
This template should be completed by the School Co-ordinator for graduate research programmes, reviewed and recommended by the School
Graduate Studies Committee, and forwarded on to the relevant Programme Board or Graduate School Board for review. Upon recommendation
by the Programme Board or Graduate School Board, the School Guidelines must then be submitted to the University Graduate Programmes Board
for approval.
3.1
3.2
3.3
School Co-ordinator for graduate
research programmes
Head of School
Programme Dean or Graduate School
Director of governing Board
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