A cumulative PhD thesis must include:
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the three published or submitted papers
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an "umbrella", which comprises a detailed introduction of the topic of the dissertation, a comprehensive discussion, a curriculum vitae with a list of publications, and a copyright declaration.
As written in the GHS regulations, a doctoral student is required to submit at least three scientific papers to peer-reviewed journals. The following guidelines should be followed:
- One paper for which the student is the first author must be accepted for publication. In case of a first shared authorship, two papers with a shared authorship are required.
- Two further papers for which the student is the first author or co-author must have reached the peer-review stage.
- The thesis advisor must, together with the doctoral student, take responsibility for the selection of journals.
Requests to deviate from the number and types of papers needed for publication under special circumstances can be submitted to the Steering Board.
The publication rules apply to doctoral students under both the new and the old GHS regulations.
Students are asked to indicate the status of their publications in their Progress Report and PhD Degree form: (P) = published; (A) = accepted; (R) = in revision; (S) = submitted, as well as the type of the publications: (OA) = original article; (SM) = systematic review; (MA) = meta-analysis; (NR) = narrative review.
Recognized publications
Original articles, meta analyses, systematic reviews and narrative reviews.
All review types with a systematic approach and an explicit description of methods are accepted.
Not recognized publications
Reviews without an explicit method section, letters, study protocols, or their equivalent are not accepted.
