You must send your PhD thesis to the GSNS as a PDF file. We will distribute the PDF to the members of the assessment committee, supervisors, department etc. Please contact the PhD partner responsible for your programme.

If any of the articles included in the PhD thesis were written in cooperation with others, please include co-author statements.

The co-author statements must be returned to the GSNS as one assembled pdf file at the same time as the PhD thesis is handed in. Please note that the PhD thesis will only formally be considered as handed in when the GSNS has received all co-author statements along with the PhD thesis.

Please use the templates for co-author statements in the menu to the right.

Generative AI software can be a valuable tool when, for example, analysing data, generating figures, or proof-reading text. However, as PhD student, it is your responsibility to ensure that such software does not plagiarise or misrepresent information in your thesis. GSNS therefore recommend using AI software with caution, and never allow it to introduce information that you do not understand or agree with to your thesis. Please note that AI software often return incorrect information.

As a university researcher you and any co-authors as a rule own the copyright to any articles, books, photographs, films, etc., which you produce in connection with your research. When publishing in journals or books part of the copyright is transferred to the respective journal or publisher. How much depends on the specific agreements which have been entered into.

When you reuse your own texts or illustrations in new publications e.g. if you include published articles in your PhD thesis, you must ensure that you have permission to do so from the publisher and any co-authors.

To learn more about procedures and matters to be aware of with regard to publications and/or unpublished material in connection with your PhD thesis, please see our How to guide. The How to guide includes two checklists: One entitled ‘Handing in Your PhD Thesis’ for use if you are about to hand in your thesis, and one entitled ‘Publishing your PhD Thesis’ if you are considering publishing or publicly sharing your thesis. Explore the How to guide here.

You can also find more information at AU Library’s website.

If you have questions regarding copyright and your PhD thesis, feel free to contact Morten Hjorth Gad (mhga@kb.dk) from AU Library, or the liaison librarian associated with your field.

To ensure that all published scientific work from the Faculty adheres to the international standards for research integrity, including proper citation and quotation praxis, all PhD theses submitted to the GSNS are screened for text copying/plagiarism. The GSNS applies software which has been developed and is in use for that purpose at leading universities around the world.

Should potential problems occur during the screening of a PhD thesis, the PhD student will be notified. If no notification has been received within three weeks after submission, the screening has not resulted in comments or questions.

Click here to read more about responsible conduct of research (incl. plagiarism).

Note the following:

• Your own contributions to the work, including your role in writing manuscripts or papers included in the PhD thesis, must be clearly stated in the thesis (see Rules and Regulations, Sec. 11.1 for further information and guidelines on the thesis format).

• Results, data, figures, and ideas taken from other sources should always be indicated by detailed references to the original source, even if you are the author yourself.

• Text copied (or paraphrased) from other sources should be clearly marked, and the original source indicated. This includes text copied (or paraphrased) from your own previous work. For smaller excerpts, give explicit references where the re-used text appears.

• When re-using larger sections (e.g. if a published or submitted single-author paper is incorporated directly as a thesis chapter, or a multi-author paper you have co-authored is included within a chapter rather than appended to the thesis, perhaps with some re-phrasing to fit into a coherent thesis set-up) indicate this explicitly with a reference to the source at the beginning of the re-used material, and/or in the thesis introduction, i.e. it is not enough to state that Chapter X is based on Paper Y. Instead, it must be stated more explicitly, for example, that the chapter is identical to the paper except for page layout, or that specific sections have been added or removed.
  When re-using or re-phrasing larger sections or a pre-print/paper/publication in the thesis, this must be indicated explicitly with a reference to the source at the beginning of the re-used material, and/or in the thesis introduction. For more information and examples for inspiration of how you may phrase it in the thesis, please see the GSNS Rules and Regulations, section 12.3.

• Re-use of text or illustrations from a qualifying examination progress report is permitted, but this must be stated explicitly in the introductory sections. Re-use of material from a Master’s thesis written before entering PhD studies does not count as “new results” towards obtaining the PhD degree, but you may quote a Master’s thesis in the same way you would quote any other reference.

If you are interested in publishing your PhD thesis or other material, the Royal Danish Library in Aarhus offers an online publication service through their E-books platform. This service will enable you to provide Open Access to your research and still maintain author’s rights for your PhD thesis.

The content is visible in catalogues world-wide, including library.au.dk. The service is free. Backup of the material is provided, and online help is available.

For more information, please have a look here: http://ebooks.au.dk/index.php/aul/index