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An approved doctoral doctoral thesis may be a single study (a monograph), which has not been displayed in a published form in full before. A monograph forms a coherent entity and is the result of a researcher’s independent work. It may contain references to other publications made by the author dealing with the same problems.

Doctoral thesis can also be a so called article-based thesis which consists of a set of publications on a related set of problems, and a summary of the findings. The summary shall describe the research problem, research goals and methods, and presents a summary of the key findings. The summary shall assess the significance of the study for the discipline. The summary shall contain a list of the publications included in the thesis and describe the independent contribution of the student in each publication separately.

Article thesis must include at least 3 full-length articles. These articles must have been approved for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal or similarly peer-reviewed conference publication or as a chapter in a peer-reviewed book. In addition to these three articles the doctoral thesis can include other publications, shorter articles or artistic parts. For one of these the publication process can still be on-going. For well-grounded reasons the Doctoral Programme Committee may approve also other kind of compilations of publications as a doctoral thesis.

The articles may also include co-authored publications if the author's independent contribution to them can be demonstrated. If the contribution is not demonstrated in the publication, the independent contribution and the other authors must be explained in the summary. The doctoral student must ask for the approval of the other authors for the explanation (but the approval does not need to be included in the manuscript).

Students who have started their studies earlier than 1.1.2022: The doctoral student must be the first author of at least one article.

Students who have started their studies from 1.1.2022 onwards: The doctoral student must be the first author of at least two articles.

In the field of art and design, a doctoral thesis can also include artistic component(s): an art production, a series of art productions meaningfully connected to each other, or a product development project. Both monographs and article-based thesis may include artistic component(s).

More information on artistic components (aalto.fi)

After consideration the School may approve as a doctoral thesis also other kind of works that fulfil the quality requirements of doctoral thesis.