Guidelines for Article-Based Dissertations in the PhD Programme in Digitalisation and Society, Østfold University of Applied Sciences
The guidelines for article-based dissertations aim to ensure a uniform understanding of what is required of candidates, supervisors, co-authors and assessment committees in the work on doctoral dissertations. These guidelines are intended as minimum requirements for what the dissertation should demonstrate to be sufficient work. As the PhD programme is interdisciplinary and includes various academic disciplines, the guidelines are designed with some flexibility to encompass all candidates.
Scope of Articles
The dissertation, excluding the summary, should normally correspond to three scientific publications of ordinary scope. Different types of literature reviews or conference proceedings may be included in the dissertation. This is determined by assessment committees within each individual field. It is a prerequisite for evaluation of a doctoral dissertation that the candidate is the lead author and has extensive academic responsibility for a majority of the articles included in the dissertation. Depending on different research fields and traditions, the requirement of three articles may be deviated from.
Publication
By the submission date, at least one of the articles must be accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed publication channel.
The Summary/Introductory Chapter
The introductory chapter shall summarise, but also synthesise, the issues and conclusions presented in the component works, so that the dissertation appears as a coherent research entity. The summary shall highlight the connection between the articles and how they together constitute a coherently designed research project.
Furthermore, the introductory chapter shall state and justify research questions and/or hypotheses, as well as the research design for the dissertation as a whole and for its various parts. It shall provide a relevant research overview and present and discuss theoretical, methodological, ethical and scientific theoretical issues related to the dissertation. The summary may also account for historical, contextual or other relevant circumstances. Furthermore, the introductory chapter shall highlight and discuss the dissertation's contribution to current research fields. It shall contain academic updates, when necessary, based on the publication date/completion date of the articles.
The introductory chapter should normally have a maximum length of 70 pages, excluding references and appendices. It shall be authored by the doctoral candidate alone.
Guidelines for Declaration of Co-authorship
Declarations of co-authorship help identify and assess the candidate's scientific effort in relation to the requirements for a PhD degree.
All publications included in a doctoral dissertation shall follow research ethical rules and conventions, and the Vancouver rules for authorship shall be applied (ICMJE, Who is an author?).
If co-authorship with the supervisor is relevant, this should be clarified at the earliest possible stage with the candidate and for each article separately.
In connection with the completion of the dissertation, a notification form shall be completed describing the contributions of each individual co-author of the articles included in the dissertation, including the PhD candidate themselves. The forms are administered by the PhD advisor who shall also ensure confirmation from all co-authors that the descriptions correspond to their perception of the collaboration on the article.
The completed forms with confirmations are forwarded to the assessment committee and follow the case processing.