Guidelines for requesting to submit a thesis composed of articles

General

In special cases, students will be allowed to submit a PhD thesis composed of articles. Please note that particularly in such cases, the student must uphold section 2.3 of university regulations stating that in order to earn the PhD degree the student must "conduct independent and original research that qualifies as a unique contribution which advances the knowledge and understanding in the field of research and submit this as a PhD thesis."

Submitting the Request

1. The student must submit at least three articles accepted for publication in leading journals in the field, that conduct evaluations. The student's name must appear as the first author for these articles (unless authors' names are alphabetical).

2. Any departure from the provisions in the above section 1 must be approved by the department committee and the university committee.

3. Only articles related to the approved PhD topic will accepted.

How to Submit the Request

The request to submit a PhD thesis composed of articles will include letters from the student and the advisor together with the articles.

1. The letter from the student will refer to:

   1. The justifications for submitting a PhD thesis composed of articles and not in the accepted format.

   2. Details of the articles and where they were published or accepted for publication (for articles not yet published, include editor's notification of acceptance for publication).

   3. The order of the articles—how they form a logical and continuous entity and answer the research question.

   4. Details regarding other chapters with results that are not included in the articles and that are to be included in the research paper.
      
       

2. Letter from the advisor referring to the articles and the student's part in each one

   1. The student's contribution to the article—did he or she write it, did he or she conduct the research, what was his or her part compared to the other authors.

   2. Rating of journals in which articles were published

   3. Statement that even though the PhD thesis will not be submitted in the accepted format, item 2.3 of the university regulations will be upheld.

Recommendation of Division Committee

The division research student committee will consider the student's and advisor's request. If the committee decides to approve submission of a PhD paper composed of articles, the committee will submit this recommendation to the university committee.  

Submission and Evaluation Process

Submitting the Paper

Upon completion of studies and research, the student will submit the PhD paper composed of articles to the division committee in the following format:

1. Extensive introduction that refers to:

   1. Extensive and current survey of the general research topic.

   2. General survey of the articles, and how they relate to the research topic.

   3. An explanation of the order of the articles, how they are connected, and how they form a logical and continuous entity and answer the research question.

   4. Research methods and experiment system: description of the research methods not described in the articles, and if necessary, a detailed description of the methods described in short in the articles. Emphasis should be on methods developed during work. If the research is experimental in nature, the introduction should include a detailed survey of the experiment system employed in research.
       

2. The articles
   
   This chapter will include the articles, in the order the research was conducted, as well as material that is in the process of being published.
    

3. Discussion and Summary

   1. Extensive discussion of the results and their significance

   2. The main results presented in the articles

   3. Emphasis on the innovations and their contribution to the field
       

4. List of sources for the introduction and the conclusion, and others that do not appear in the articles.

Language of Dissertation

All articles in a dissertation composed of articles must be written in the same language. The dissertation is to be submitted in accordance with item 76 of university regulations.

If the dissertation is submitted in English, a Hebrew abstract will be included, as required.

Evaluation of Thesis

The evaluation process of the PhD thesis composed of articles will be as per item 77 of the university regulations.

Nonetheless, because the format of this thesis is unusual, the student will attach a letter of explanation to the judges. The advisor will also attach a letter of explanation detailing the student's part in each of the articles.