Before publishing a dissertation, you should inform yourself about your faculties guidelines. This concerns all requirements particularly with regard to contents which are subject to approval for publication.

With publishing a dissertation, special rules for the layout of title pages must be observed and the number of compulsory copies you have to present to the University Library depends on the chosen publication form. You can find out about these rules from the regulations of your faculty or from the Dean’s office. If you would like to publish a cumulative dissertation, please note that publishing rights must be clarified with the publishers. In case of doubt, please contact the University Library in advance.

Your faculty is responsible for all formal requirements; the University Library merely attests the disposal of the required number of compulsory copies in one of the publication forms.

Definition

Dissertations written in cumulative form (also dissertations based on a publication) consist of a number of content-related journal publications by the doctoral candidate. The articles may have been already published or are intended for publication by a publisher.

Legal conditions checked?

Since a cumulatively authored dissertation is a secondary publication of your published articles or articles intended for publication, it is important to answer the following questions:

• Does the publisher allow the further dissemination of the already published or submitted articles as part of / for the purpose of your dissertation? (Reprint permission)?
  If so,
  • under what conditions may the articles be used?
  • which version of your paper you are allowed to use (preprint, manuscript, publisher version etc)?
  • are there any embargo restrictions required by the publisher?
  • can your dissertation be published only as a print version or also electronically?

• Does the publisher allow publication under a free CC license?

A large part of these questions will usually be answered in your author contract (publishing agreement) or on the publisher's websites. It also states whether you have granted the publisher a simple or an exclusive right of use.

The granting of the simple right of use enables the secondary publication of your article. With the exclusive right of use, the rights remain with the publisher, so you must clarify the use of your essays for secondary publication separately in advance.

Alternatively, you can use the Jisc Open Policy Finder to get a quick overview of the publishing conditions for the secondary publication and a link to the relevant publisher pages.

TU Berlin has researched the applicable regulations for many publishers and compiled them in an overview.

Consent of the co-authors

Are there any co-authors who have to agree to the publication of the article/paper and do they agree to the secondary publication?

Indicate source of first publication

Publishers often demand fixed specifications on how articles are to be stated in the case of secondary publication. Please inform yourself about the publisher's requirements and place this information at the beginning of the chapter.

Overview of the included publications

Please include with your dissertation an overview of the publications reprinted in your work with complete bibliographic information and, if available, the DOI and your ORCID.

Number of copies to be submitted

For information on the number of copies of your cumulative dissertation to be submitted to the library, please contact the staff of the Dissertation Office (dissertationen.ub@uni-due.de).

Use parts of your own publications for your dissertation, be sure to cite correctly to avoid plagiarizing yourself.

On the website of the UDE, you will find bundled information that helps counteract increasing uncertainty.

If you have any further questions, we will be happy to help you!

Please write to us:
dissertationen.ub@uni-due.de

Online publication in DuEPublico

Please upload your dissertation as a PDF document to our DuEPublico document server. The UL will check the electronic version, after which you can make an appointment by phone or email with the contact person responsible for you in order to submit the two printed copies (exception Medical Faculty: submission of three print copies!) and the Author’s Contract.

The two or three printed copies must be printed on age-resistant, wood- and acid-free paper in accordance with DIN-ISO 9706 (sources of supply: copy shops, stationer shops) and permanently bound (adhesive bound, no spiral, ring binder or clamp/jump back binding).
For sustainability reasons, please print double-sided.

The UL will archive the electronic dissertation version permanently, for citation purposes, along Open Access lines and provide entries in search engines and databases worldwide.

Go to our publication server DuEPublico and get more information about publishing dissertations online.

Publication by a publishing company

Depending on which regulations for doctoral dissertations are relevant to you, you have to submit 3 up to 6 copies to the Dissertation Submission Office of the UL, that should include the dissertation note (faculty, doctoral degree earned as well as the names of the reviewers and the date of the disputation).

Please phone or send an e-mail for an appointment with your contact person.

Self-publication

Depending on which regulations for doctoral dissertations are relevant to you, you have to submit 7 up to 55 copies to the Dissertation Submission Office of the UL. These must be printed on age-resistant, wood- and acid-free paper in accordance with DIN-ISO 9706 (sources of supply: copy shops, stationer shops) and permanently bound (adhesive bound, no spiral, ring binder or clamp/jump back binding).
For sustainability reasons, please print double-sided.

Please phone or send an e-mail for an appointment with your contact person.