Cape at VID – guide to article-based Ph.D. theses at VID Specialized University
The following special rules apply to article-based theses in the Guidelines and Supplementary Regulations for PhD programmes at VID Specialized University:
- The thesis must consist of at least three articles, where the doctoral student is the sole or first author of at least 50% of the articles. The extent of own effort in articles with several authors must be stated in the co-author declaration.
- At least one of the articles must be published or accepted for publication in a recognised, peer-reviewed and preferably international publication channel when the thesis is submitted. The others must be accepted for publication or in publishable form.
- The doctoral student must be the sole author of the cover.
- The scope of the cover shall be 50-100 pages (equivalent to 20000-40000 words).
- The cover shall explain the context of the thesis and ensure that the thesis appears
- as a whole.
- The thesis's contribution to the research field must be clarified.
Guidance on the content of the cover
How the cover is organised may vary according to traditions in the various subject areas, and the individual study's uniqueness. This means that elements may be placed in different places in the cover. Some elements, such as theory and research overview, must be dimensioned based on the space these elements have been given in the articles. The main requirement is that the cover must be an independent scientific work. It must explain the context of the thesis, ensure
that it appears as a whole, and clarify the thesis's contribution to the research field.
The following elements must be included in the cover:
- Summary in Norwegian (Scandinavian) and English, and a list of the articles with full
- bibliographic information.
- An introduction, which describes the purpose of the thesis, and provides a brief introduction to the whole.
- Contextualisation within the PhD programme, and within the research field in which the thesis is placed
- Existing research that provides the background for the project
- Theoretical framework
- The overall issue for the entire project, and research question(s)
- Methodology, i.e. the choice of method based on the issue and a critical scientific theoretical reasoning
- Description of material, method and design
- Research ethical discussion
- The results of the project. Here, each of the articles is presented with results, and at the same time the result for the project as a whole is shown.
- Overall discussion of the project, including a clarification of the thesis's contribution to the research field
- Appendix is relevant for most empirical theses, such as interview guides, consent forms, permissions, etc.
Useful literature on cover writing
Krumsvik, R. J. (Ed.) (2016). A doctoral education in change – a focus on the article-based PhD thesis. Fagbokforlaget.
Krumsvik, R. J. (Ed.) (2022). "Academic writing in scientific journals versus doctoral theses. The article-based thesis and the synopsis." Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 17 (2), 78-94. https://doi.org/10.18261/njdl.17.2.1
Vaglum, P. (2010). "Compilation of the doctoral thesis – what should it contain?" Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association, 130 (16), 1632-34.
Haara, F. O. & Smith, K. (2011). "The cover: «One size fits all»?" Uniped, 34(03), 79-86. https://doi.org/10.18261/ISSN1893-8981-2011-03-07