Thesis work

Your doctoral programme consists largely of work on your thesis. This page provides information that you need to know before, during and after your thesis work.

What is a thesis?

To be awarded a doctoral degree, you must write a thesis. Education at doctoral level may also lead to a licentiate thesis, which is either a single scholarly essay or a stage on the way to a doctoral thesis.

A thesis for a doctoral degree can either be a monograph or a compilation thesis. A monograph covers one coherent subject. A compilation thesis is a collection of works on a coherent theme.

Your general syllabus may have additional information about theses in your subject, such as how many credits your thesis must cover.

Research data

As a doctoral student, you may be collecting empirical data for your thesis work. This must be managed during the project and stored afterwards. You can read more about research data and how it should be managed and stored via the link below.

If your project includes personal data

It is important that you are aware of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) if you are handling personal data in your project. The link below provides information about how to manage any personal data that is processed in your research.

Research ethics and ethical review

A part of your research, you must ensure that your project is conducted in accordance with good research practice. You are obliged to follow various regulations and, before starting your research, you will need to decide whether your project is covered by the Ethical Review Act. Information about research ethics and ethical review is available via the link below.

Courses in research ethics and ethical review

Want to learn more about research ethics and research misconduct? Are you planning to conduct research that requires an ethical review? If so, you are welcome to participate in a short course on basic issues in research ethics. It is organised by the Council for Research Ethics and addresses a number of issues related to an ethical approach to research. It is offered every autumn and you will need to register in advance. There is also a hands-on workshop available if you want more specific information about ethical review. Keep an eye out for “Research ethics - an introduction” in the calendar.

Thesis seminars

One important part of your studies is presenting sections or chapters from your thesis at seminars. Your subject decides the seminar structure for doctoral students. They are sometimes called stage seminars and are often included in your subject’s higher seminar series. In addition to presenting thesis work at normal subject seminars, it is also common to have a planning seminar during your first year and then to present a draft of your thesis at a 50% or 60% seminar, as well as a more complete manuscript at a final seminar. At these, a reviewer and other seminar participants provide feedback so your thesis can be completed in an optimal manner.

Presenting various parts of your work during your studies is important, so that you can benefit as many opinions as possible about the work on your thesis. Add all the planned and completed thesis seminars to your individual study plan to help you plan your studies.

Publishing your thesis

Doctoral theses from Södertörn University are published as open access, which increases their dissemination and visibility. In addition to the information in the expander Publishing with a publishing house, it is a good idea to read through the Preparing for your public defence on the page called Public defence and degree certificate and to download the checklist for public defences that is available there.

Archiving

The thesis is archived via the library after being published in the university’s publication series. However, during or after your doctoral programme, you must contact an archivist to agree on the best way of archiving the materials collected for use in your thesis. Read more on the page on Information management or email arkivarie@sh.se.

Communicating your research results

Communicating research results, new projects and leading doctoral students is an important part of Södertörn University’s communication work. The link below provides information about the support that is offered to help doctoral students communicate their research. You will also find information about how to create a staff card and researcher profile.