Dissertation requirements from 1.1.2025

Doctoral researchers whose study right for doctoral studies began on or after 1 January 2024 will follow these dissertation requirements. Other doctoral researchers will be subject to a transition period, during which they can follow the dissertation requirements valid until 31 December 2024 or those valid as of 1 January 2025. The transition period will end on 31 December 2025.

Dissertation requirements: transition period

This webpage presents the dissertation requirements valid from 1.1.2025.

Doctoral students whose study right for doctoral studies began on or after 1 January 2024 will follow dissertation requirements valid from 1.1.2025.

Other doctoral students will be subject to a transition period, during which they can follow the dissertation requirements valid until 31 December 2024 or those valid as of 1 January 2025. The transition period will end on 31 December 2025 so that

if by the end of the transition period the permission for public examination of the dissertation has been granted, the dissertation can be assessed according to the dissertation requirements valid until 31.12.2024;
if permission for public examination of the dissertation has not been granted by 31.12.2025, the dissertation will be assessed according to the dissertation requirements valid from 1.1.2025.

Doctoral students who will be subject to a transition period and who plan to submit their dissertation manuscript for preliminary examination during 2025 should discuss with their supervisors in good time whether it is possible to obtain the permission for public examination for their dissertation manuscript before 31.12.2025. Consideration should be given to the following issues:

the time needed to finalise the manuscript for the preliminary examination
the time that the preliminary examiners have available for the preliminary examination according to the guidelines (one month, except for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences six weeks)
the time frame for the decision on the permission for public examination in each Faculty: if only the Faculty Council decides on the permission for public examination, the meeting schedules of the Faculty Council and the timetable for sending the agenda should be taken into account; if the Dean makes the decision on the permission for public examination, the end-of-year vacation periods should be taken into account.

If there is any doubt about getting the permission for public examination before the end of the transition period, it is recommended to follow the dissertation requirements valid from 1.1.2025.

General dissertation requirements

A dissertation is a comprehensive, research-based scientific presentation in the doctoral candidate’s field of study. It represents the candidate’s ability to independently and critically apply the methods of scientific research and create new scientific knowledge.

A dissertation must meet the following scientific criteria and requirements for learning and competence. A dissertation must:

include new scientific knowledge and substantiated results as well as be scientifically convincing;
demonstrate the candidate’s critical thinking, profound knowledge of the research field, command of scientific research methods and ability to apply them as well as
be scientifically honest and follow the norms of research integrity.

A dissertation can take the form of an article-based dissertation or a monograph. Because of the practices of its disciplines, the Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics (JSBE) can also accept a dissertation that corresponds in form and requirements to an article-based dissertation and consists of unpublished scientific manuscripts and a summarising report. The extent of the doctoral candidates’ independent work must be identifiable in all dissertations.

A dissertation begins with a short abstract (1 page) that must (when applicable) include the dissertation’s aims or research questions, main research methods, results and conclusions based on them. The abstract will be written in the same language as the dissertation as well as in Finnish and English.

The Ģ��ֱ�� provides supervision for doctoral dissertations to be completed at the Ģ��ֱ��. The content and subject of the dissertation are limited so that it is possible for students to complete the dissertation in three to four years when studying full-time. Dissertation supervisors must ensure the manuscript’s quality and the implementation of the dissertation requirements before a preliminary examination.

The Ģ��ֱ�� promotes responsible and open science in doctoral research. Dissertations and articles of article-based dissertations are stored in the open JYX repository in accordance with the University’s publishing principles. It must be mentioned at end of the description of the author’s independent contribution if artificial intelligence (AI) based applications have been used in the doctoral dissertation. If they have been used, this must be described in accordance with the University’s guidelines and policies.

These requirements apply to all faculties,which consequently do not have their own requirements for dissertations. The faculties can, however, provide field-specific instructions, but those instructionscannot contradict these requirements.

Dissertations completed at the Ģ��ֱ�� are published in the JYU Dissertations publication series. You can familiarize yourself with the dissertations in the .

NB: The publication and publicity of doctoral dissertations are governed by the .

Article-based dissertations

An article-based dissertation consists of articles which discuss the same set of problems and a summarising report of the articles written by the doctoral candidate.

It demonstrates the candidate’s ability to independently and critically apply the methods of scientific research and generate new scientific knowledge through at least two, but typically three to four scientific publications or manuscripts. The dissertation can consist of peer-reviewed scientific articles which have been published or accepted for publication, or previously unpublished manuscripts under scientific peer review or ready to be submitted for the peer review process. However, an article-based dissertation cannot include only manuscripts that have not yet been published or approved for publication. All article-based dissertations must therefore have at least one peer-reviewed article which has been published or accepted for publication.

When assessing the number of articles and manuscripts sufficient for an article dissertation, the dissertation supervisors must take into account the proportion of the author’s independent work in them as well as the (a) extent, (b) scientific quality and significance, and (c) publication type (publication type A of the publication classification of the Ministry of Education and Culture).

The summarising report of an article-based dissertation should present the set of questions connecting the articles, the research’s link to relevant literature, its theoretical framework and the methodological solutions. The summarising report should also combine the main results and conclusions of the sub-studies and assess their impact. The summarising report must be balanced and drawn up on the basis of the articles and possible manuscripts included in the dissertation, as well as literature. It does not have to include new scientific knowledge that has not been presented in the articles.

An article-based dissertation can include publications and manuscripts with multiple authors. The contribution of the doctoral candidate’s independent work to the joint publication to be included in the dissertation must be clearly described. In the dissertation’s summarising report the doctoral candidate provides an explanation of extent of their independent contribution to each joint publication. It is recommended that the candidate submit a draft report describing their own contribution to the other authors of the articles and manuscripts.

For justified reasons, a single publication may be used in more than one dissertation if the authors have made independent contributions to the article. This must be noted in the description of the candidate’s independent contribution.

In the article-based dissertation’s articles and manuscripts written as a doctoral researcher at the Ģ��ֱ��, the connection to the Ģ��ֱ�� is clarified in the affiliation information in accordance with the University’s publishing principles.

Monograph dissertations

A monograph dissertation is a previously unpublished, comprehensive dissertation based on scientific research work in the author’s name.

A previously published work cannot be accepted as a monograph dissertation. The author of the dissertation, however, can publish articles on the dissertation subject before the actual dissertation is completed, to which they may refer in their dissertation.

Field-specific instructions

Follow the JYU dissertation requirements. In addition, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences guidelines include the following:

The assessment scale and the evaluation criteria:

The instructions for the approval and assessment of the doctoral dissertations contain information on the scale and evaluation criteria to be used for the assessment of the doctoral dissertations.

Language of the doctoral dissertation:

A study intended as a dissertation can be written in Finnish, Swedish, English, French, German or Russian, or in another language approved by the Faculty. In article-based dissertations not all articles need to be in the same language. If a student wants to write the dissertation or any part of it in any other language, the plan must be approved by the Faculty's board of research at the beginning of the studies. If required, the Faculty Council decides on the plan.

Article-based dissertation:

An article-based dissertation should constitute a cohesive whole. The preliminary examination will assess the dissertation in its entirety.
The recommended length of article-based dissertation’s summarising report is 40–70 pages including bibliography but excluding appendices.
In article-based dissertations, the description of the author’s independent contribution is recommended to be placed predominantly at the beginning of the dissertation alongside the list of articles.

Monograph dissertation:

The recommended length of a monograph dissertation is 200-250 pages including bibliography but excluding appendices.
If other contributors were involved in the research or any aspect of a monograph dissertation, the description of the author's independent work will be placed in the in the most appropriate context, but in such a way that it can be easily found.

Follow the JYU dissertation requirements. In addition, the School of Business and Economics guidelines include the following:

Dissertation Formats at the School of Business and Economics

The dissertation can be in the form of a monograph, an article-based dissertation, or a so-called essay-based dissertation that corresponds in form and requirements to an article-based dissertation. An essay-based dissertation consists of unpublished scientific manuscripts and a summarising report, whereas an article-based dissertation includes at least one peer-reviewed article which has been published or accepted for publication and a summarising report. According to general criteria, both should have at least two, but typically three to four scientific publications or manuscripts.

Contribution of Independent Work

According to general requirements, the doctoral candidate's independent contribution must be identifiable in all dissertations, and the use of AI-based applications must be noted at the end of the contribution description.

In the case of a co-authored article or essay-based dissertation, the author's contribution in each article/essay is documented at the School of Business and Economics in a table format based on the CRediT classification. The table should describe the author's contribution in terms of the research problem and literature, research design and data, data analysis, results, and writing. If a joint article or essay is used in other dissertations, this must be mentioned in the table, as well as the use of AI-based applications. See detailed instructions and example table: JSBE dissertation contribution reporting.

Additional Instructions

Detailed instructions on the formatting of the dissertation can be found on Open Science Centre's instructions for publishing of the doctoral dissertation.

See also the guidelines related to the evaluation of the dissertation on page "Approval and assessment of the doctoral dissertation".

Other possible additional instructions will be updated later.

Faculty Council decision of 26 March 2025 on the Faculty of Mathematics and Science' field-specific instructions on dissertation:

The form of the doctoral dissertation (doctoral thesis)

The form of the dissertation should be discussed well in advance of the writing process between the doctoral student, the supervisor(s) and, if necessary, the head of the doctoral programme. The discussion about the form of the dissertation is part of the supervision process of doctoral research. If necessary, the follow-up group may give their opinion about the form of the dissertation.

Article Dissertation

A peer-reviewed publication does not include a manuscript deposited in ArXiv or a similar database.

Monograph dissertation

The monograph dissertation must include the essential details of the research so that the work is understandable and repeatable, and the validity of the conclusions can be evaluated based on the material. In the case of experimental research, the dissertation must include the technical details, essential experimental data, analysis of the results, and conclusions based on the results. In theoretical work, the analysis of the results and conclusions should correspond to the standards of a scientific publication. Any supporting information is presented either in the main text or as an appendix.

For further guidance

Please see the instructions on the layout of the thesis on instructions for publishing of the doctoral dissertation (see the Faculty specific instructions).
See also Approval and assessment of the doctoral dissertation.

Dissertation requirements until 31.12.2024

The transition period to the new requirements ends on 31 December 2025.

Dissertation and dissertation research

Supervision document

Purpose, appendixes, validity and preparation of the supervision document and instructions for users of the supervision document service

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