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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. 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.
• in addition, a dissertation must include an abstract and a summary as follows:
  • a dissertation has to start with an abstract that must (when applicable) explain the dissertation’s targets or research questions, central research methods, results, and the conclusions based on them. Regardless of the language of the dissertation, it must contain abstracts written in Finnish and in English. Dissertations may also contain abstracts in other languages.
  • at the end of the dissertation (before the list of references) a Summary must be added in either English (if the dissertation is in Finnish) or in Finnish (if the dissertation is in any other language). The Finnish summary may be substituted with an English one if the author does not possess good enough Finnish.
• There is a separate (intranet UNO). 

Article-based dissertation:

• At the beginning of the research for an article dissertation, the doctoral student and the supervisor-in-charge discuss the structure and publication plan of the dissertation. An article dissertation should form a whole and meet the scientific and other requirements set for a monograph. If the dissertation takes the form of separate publications and a conclusive and evaluative part, the preliminary examination should focus on the whole. The preliminary examiners should clearly state in their reports whether the topics dealt with in the publications and the conclusive and evaluative parts form a coherent enough research problem. 
• An article dissertation consists of scientific publications, or manuscripts approved for publication, that discuss the same set of problems and a summary written by the doctoral student.
• An article dissertation typically consists of 3–5 peer-reviewed scientific articles (and a summary written by the student). An article dissertation that includes unpublished articles may also be approved if it meets the set scientific criteria. However, at least half of the articles must be either published or accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals or anthologies. See the separate pdf file for more information on different options how to compile an article dissertation.
• For justified reasons, a single publication may be used in the dissertations of more than one student if the authors have independent contributions in the article. This must be mentioned when describing the doctoral student’s independent work. Special cases are negotiated with the supervisor-in-charge and, if required, with the faculty.
• if some of the articles are still unpublished manuscripts, the dissertation can be published in the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥â€™s publication series so that the manuscripts are included in the printed version but not in the electronic one. Missing articles can later be added to the electronic version either as published articles or as manuscripts. Therefore, the doctoral candidate can subject their dissertation to public examination even before the decisions on publishing the articles have been made.
• an article dissertation cannot include parts (articles) included in a prior dissertation by the same author.

Monograph dissertation:

• A monograph dissertation is based on independent scientific research and has not been published in this format before. The author may write publications related to the thesis of the monograph and utilise them in the dissertation.

Other forms of dissertation:

• The dissertation can also be digital, meaning that it can contain metatextual structures and multimedia. In this case, the public must be able to examine the technical realisation of the work during the public examination and they must be provided with an opportunity to acquaint themselves with the work before the public examination, for example, online. In addition, a printed summary of the research and of the used techniques must be produced. A thesis published online must include the contact information of the faculty, and should be stored in accordance with the instructions provided by the Publishing Unit of the Jyväskylä University Library.

The formats of a dissertation are article dissertation and monograph. In the Faculty of Information Technology, the decision on the sufficient extent is made on a case-by-case basis by the division head and the vice dean responsible for research, and ultimately by the faculty council, which appoints preliminary examiners for the work.

For more detailed instructions on the formatting of the dissertation, see the instructions for the publishing of the doctoral dissertation (see the faculty-specific guidelines).

See also Approval and assessment of the doctoral dissertation.

Please familiarize yourself carefully with the general dissertation requirements at the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥ described above. In addition to the above-mentioned types of dissertations, JSBE also accepts essay-based dissertations. 

In the case of coauthored article- or essay-based dissertations, a statement of author contributions is required. Please follow the supplementary instructions regarding the contribution statement: JSBE dissertation contribution reporting.

The summary of a dissertation should present the research questions that unite the parts of the study, the theoretical framework, and the methodological choices. The summary should also synthesize the key results and conclusions of the parts and assess their impact. The summary should be a balanced piece of text based on scientific literature and the articles/essays included in the dissertation. 

Further information

Please see the instructions on the layout of the thesis on Open Science Centre's instructions for publishing of the doctoral dissertation.

See also Approval and assessment of the doctoral dissertation.

New dissertation requirements (valid from 1.4.2024-)

The Faculty Council of the Faculty of Education and Psychology has decided at its meeting on 19.3.2024 on the new requirements for doctoral dissertations for all three doctoral programmes of the Faculty, namely the Doctoral Programme in Education, the Doctoral Programme in Psychology and the Doctoral Programme in Cognitive Neuroscience. The requirements will enter into force on 1 April 2024. According to the decision of the Faculty Council, the criteria for the format of the doctoral thesis are as follows: 

1) An article dissertation consists of a summary and at least three articles of which the candidate is the first author. Shared first authorship may be accepted for one of the articles. 

• At least one of the articles must be the published or accepted for publication (accepted, online first) in a peer-reviewed scientific journal or edited book (not conference proceedings).
• Two of the publications may be manuscripts submitted to a peer-reviewed scientific journal or edited book. 
• The articles may be written in Finnish, Swedish, or English. All articles do not have to be in the same language. The summary of the dissertation may be written in Finnish, Swedish, or English, regardless of the language of the articles. 
• An article written based on the Master’s thesis may be one of the sub studies of the dissertation, if the topic corresponds to that of the dissertation and is suitable for the overall aim of the dissertation.  

2) A monograph is an independent and integrated research report that does not include separate publications or manuscripts by the author. A monograph may be written in Finnish, Swedish, or English. 

The assessment criteria for the dissertations can be found in the instructions for approval and assessment of the doctoral dissertation.
 

Dissertation requirements at the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences from 1 August, 2021

In addition to the general dissertation requirements of the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥, the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences has instructed as follows:

An article dissertation consists typically of 3-5 peer-reviewed scientific publications, or manuscripts approved for publication, that discuss the same set of problems and a summary written by the doctoral student. The doctoral student has to be the first author in all articles. An article dissertation may include publications that have several authors. The doctoral student’s independent contribution to the joint articles of the dissertation must be clearly described in the summary of the dissertation.

The dissertation can be defended, when three articles are published or accepted for publication. The change applies to all doctoral students of the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences from the effective date onwards.

Requirements for the dissertation until  31 July, 2021

The dissertation/thesis needs to be planned so that it can be completed within four (4) years, when working full-time. The schedule and the target time for graduation for a part-time postgraduate student is determined when the student is admitted and it can be longer than four years.

• Doctoral Programme in Biology of Physical Activity: The dissertation comprises of four 4 original publications published in internationally recognized scientific journals (where the student is the first writer) and a summary. The English language dissertation can be defended when three publications have been published or approved for publication and the fourth publication has been sent for publication.
• Doctoral Programme in Health Sciences: The dissertation comprises publications published in internationally recognized scientific journals and a summary. The minimum requirement is four publications of which three must be published or approved to be published and where the student must be the first writer. The dissertation can also be a monograph.
• Doctoral Programme in Physical Education and Social Sciences of Sport: The dissertation comprises publications published in scientific journals and where the student must be the first writer and a summary. The minimum requirement is four publications of which three must be published or approved to be published and at least one publication must be published or sent for publication in an international scientific journal. The dissertation can also be a monograph.

The Faculty of Mathematics and Science has given the following instructions that specify the guidelines of the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥.
 

The form of the doctoral dissertation (doctoral thesis)

The doctoral researcher, supervisor(s) and, if necessary, the head of the doctoral programme decide the form of the doctoral dissertation well in advance before the writing process begins. The discussion about the form of the dissertation is part of the supervision process of doctoral research. The follow-up group may give their opinion about the form of the dissertation.
 

Article dissertation

In the Faculty of Mathematics and Science, the article dissertation typically consists of at least three scientific articles or article manuscripts. According to the rector’s decision, at least one of them must be published or accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal or another peer-reviewed forum. There is no upper limit for the number of articles. ArXiv or other archived article manuscripts are not considered peer-reviewed. In the case of unpublished manuscripts, all necessary supplementary information must be provided for the reviewers and the opponent unless it is already included in the thesis manuscript.

When considering what constitutes a sufficient number of articles and article manuscripts, field-specific practices, the extent of the articles and the doctoral researcher’s independent contribution to joint articles should be considered. The head of the doctoral programme decides what is the sufficient number of articles after consulting the supervisor(s).

The doctoral researcher’s independent contribution to joint publications must be described with sufficient details in the summary part of the thesis (e.g. in connection with the list of original publications). The contribution of other authors can also be described.

The minimum number of articles can only be deviated from for particularly compelling reasons. In such a case, the thesis must include at least two articles/article manuscripts, which are exceptionally comprehensive considering the field-specific practises, and the independent contribution of the doctoral researcher in joint articles must be significant. The request for an exception must have the supervisor’s and the head of the doctoral programme’s recommendation and justification. The faculty council or, in the case of delegation decision, the dean may grant an exception from the required minimum number of articles before the preliminary examination.
 

Monograph dissertation

If the doctoral research has not resulted in a sufficient number of peer-reviewed articles/article manuscripts, the results cannot be published for other reasons (for example, agreements or schedules related to industrial collaboration) or the doctoral researcher and the supervisor(s) have so agreed for other reasons, the monograph dissertation should be used. The monograph dissertation may still be partially based on published work. In this case, the articles in question can be included as appendices to the dissertation and their content described in the summary part similarly to the article dissertation. The doctoral researcher’s independent contribution must be described similarly to the article dissertation in that case

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.

ArXiv or other unpublished manuscripts can be presented as a part or a chapter of a monograph dissertation. In this case, the chapter/part must be accompanied by a summary, and any possible information supporting the analysis and conclusions must be presented as an appendix.
 

Requirements at the Department of Chemistry

See (UNO intranet, login required).
 

Further information

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.