BEFORE THE EXAMINATION PROCESS
1. Dissertation requirements
Familiarize yourself with the dissertation requirements.
2. Layout of the thesis
It is strongly recommended to use the dissertation template of the Faculty already when preparing the thesis for the pre-examination. For instructions on the formatting of the dissertation, see the instructions for the publishing of the doctoral dissertation (see the faculty-specific guidelines).
Note! You should contact the scientific editor of the Department already before the pre-examination. The scientific editor will help you in formatting the thesis. The scientific editors are listed on the web pages of the .
You should contact the university's publication unit (dissertations-osc@jyu.fi) during the pre-examination, to agree on practical matters and the publication schedule. They will help you e.g. with publication permits and possible technical problems.
Note! The JYU publishing unit should receive a thesis that is ready for publication and approved by the scientific editor of the Faculty, about one month before the date of the public examination.
Supplementary material
The doctoral candidate must ensure that possible supplementary material included in the thesis or the original papers of an article-based thesis are easily available to the preliminary examiners and the opponent, either as an attached part of the dissertation (pdf), as a separate attached file (pdf, excel), or as a web link that takes you directly to the material. The web link should be clearly visible, e.g. on the cover page of the article. The doctoral candidate delivers the material (dissertation manuscript and possible separate files) to the Faculty Doctoral School, which forwards the material to the preliminary examiners as an attachment to the official invitation. Custos delivers the dissertation to the opponent. Custos must ensure that the opponent also receives possible supplementary files in one of the above-mentioned forms.
3. Language check
If you wish, you can use a language editing service to check and edit the language of your dissertation. You may discuss about this possibility and the cost of the service with your supervisor. The faculty and departments do not pay the cost of the language check.
Language editing and proofreading services:
4. Plagiarism detection
All doctoral dissertations at JYU are checked with a plagiarism detection software before preliminary examination. The main supervisor is responsible for the plagiarism check. The software used is Turnitin.
When the supervisor of the thesis has confirmed the thesis manuscript meets the requirements of a doctoral thesis in quality and in quantity, and the thesis is ready for pre-examination, the student will send the thesis for plagiarism check.
The university has a for doctoral students and researchers. You and your supervisor can use this course area to check the Turnitin report of your doctoral thesis, to see if some editing or other modifications are needed. The supervisor can also create his/her own Turnitin area to be used for the plagiarism check.
Once the Turnitin report is in order to the satisfaction of the supervisor and the doctoral student, the student also submits the dissertation manuscript to the Turnitin area of the faculty doctoral school.Please let the Faculty Doctoral School () know you are ready to submit your thesis for the plagiarism check, and you will be given instructions on how to do this.
Note! Do NOT include published articles in your submission for Turnitin. However, unpublished manuscripts of the dissertation, and arxiv publications that have not yet been published elsewhere, should be submitted for Turnitin check.
Report filters: In the filters (funnel image) you should select "Exclude quotes", "Exclude bibliography", and "Exclude sources that are less than 1 words". You should look thoughtfully through the parts where the program detects similarity and, if necessary, edit the text to reduce the similarity. There is no actual % threshold for passing the check.
In the Faculty of Mathematics and Science, in addition to the main supervisor, the Head of the Doctoral Programme will check and approve the Turnitin report before preliminary examination.
More information about plagiarism check and Turnitin
NOMINATING THE PRELIMINARY EXAMINERS
1. The criteria for preliminary examiners
The Faculty follows the general criteria and disqualification guidelines of the University (see the guidelines at the top of this webpage).
2. Communication with the preliminary examiners
The supervisor(s) and the student should discuss about potential pre-examiners. According to the degree regulations of the university, the doctoral candidate shall be given an opportunity to comment on the selection of the preliminary examiners.
The supervisor asks the preliminary examiners for their consent to the role. The process should be started well before the dissertation is ready for pre-examination, as sometimes it can take time to find the pre-examiners. Please note that the supervisor does not make the decision about the pre-examiners. It should be ensured that also the Head of the Doctoral Programme consider the suggested persons suitable.
Note! In no case should the doctoral candidate be in any contact with the preliminary examiners. The supervisors and the coordinator of doctoral studies take care of all communication. The pre-examiner must mention in their report if they have been in contact with the author of the doctoral thesis during the review process. The doctoral candidate must inform their supervisor if the pre-examiner has been in contact with them during the examination process.
3. Decision on the preliminary examiners
When the suggested pre-examiners have agreed to the role, the official decision on pre-examination is made. This proceeds as follows:
- The student and the supervisor should fill in a form for nominating the pre-examiners, and deliver the form and the dissertation manuscript to the Faculty Doctoral School (). This should be done about 3 months before the planned public examination (defence).
- The doctoral school asks the Head of the Doctoral Programme to approve the nomination (in the Department of Biological and Environmental Science, approval from the principal professor is also needed).
- The Vice Dean for Education makes the final nomination*
Note: The opponent(s) and the custos may be named in the same decision. See the instructions on permission for a public examination.
Note: When submitting the proposal on the preliminary examiners, please indicate if the doctoral student has a cotutelle agreement or similar double degree agreement or contract.
*At its meeting on 19.1.2022, the Faculty Council of the Faculty of Mathematics and Science transferred the appointment of the preliminary examiners, the opponents and the custos, as well as the date and venue of the public examination to the Dean for the period 19.1.2022-31.1.2026. In accordance with the division of labour, the Vice Dean for Education will decide on these matters from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2025.
PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION
1. Dissertation manuscript and instructions to the pre-examiners
When the decision on the pre-examination has been made, the faculty doctoral school will send the dissertation manuscript and instructions to the appointed pre-examiners.
2. Evaluation reports
The pre-examiners have one month to give their evaluation, which consists of a free-form written report (2-4 pages) and an assesment form. The pre-examiners must state whether permission should be granted or rejected for the public examination of the dissertation. The statement cannot be conditional to revision. In practice, this means that a positive evaluation report may contain proposals to improve the work, but making changes cannot be a condition for granting the permission.
In the Faculty of Mathematics and Science, the pre-examiners are also asked for their view on whether the thesis belongs to the top 10 % in the discipline (see Approval and assessment of the doctoral dissertation).
The pre-examiners submit their reports to the faculty doctoral school. The doctoral school then gives the reports to the doctoral candidate and the main supervisor. The doctoral candidate has two weeks to respond to the pre-examiners evaluation reports, or to indicate that they have no objections to the reports.
PUBLIC EXAMINATION
The public examination (defence) should be planned no earlier than one month after the arrival of (positive) pre-examination reports. It is good to have some leeway in the timetable to allow for possible delays and/or the need to revise the dissertation manuscript.
Note! The JYU publishing unit should receive a thesis that is ready for publication and approved by the scientific editor of the Faculty, at latest one month before the date of the public examination. A tighter schedule should be agreed well in advance with the university's publication services.
SEE ALSO:
Permission for a public examination and decision on the public examination event
Organizing the public examination
Publishing the doctoral dissertation
In addition to the above, the following guidelines apply to the Doctoral Programme in Biological and Environmental Science:
After the third year of the doctoral training, the follow-up group should discuss the dissertation date and the proposals for preliminary examiners and the opponent. At least 6 months before the dissertation, the supervisors discuss the content of the thesis and the names of potential preliminary examiners and opponent with the principal professor of the (UNO intranet, login required). If the supervisor is the principal professor, she/he will discuss about potential names with other professors of the division.
The thesis manuscript needs to be ready at least 3,5 months before the planned dissertation. At this point (after consulting the supervisors), the student should give the thesis to the principal professor of the (UNO intranet, login required). The professor's responsibility is to evaluate if the content fulfills the general criteria for scientific contribution and students own contribution. At this stage, the summary, publications and unpublished manuscripts that will be included in the thesis must be presented.