Graduation Requirements

Duration

At Åbo Akademi University (AAU), a typical article-based dissertation contains 3–6 articles. New regulations will be released soon.

As a rule, the articles must be published or approved for publication.
If articles not yet approved for publication are included, the preliminary examiners shall attach special importance to them.
Co-authored articles can be approved provided the PhD researcher’s independent contribution is clearly evident.
The PhD researcher must be first author on at least one of the articles included.
The Dean may approve examination of article-based dissertations with fewer than the recommended number of publications if the comprehensiveness and quality of the articles is sufficiently high.

Within our doctoral programme, we recommend the following to emphasize quality over quantity:

A typical thesis consists of two high-quality papers, with at least one paper as a first-author publication.
≥50% of the included work should be published (or accepted).
The decision to proceed to the PhD defence is made by the supervisor and the head of subject.
For each manuscript included in the thesis, the contribution of the PhD researcher must be clearly explained and justified:
Avoid vague statements.
List specific figure panels and contributions (data generation, analysis, etc.)
Use a template signed by the supervisor.