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Semmelweis University School of PhD Studies

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The Formal Requirements of the PhD thesis


The language of the PhD thesis can be Hungarian or English irrespective of the language of the candidates publications. SUGGESTIONS TO THE STRUCTURE The layout of the thesis: Cover page Table of Contents List of abbreviations Introduction (background based on the literature) Aims/Objectives Methods Results Discussion Conclusions Summary Bibliography The bibliography of the candidates publications (the publications related and unrelated to the theme of the PhD thesis should be put into different lists) Acknowledgements. The Table of Contents must follow the structure described above. FORMAL REQUIRENMENTS Length: 70-150 pages in A4 format (every page should be numbered); 1.5 spacing between the lines Character type: 12 Times New Roman, lines justified Margins: 3 cm on either side (for binding!) Every page except the cover page must be numbered except at the bottom centre of the page. Presentation: single sided and high quality paper, preferably printed with a laser printer Number of copies: five copies to be submitted unbound The original off-print version or quality photocopy of the publications must be attached to the thesis but they are external to the page limit. (The format of Short PhD thesis + Publications can be applied only in exceptional cases: only if after the recommendation of the Board of Quality Control the president of the Doctoral Council endorsed it beforehand.) The cover page should include: the title and author of the PhD thesis, tutors name, the place where it was written, year School of PhD Studies of Semmelweis University, the name of the departmental School of PhD Studies, the list of the PhD final examination board and the name of the official reviewers (see a sample copy on the website). Summary The one page-long summary in English is an important component of the dissertation. It is published both on the website of the School of PhD Studies of the university and in the Almanac. The text of the Summary must be identical to the one included into the Summary chapter of the thesis but it must also contain the bibliographical data related to the candidates three most important publications as well (author, year of publication, name of the journal, volume number, page)- (see a sample copy on the website) Bibliography, citations There are two ways in which it is possible to refer to other authors work(s): a) the numbered citations are listed chronologically in the order of which they appear in the text of the thesis. The author must refer from the text to the bibliography with Arabic numbers (e.g. 1-5 or 6,12). or

Semmelweis University School of PhD Studies

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b) The citations are listed in alphabetical order in the bibliography, while the reference to a particular work in the text of the thesis is made by the authors name and the year of publication (e.g. Smith et al. 1999, Smith and Brown 2005). All articles which have been used in the thesis must be listed in the bibliography, while all articles enlisted in the bibliography must be referred to from the text of the thesis. All of the authors of each article must be given. The name of the scientific journal must be written in the abbreviation applied in the PubMed or the Social Science Citation Index. The abbreviations of the Hungarian scientific journals must be identical to the ones approved by their editorial board. The citation of each article must contain the year, volume number and its first and last page number. In the citation of a book chapter, the title of the book, its editor(s), the name of the publisher, the date and place of the publication (town) and the first and last page of the cited chapter must be listed apart from the author of that particular chapter. In the citation of a book the following should be given: the author(s), title, the name of the publisher, date and place (town) and the page number. The suggested forms are illustrated here: Jaiswal SP, Jain AK, Naik G Soni N, Chitnis DS. (2001) Viral hepatitis during pregnancy. Int J Gynaecol Obstet, 72: 103-108. Marby T, Markham KR, Thomas MB. The systematic identification of flavonoids. SpringerVerlag, New-York, 1970: 62-68. Rcz K. Adrenocorticotropin. Cushing-disease, Nelson-syndrome. In: Levey A (szerk.), The handbook of clinical endocrinology and metabolic disorders (A klinikai endokrinolgia s anyagcsere-betegsgek kziknyve). Medicina, Budapest, 2001: 178-186. Tables and graphs should have explanatory titles so they become comprehensible without reading their explanation. These titles must be placed either on the top or bottom of the table/graph. They should be numbered individually and continuously (e.g. 1st table, 1st graph) and be referred to from the text of the thesis. If the table/graph has been imported from a article, then the source journal or book must be referred to in one of the methods described at the Bibliography, citation section. Thesis booklet - The cover page of the Thesis booklet should follow the format of the sample (on the website) - Its length can be 89-20 pages, in A5 format - The structure of the Thesis booklet: Introduction Aims/Objectives Methods Results Conclusions - The bibliography of the candidates publications (the publications related and unrelated to the theme of the PhD thesis should be put into different lists) - The bibliography of the Thesis booklet contains the candidates publications exclusively - One unbound copy is sufficient to be submitted for the reviewing process - 5 bound copies to be submitted for the PhD defence

ITEMS TO BE SUMITTED WITH THE PHD THESIS

Semmelweis University School of PhD Studies

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A supporting letter from the head of the departmental School of PhD Studies Recommendation for Official Reviewers and for the Members of Doctoral Thesis Defence (see the form on the website) issued by the Council of the departmental School of PhD Studies The minutes and records of the candidates university department pre-defence discussion of the PhD thesis Certificate of Impact Factors Issued by the Central Library (see the form on the website) of Semmelweis University The Thesis booklet in English Copies of all the candidate1s relevant publications (off-print if possible) A tutors statement in the event of research having been undertaken as a joint effort between the candidate and others. The statement should indicate the participation proportion of the PhD candidate. An electronic copy of the PhD thesis, the summary and the PhD thesis booklet (in rtf or pdf format if possible, on a disk or CD)

In exceptional cases, the PhD candidates without former training have the option to choose the following format instead of the conventional format described above: SHORT PHD THESIS + PUBLICATIONS The structural and format requirements are identical with the ones described above (including the summary), except the length which should be 30-50 pages without the graphs and references. This is followed by the candidates publications (with the list of numbered publications) to be bound. In a short PhD thesis the candidate is obliged to present the objectives, results and conclusions (it is not sufficient to refer only to the published articles). It should also show how each of the candidates published articles contributed to the development of the topic of the PhD thesis. Additionally, articles by other authors should be used as references apart from the references to the candidates own publications (i.e. references to other authors included into the candidates own articles). Items to be submitted to the Short PhD Thesis are identical to the ones in case of the traditional PhD thesis. Exceptionally, a book or an artistic piece can be considered of similar value to a PhD thesis. The summaries and PhD thesis outlines are required in this case as well (depending on the nature of the work). (It is necessary to obtain the endorsement from the president of the Doctoral Council beforehand in order to submit a piece of scientific or art work.)

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