Final phase of the dissertation process

På svenska

The following is a list of points to remember for doctoral students and their supervisors in the final phase of the dissertation process, from the final draft seminar (“manuskonferensen”) to the day of the defense (“disputationen”).

For doctoral students

Language review/translation
Booking of doctoral defense
ISBN & ISSN
Permissions
Thesis printing
Nailing
Distribution of mandatory copies
Check the doctoral defense budget together with your supervisor
After the public defense: Apply for your doctoral degree!

For doctoral students

Consult the faculty webpage on defenses of doctoral theses for a detailed checklist, and for key information on booking a defense date, selecting examining committee & external opponent, thesis printing with Media-Tryck, thesis distribution, electronic registration / nailing, and obtaining your degree certificate.

On that webpage, you also find the latest version of the document “regulations for third cycle education”. See in particular chapter 10 of these regulations for more specific information on thesis printing and reproduction and the organization of your defense.

To the faculty webpage on defenses of doctoral theses

See also Media-Tryck’s own page for doctoral students for further information on thesis printing, including templates.

To Media-Tryck’s own page for doctoral students

Important additional information:

Language review/translation

You need to discuss language review and possible translations with your supervisor, since the costs for these processes are incurred to the budget for dissertation defenses, for which your supervisor is responsible. Allocate approximately 2-3 weeks for this (depending on the length and format of the manuscript). See information below on the defense budget.

Booking of doctoral thesis defense

Based on the time allocated to the green light committee and language review, and in consultation with your supervisor, determine the date and time of the defense. Your supervisor is responsible for the arrangements with the faculty office. Note that adoctoral thesis defense may only occur during the official academic semester time (“under terminstid”).

The day of the defense needs to be booked at least 6 weeks before, but usually much more in advance to secure your preferred date. Note that no more than two doctoral theses defenses can occur on the same day at the Faculty of Social Sciences, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

ISBN & ISSN

Before you send your doctoral thesis to print you need to obtain an ISBN. Follow the ISBN guidance on the university library’s website. In addition, if your dissertation is to be part of the “Lund Political Studies” series, you also need to acquire an ISSN number, along with a volume number and a complete list of former dissertations published in the series (to be inserted at the end of the dissertation) from the research administrator at the department.

Link to the ISBN guidance on the university library’s website

Permissions

If you are writing a compilation thesis, do not forget to seek the permission of the publishers of already printed papers to reproduce your work in the dissertation. However, you do not need to acquire consent from any co-authors for this.

Thesis printing

Once the day of the defence has been determined, contact Media-Tryck. Inform them that you belong to the Faculty of Social Sciences and that your thesis should be processed through the so-called “print-on-demand”-system. This implies your thesis will be searchable through online publishers, hence they can also order a copy of your book/dissertation.

Typically you may format the thesis yourself using the templates of Media-Tryck (see link above). You can also ask Mediaprint to do the formatting, which normally takes around 10 days. Plan to submit the final draft to Media-Tryck approximately 6 weeks prior to the defence. The faculty requires a minimum amount of 33 printed copies of a thesis; please consult the assistant head of department to decide on any additional copies. Doctoral students who order the printing of their thesis must state Åsa-Katrin Erlandsson as a reference on the invoice from Mediatryck.

Nailing

Nailing takes place electronically via LUCRIS no later than 4 weeks before the public defence. In addition to the mandatory electronic nailing in LUCRIS, the department can arrange a symbolic and voluntary physical nailing of a copy of your thesis. Please contact the Deputy Head of Doctoral Studies in due time to arrange this.

Distribution of mandatory copies

See the special list established for this purpose by research administrator Helen Fogelin at the department. These mandatory copies do not include all department employees (other than the members of the grading committee). Only distribute copies to department employees upon request (others may read the digitized version of the dissertation).

Check the doctoral studies defense budget together with your supervisor (more information in the next section below)!

After the public defense: Apply for your doctoral degree!

For supervisors

Consult the faculty webpage on defenses of doctoral theses for a detailed checklist, and for specific information on booking a defense date, selecting examining committee & external opponent, etc. On that webpage, you also find the latest version of the document “regulations for third cycle education”.

See in particular chapter 10 of these regulations for more specific information for the organization of the defense and the selection of examination committee and opponent.

To the faculty webpage on defenses of doctoral theses

Important additional information

Doctoral studies defense budget

Around the time of the manuscript conference, contact the director of doctoral studies for the Excel form for the defense budget to begin your planning.

After the defense, ask Marie Persson to help you with paying the remuneration for the opponent. The opponent receives a remuneration of SEK 12,000 (minus 25% SINK tax for colleagues from non-Nordic countries). The examination committee members receive no remuneration, but will be compensated for their travel expenses.

Contact information to Marie Persson: marie [dot] persson [at] svet [dot] lu [dot] se (marie[dot]persson[at]svet[dot]lu[dot]se)

Booking and organization of defense

Based on the time allocated to the green light committee and language review, and in consultation with the doctoral student, determine the date and time of the defense. Note that Doctoral studies defenses may only occur during the official academic semester time (“under terminstid”).
Before booking with the faculty office, inform the director of doctoral studies about your desired date and the candidates you have in mind as opponent and for the examination committee.
The day of the defense needs to be booked at least 6 weeks before with the faculty office, but usually you need to book much more in advance to secure your preferred date. No more than two doctoral studies defenses can occur on the same day at the Faculty of Social Sciences, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
After day and time have been approved by the faculty, you need to book the venue for the defense.
Moreover, ask the research administrator Helen Fogelin to book:

travel tickets (and hotel if needed) for both opponent and the committee member from another university,
a room for the examination committee’s meeting after the defense, including fruit and water,
flowers for Eden’s Hörsal, and
a lunch table at a restaurant for the examination committee.

Inform the opponent and examination committee members about the timeline for the day of the defense.
In addition, notify colleagues from non-Swedish universities on expectations about their roles (feel free to contact the director of doctoral studies about which information we usually provide to external colleagues).

During and after the defense

The main supervisor serves as chair. This includes welcoming all attendants, introducing opponent and committee, leaving the word to the opponent (usually for no more than 90 minutes in dialogue with the doctoral candidate), and after that moderating questions from the examination committee and the audience.

For the defense, download and bring with you two copies of the form for the examination committee’s minutes. The form can be downloaded on the Swedish version of the faculty webpage on defenses of doctoral theses.

Once completed, after the committee’s decision, place one copy in the doctoral candidate’s mailbox and send the other copy to the faculty office.