Preparing your research degree thesis for submission to Spiral

After the examination is complete and any required revisions have been approved, you should make sure that the final copy of your thesis is submitted to Registry via Spiral (the College’s open access repository) as soon as possible. The College will not issue the result of the examination to successful candidates until it has received the final submission and the examiners have confirmed that any amendments to the thesis required by the candidate have been made.

For further information on preparing your final thesis for submission to Spiral and creating your PDF file, please refer to this FAQs page.

Your final thesis must be in PDF/A format and all fonts used must be embedded within the PDF file. Please do not include your signature in the thesis. Theses submitted in any other format will not be accepted and may result in the award of the degree being delayed.

Please note that your submission will be checked by Research Degrees before being released to the Spiral team in the library, and your thesis will only be made publicly available upon expiry of any agreed embargo. Bound copies of the final thesis, or electronic copies in any other format are no longer required. You do not need to submit any additional forms at this stage, providing you have already submitted your Thesis Declaration Form.

You can search for Imperial theses via Library Search or browsing the PhD collections on Spiral, Imperial’s open access repository.

Yes. Under certain circumstances you can request an embargo on your thesis.

You can change your mind about which Creative Commons licence you have assigned to your thesis if you have not yet uploaded it to Spiral. You must make sure the copyright statement at the front of your thesis matches the licence you choose.

Once you have uploaded the final version of your thesis to Spiral the licence cannot be changed.

See Reproducing your own published work

You can change your mind about which Creative Commons licence you have assigned to your thesis if you have not yet uploaded it to Spiral. You must make sure the copyright statement at the front of your thesis matches the licence you choose.

Once you have uploaded the final version of your thesis to Spiral the licence cannot be changed.

See Reproducing published extracts, images, figures, etc

See Reproducing your own published work

See Publishing material from your thesis

Imperial’s Regulations for the award of the MPhil and the PhD state ‘A series of papers, whether published or otherwise, is not acceptable for submission as a thesis’.  

However, research work ‘already published, or submitted for publication, at the time of submission of the thesis, either by the candidate alone or jointly with others,’ may be included in the body thesis if it is adapted to the style of a thesis (i.e., it is changed so that your thesis reads as a single and fully integrated whole). 

To avoid self-plagiarism, cite the adapted paper at the beginning of the matching chapter with an accompanying reference in your reference list and treat quotes and figures from the paper as you would when reusing someone else’s work, i.e., cite and reference these in the text of the chapter. For more detailed guidance on avoiding plagiarism and self-plagiarism read Plagiarism Issues in Theses , Plagiarism Awareness and refer back to the Graduate School plagiarism awareness course Plagiarism Awareness (Doctoral Students) 

If you would like to include copies of your published papers for completeness and comparison, you can create an Appendix. To be able to do this, you must first have the publisher’s permission to reproduce the paper in your thesis or permission via a  Creative Commons Licence, if the paper was published on open access. Preparing your thesis includes further advice on this topic. 

Speak to your PhD supervisor and/or Director of Postgraduate Studies if you believe your department’s rules vary from this guidance. 

Yes. Under certain circumstances you can request an embargo on your thesis.

You should not redraw a figure simply to side-step the need to acknowledge someone else’s work or to request permission to use it. When you change someone else’s figure to better suit your needs, you must decide if you are adapting the work or redrawing it as a new work.

An adaption starts with the original figure and then elements are added, subtracted or replaced to create an adapted version. When looking at the figure the similarity to the original figure is obvious and the changes could be described by someone looking at both figures.

When you redraw a figure, your aim is to create a new and original figure using some else’s figure as a guide and inspiration. You start with a blank piece of paper and create your own visual explanation of the concept or data.

The right to adapt a copyrighted work belongs to the rightsholder. You must therefore request permission to adapt another person’s figure and publish the adapted version online. Conversely, there is no need to request permission when you redraw a figure because you have created a new and original figure for which you are the copyright holder.

When writing the figure caption for an adapted work always acknowledge the adaption and the original figure. (e.g.  figure 1,  Risk perception and behavioral change during epidemics: Comparing models of individual and collective learning)

Advanced Science's Copyright permissions: tips for authors covers reproduction, adaption and redrawing of figures in more detail and explains how to obtain permission.

After the examination is complete and any required revisions have been approved, you should make sure that the final copy of your thesis is submitted to Registry via Spiral (the College’s open access repository) as soon as possible. The College will not issue the result of the examination to successful candidates until it has received the final submission and the examiners have confirmed that any amendments to the thesis required by the candidate have been made.

For further information on preparing your final thesis for submission to Spiral and creating your PDF file, please refer to this FAQs page.

Your final thesis must be in PDF/A format and all fonts used must be embedded within the PDF file. Please do not include your signature in the thesis. Theses submitted in any other format will not be accepted and may result in the award of the degree being delayed.

Please note that your submission will be checked by Research Degrees before being released to the Spiral team in the library, and your thesis will only be made publicly available upon expiry of any agreed embargo. Bound copies of the final thesis, or electronic copies in any other format are no longer required. You do not need to submit any additional forms at this stage, providing you have already submitted your Thesis Declaration Form.

You can search for Imperial theses via Library Search or browsing the PhD collections on Spiral, Imperial’s open access repository.

See Requesting an embargo

The College does not require you to sign the statement of originality and recommends that you do not include a signature in your thesis as it will publicly available on the internet and may be used fraudulently by others.

You are able to select a licence of your own choice - depending on the licence you choose, this will determine how your thesis is used.

What are these licences?
Selecting a creative common licence provides more information on the available licences.

Other people can copy, distribute and transmit your thesis, see the Spiral use licence. 

Your thesis should be submitted in PDF/A format and all fonts used must be embedded within the PDF file.

See Creating your PDF/A for instructions for your operating system.

For help with submission and regulations

 assessment.records@imperial.ac.uk

Graduate School courses:

Preparing for Thesis Submission, Examination and Open Access Q&A

Publishing Open Access: Your Research and Thesis

For help with plagiarism, referencing and copyright

ASK the Library

Plagiarism Awareness (Doctoral Students)

Copyright for Researchers (Online Course)

For help with intellectual property

Intellectual property guidance

Intellectual Property (Online Course)