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Completion of the doctorate/PhD

    Here you find answers concerning questions related to the completion of your doctoral or PhD studies at the Academy, on deadlines, assessment, and publication.

    Additional information about the necessary steps for completing the PhD/doctoral studies can also be found under stages of doctoral studies.

    I have finished writing my doctoral thesis and would like to submit it. What do I need to know?

      Please make sure that you fulfill the administrative requirements, such as filling out the respective forms, in due time - not to do so is a widespread mistake and often leads to tiresome delays in the final stages of someone's doctoral studies.

      We recommend that you consult our Registrar's Office one term before you actually conclude your doctoral studies and ask for personal advice on the documents you need. On our website, you can find all exam and registration deadlines for viva voce/thesis defenses valid for the respective year of study information.

      After submission and as part of the review process, your dissertation will be subjected to a mandatory plagiarism check using plagiarism detection software.

      You also have the option of a one-time, free plagiarism check before submission via the Center for Doctoral Studies. This can be very helpful for the final revision of the dissertation. If you are interested, please contact us well in advance by email at doktoratszentrum@akbild.ac.at.

      In the section forms and documents (end of studies) you find all needed forms and templates for finishing the doctoral/PhD studies.

        What are the deadlines for completing the dissertation?

          In the section stages of doctoral studies, you find a step-by-step description of the procedure for submitting your PhD/doctoral thesis. After uploading the dissertation, you and your supervisor will receive a notification that the dissertation can now be reviewed and graded. Please note that the supervisors of your dissertation and the external assessors have a maximum of 4 months to assess and grade your work. In order to be sure that you can complete the desired defense date, you should submit the dissertation at least 5 months before the scheduled date. You can find the registration deadlines and examination dates for rigorosum/defense in the respective study year here.

          Please consider the Review Board Dates of the Curriculum Committee (only for Doctoral Studies Dr.phil. and PhD in Practice). You can find the dates for the respective academic year under Studies - Calendar Dates - Exam dates doctoral programs. The form “Admission for Approbation of the Dissertation” must be submitted by the doctoral candidate to the Registrar’s Office together with two bound copies of the dissertation. The Review Board, which decides on the external reviewers, considers all dissertations submitted up to one week before the respective board meeting.

          The review process begins once both reviewers—the supervisor(s) and the external appraiser—have received the thesis. Please note that the review process may take up to four months.

            How is the assessment of the dissertation/PhD project carried out?

            For the assessment of your dissertation, two appraisals are required. One appraisal is provided by your supervisor. If you have two supervisors, they submit a joint appraisal or a single agreed grade. The second appraisal is provided by an external appraiser who was not involved in the supervision of your dissertation. The final selection of the external appraiser is made by the Vice-Rector for Art | Teaching.

            For the Dr.phil., the Dr.rer.nat., and PhD in Practice: In the approbation form (please find it in the section forms and documents), three potential external appraisers have to be proposed, from which one person is finally selected, and the second expert appraisal is written. It is up to you whether you personally clarify in advance with the three potential external appraisers proposed whether they would be prepared to write an appraisal and attend the thesis defense in Vienna or online. You should consult with your supervisor(s) as to who would qualify as an appraiser for your PhD/dissertation, but you are not obliged to do so.

            What are the regulations concerning the second external appraiser of the dissertation?

            In principle, the second external appraisers must be professors or habilitated employees at the academy or another university or have habilitation equivalent qualifications; have professional competence with regard to the topic of the dissertation, and may not have been involved in the supervision of the dissertation. Habilitation equivalence is given if the external appraiser has supervised at least two doctoral theses at their university.

            Please note: If there are delays in the dissertation examination, for example, because the selected expert does not have the corresponding qualification (professorship or habilitation), the doctoral students bear the responsibility for this.

              I would like to use illustrations in my doctoral thesis. Am I allowed to?

                Illustrations or images for which you do not own the copyright and/or rights of use can still be used in scientific publications if these images are closely linked to the topic dealt with. In scientific papers, the text has to far outweigh the illustrated part. Moreover, you should only insert images that are essential for understanding the text. If you use images or illustrations in your dissertation, please ensure that all sources are properly cited and referenced in accordance with academic standards.

                  I would like to publish my thesis as a book. How can I approach this?

                  There are basically two routes to publish your thesis as a book: one, on a publication server (also known as repository), and two, with a publisher.

                  A publication server, or repository, is a rapid way to publish your thesis and make it freely available for your readership. Repositories can be institutional (e.g., repository.akbild.ac.at), discipline-specific (e.g., ART-Books), or general. Normally, no fees are involved for authors. Contact openaccess@akbild.ac.at to learn more about this option.

                  When looking to publish a book with a publisher, you will want to consider the following aspects:

                  1. Turning your thesis into a book means more than simply binding it as is. Your book manuscript will likely mean a substantial rewrite of your thesis. Think about your intended, perhaps non-academic readership, purpose and structure of, as well as the voice for your book.

                  2. Select a publisher: Start by selecting a publisher that would be a good fit for your topic and readership.
                    -   Get in touch with your supervisor(s) for any recommendations and to ask about their publishing experiences.
                    -   Look at your own reference list – where have authors published on similar topics?
                    -   Contact acquisition editors at the publishers you are interested in to check if your book will be a fit. 

                  3. Open access (OA): Right at the start, consider if you want to publish your book open access, to gain greater visibility and impact for your research. Many publishers offer OA options for e-books. Still, there is great variation in terms of quality, publishing costs, and OA services. The Directory of Open Access Books provides a curated list of publishers that offer open access for books.

                  4. Funding: Publishing costs may occur, depending on the publishing option and publisher you choose. Obtain offers from more than one publisher to compare costs, services, and conditions. For funding support options see the next FAQ “What funding options are available for publishing my thesis as a book?”.

                  Doctoral candidates enrolled in the Dr.rer.nat. and Dr.phil. programs can choose between writing a monograph or a cumulative dissertation. In case of a cumulative or article-based thesis, the dissertation consists of several chapters that may be published individually as journal articles. Contact openaccess@akbild.ac.at for more info or publishing support.

                  What funding options are available for publishing my thesis as a book?

                  Please see both Academy and external funding options for scholarly books below. 

                  Open access book publishing funds:

                  Other book publishing funds:

                  As an additional resource, also see the Austrian Database for Scholarships and Research Grants that lists different types of funding support, including publishing funds.

                  If you hold a citizenship other than Austrian, it may be worthwhile to research funding opportunities in the respective country. In Germany, for example, there is a publication requirement for dissertations—unlike in Austria—which results in a wider range of funding opportunities. Please note that we are unable to provide advisory services regarding funding opportunities outside Austria. We therefore ask that you conduct your own research.