Doctoral Dissertations 2016

Supplementary provisions related to Doctoral Thesis 2016

These provisions apply as guidelines for candidates admitted to the PhD programme at BI Norwegian Business School (BI) prior to January 1st 2016.

For candidates admitted after this date these are supplementary provisions to the Regulations for the Degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) (hereinafter the PhD Regulations)

Section 1 Specialisations

1.1 BI has one PhD programme with several specialisations.

Section 2 Article-based dissertations

2.1 An article-based dissertation must contain at least three research articles that report original research carried out by the PhD candidate.

2.2 The format, scope and scientific contribution of each research article in the dissertation should be similar to the norm for articles published in international peer reviewed journals in the field of specialisation.

2.3 If articles are co-authored, the PhD candidate must be a substantial and significant contributor.

2.4 The PhD candidate must be the sole author of at least one of the research articles in the dissertation.

2.5 Article-based dissertations must be written in English.

Section 3 Dissertations written as monographs

3.1 A monograph contains an in-depth study of a narrowly defined topic. The monograph must contain original research carried out by the PhD candidate.

3.2 Monographs should have a format, scope and scientific contribution that is similar to the norm for monographs published by the top academic publishers in the field of specialisation.

3.3 If parts (chapters) of the monograph are co-authored, the PhD candidate must be a substantial and significant contributor.

3.4 The PhD candidate must be the sole author of the main part of the monograph.

3.5 BI recommends monographs be written in English.

Section 4 All dissertations

4.1 The PhD candidate is responsible for the content of the dissertation and for when it should be submitted.

4.1.1 The supervisor shall advise as to whether the dissertation has the academic qualities required for submission.

4.2 The research carried out in connection with the dissertation must comply with research-ethical standards for academic research.

Section 5 Formatting requirements

5.1 The dissertation must have a table of content and continuous page numbering.

5.2 The articles or chapters of the dissertation must be clearly identified. Each article or chapter must start on a new page and contain title and author(s). If an article is published or forthcoming, journal, volume, page number, and year must be reported.

5.3 Published articles forming part of the dissertation must be included in post-print version, i.e. the manuscript after the peer review but before printing.

5.3.1 Tables and figures should appear in the text close to where they are referenced the first time.

5.4 The candidate is responsible for obtaining the necessary permissions for printing previously published material as part of the dissertation.

Section 6 Submission

6.1 The dissertation must be submitted as a pdf file to the Doctoral Administration. The submission must include:

6.1.1 Required statements on:
- co-authorship
- publishing/printing permission(s)

6.1.2 Documentation that the course component has been completed (60 ECTS).

6.2 The candidate must be enrolled in BIs PhD programme in order to submit his/her dissertation; either by being within the time limit determined in the written agreement entered into between the relevant Department and the candidate, or within the maximum allowed period of extension stipulated in the PhD Regulations.

6.3 A dissertation submitted for evaluation may not be withdrawn.

Section 7 Evaluation and revision of a submitted dissertation

7.1 For article-based dissertations, the evaluation committee will assess if the dissertation fulfils requirements 2.1 through 2.3 in Section 2. For dissertations written as monographs, the evaluation committee will assess if the dissertation fulfils requirements 3.1 through 3.4 in Section 3. If the evaluation committee finds the dissertation to satisfy the requirements, the committee will conclude that the dissertation is worthy of public defence. If the requirements are not satisfied, the evaluation committee will reject the dissertation.

7.1.1 The committee may require that the doctoral candidate submit background material and additional supplementary and clarifying information.

7.1.2 The committee may propose that BI allows the doctoral candidate to make changes of an editorial nature to the dissertation before the final recommendation is given. In such cases, the committee must provide a list of proposed changes.

7.1.3 The deadline for changes covered by 7.1.2 cannot exceed three (3) weeks. A new deadline for the submission of the committee's final recommendation must be set accordingly.

7.2 The report from the evaluation committee must be received by BI within three (3) months from the date when the committee received the dissertation. If the committee allows a revision of the dissertation, a new deadline will run from the date the revised dissertation was received by the committee.

7.3 The doctoral candidate must be given a chance to submit written comments on the report from the evaluation committee. Such comments must be sent to BI within ten (10) days from receiving the report. If the candidate does not wish to submit any comments, BI must be informed in writing as soon as possible.

Section 8 The recommendation of the evaluation committee

8.1 BI will make a decision as to whether or not the dissertation is worthy of public defence based on the recommendation of the evaluation committee.

8.1.1 Unanimous recommendation from the evaluation committee

BI decides on whether or not the dissertation is worthy of public defence without getting advice from the Doctoral Programme Committee. BI can decide to solicit advice from the Doctoral Programme Committee even if the recommendation from the evaluation committee is unanimous. If BI solicit advice from the Doctoral Programme Committee and find that there is justified doubt as to whether a dissertation is worthy of public defence, BI should seek further clarifications from the evaluation committee or appoint two new independent experts who will submit individual reports and recommendations on whether or not the dissertation is worthy of public defence. Reports and recommendations from any new experts must be presented to the PhD candidate, who will be given an opportunity to make comments. If the new experts agree with the recommendation of the evaluation committee, the dissertation will be considered worthy of public defence.

8.1.2 Divided recommendation from the evaluation committee

BI decides on whether or not the dissertation is worthy of public defence based on advice from the Doctoral Programme Committee. BI may seek further clarifications from the evaluation committee or appoint two new independent experts who will submit individual reports and recommendations on whether or not the dissertation is worthy of public defence. Reports and recommendations from any new experts must be presented to the PhD candidate, who will be given an opportunity to make comments. If the new experts agree with the recommendation of the majority of the evaluation committee, the dissertation will be considered worthy of public defence.

Section 9 Resubmission

9.1 A dissertation that has not been found worthy of public defence cannot be evaluated in a revised form until six (6) months after BI made its decision.

9.2 A dissertation can only be resubmitted and re-evaluated once.

9.3 In connection with a resubmission, the PhD candidate must inform BI that the dissertation previously was evaluated and found not to be worthy of public defence.

Section 10 Printing

10.1 When the dissertation has been found worthy of public defence, the PhD candidate must submit the dissertation in accordance with the provisions of Section 5 and 6.

10.2 An approved dissertation must be printed using the formatting requirements for BI's series of dissertations (ISSN 1502-2099) and must be part of this dissertations series. The manuscript must be submitted to the Research Management Office, which is responsible for entering the ISBN for the printing process.

10.3 The printed version of the dissertation must be available two weeks prior to the PhD defence.

10.4 The dissertation must be available for public inspection in BI's library.

10.5 If the PhD candidate so permits, the Research Management Office will publish the dissertation electronically at www.bi.no and at BI Brage. If an article or a chapter in the dissertation is co-authored, permission to publish must be granted by all authors. If an article in the dissertation is published, permission to publish at www.bi.no and/or BI brage must have been obtained from the publisher.

 

The provisions have been considered by the Doctoral Programme Committee on November 20th 2015.

 

The provisions were adopted by the Senate on December 1st 2015.