PhD thesis submission

WUR Library supports you in disseminating your PhD thesis. Your thesis will be archived in the WUR PhD theses database. The Library also ensures that your PhD thesis is distributed to a range of search engines and that it is available in Narcis.

When submitting your thesis, you need to do the following three things:

1. Register for a DOI

  • The title pages of your thesis must list a DOI (Digital Object Identifier). This number makes it easy to find and to reference your thesis. On this website you can find further information on how to request a DOI. For any other questions please contact the Doctorate secretariat of the PhD services.
  • Once you have submitted your thesis to the Library, the Library will finalise the formal registration of the DOI. The DOI can then be used to access your thesis. Your thesis will also be available under My Publications on your MyLibrary page.

2. Submit your thesis

2.a Submitting paper copies

At least two weeks before your public defense, you must submit 15 paper copies (including one copy for the library) of your PhD thesis to the Doctoral Service Centre in Atlas.

Visiting address: Atlas, building no. 104, room no. D001. Droevendaalsesteeg 4, 6708 PB Wageningen.

2.b Submitting a digital copy

  • In addition, you must submit one digital copy of your thesis to WUR Library. The digital copy must be in PDF format. The digital copy must include your thesis, your propositions and your thesis’ front and back covers, in one PDF file. Password protection should be disabled. Please also check the correct publication name in the PDF properties.

  • Together with the digital copy, you need to send a summary (text file) of your PhD thesis with a maximum length of 999 words (approx.3 pages in Word). We will add the summary to the description of your thesis. You can submit the thesis (PDF) and the summary (text file) in one of the following ways:

  1. via email attachments to media.library@wur.nl

  2. use SURF Filesender, to send the files to media.library@wur.nl (recommended)

3. Request an embargo period - if needed

Most scientific journals use plagiarism-detection software on new submissions. If your PhD thesis is publicly available through WUR Library, this software will flag your thesis as potentially plagiarised. Most journal publishers do allow you to publish part(s) of your thesis as articles, even when the thesis is publicly available. Make sure you mention in your cover letter to the journal that your manuscript is part of a publicly defended PhD thesis.

If you expect problems with journal plagiarism checks, the Library can put an embargo period on your PhD thesis. During the embargo period, the full text of your thesis will not be visible online and will not appear in plagiarism-detection software. The embargo will last for 1 year. One month before the embargo period expires, we'll email you or your supervisor to ask if you want to extend the embargo period. If you do not extend the embargo, or if you or your supervisor do not reply to the email within a month, the embargo will be lifted and your PhD thesis will become publicly available through the Wageningen University & Research PhD theses database. You can send a request for an embargo period to media.library@wur.nl.

To ensure that we can reach you during this process, please send us the following two email addresses: your private email address, especially if you will no longer be affiliated with WUR in the future, and the email address of a permanent WUR staff member associated with your PhD research, e.g., your supervisor. You can send these to media.library@wur.nl

Have you thought of publishing your data?

You may also wish to publish your thesis data. This is not required by Wageningen University & Research, but it  is required by some funders and journals. The Library can help you with publishing your datasets so that you can refer to the data in your thesis. More information on this webpage.

Contact

Should you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us at media.library@wur.nl