Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to section menu Skip to sidebar menu View accessibility support page

Imperial College LondonImperial College London

Latest News

Imperial celebrates spinout formations and community of experts

Circle of Benefactors dinner celebrates philanthropy at Imperial

Imperial and BASF step up effort to turn breakthroughs into real-world solutions

More News

Main Navigation

  • Study
    Close
    • Study overview
    • Courses
      Top Links
      • Search our courses
      • Explore subject areas
      • Chat to our students
      • Request information
      • Continuing professional development
      • Executive education
      • Adult education classes

       

    • Admissions
      Top Links
      • How to apply
      • Fees and funding
      • Accommodation
      • Student visas and immigration



    • Events, tasters and talks
    • Visit us
    • Undergraduate Open Days
    • Summer schools
    • Virtual tour
    • Help centreFind answers to frequently asked questions about studying at Imperial
    • International studentsLearn more about what Imperial has to offer students from around the world
    • Student lifeDiscover more about our entrepreneurial community, and life in London
  • Research & Innovation
    Close
    • Research and Innovation
    • Research support
      At a glance
      • Support for staff
      • Support for partners and business
      • ICT research computing support
    • About Imperial research
      At a glance
      • A-Z all research groups
      • Our research culture
      • Research Excellence Framework (REF)
    • Global Institutes
    • Centres of Excellence
    • Networks of Excellence
    • Funding opportunities
    • Impact case studiesRead case studies about Imperial research that has made a difference
    • Research newsThe latest research news from across the College
    • EnterpriseLearn how we support entrepreneurship and find research-driven solutions
  • Be Inspired
    Close
    • Be Inspired
    • Take part
      Top links
      • Schools Outreach
      • What's on at Imperial
      • Staff and student volunteering

       
       
    • Engage online
      Top links
      • Imperial news
      • Imperial Magazine
      • Imperial College Podcast
       
       
    • Societal engagement
    • The Great Exhibition Road Festival
    • Imperial Lates
    • Social media directory
    • Imperial StoriesThe very best features and opinion from the Imperial community
    • Student storiesFind out about life on campus from our team of student bloggers
    • Imperial TodaySubscribe to our daily newsletter and receive the best stories from Imperial direct to your inbox
  • About
    Close
    • About
    • Our leadership and strategy
      Overview
      • Imperial strategy
      • Academic Strategy
      • Governance structure
      • League tables
      • Global Imperial
    • Our people and values
      At a glance
      • President
      • Provost
      • Recognising our people
      • Search Imperial staff and researchers
      • Alumni stories
      • Equality diversity and inclusion
    • Our faculties and departments
    • Faculty of Engineering
    • Faculty of Medicine
    • Faculty of Natural Sciences
    • Imperial College Business School
    • Our campusesExplore our London locations
    • Our values and behavioursOur College Values both underpin and reflect our behaviour and are critical in shaping how we work
    • Sustainable ImperialWe will set a global benchmark for university sustainability
  • News
  • What's on
  • News
  • Give
  • A-Z
    • Close
    • Faculties and departments
    • Multidisciplinary networks, centres and institutes
    • Research groups
    • People finder
    • Administration and support services
  • Information for
    • Close
    • Prospective students
    • Current students
    • Alumni
    • Staff
    • Jobs at Imperial
    • Partners and business
    • Media
    • Donors
    • Parents
    • Conference organisers

Scholarly Communication

Section Navigation

  • Close
  • Scholarly Communication Overview
  • Open research
    • Imperial Open Research Newsletter
    • Open research education for doctoral students
  • Research data management
    • Introduction to research data management
      • What does my funder require?
      • What does my publisher require?
    • Imperial policy
      • Imperial RDM policy
    • Data management planning
      • How to complete a data management plan
      • Budgeting for Research Data Management (RDM) Costs
    • Organising and describing data
      • Naming files and folders
      • Choosing file formats
      • Data documentation and metadata
      • Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELN)
    • Data storage and security
      • Storing live data
      • Managing sensitive data
    • Data preservation
      • What to keep
      • Finding a research data repository
      • Data deposit agreement
      • Data deposit checklist
    • Sharing data
      • How to share research data
      • How to write a data access statement
      • Sharing sensitive data
      • Licensing your data
    • Make your data FAIR
    • Making research software open and shareable
    • Data discovery and reuse
      • How to use the Imperial data catalogue (Symplectic and Spiral)
      • Create an ORCID iD
    • Training and resources
      • Imperial RDM training
      • How to videos
      • Glossary
    • Frequently asked questions
    • Book an RDM consultation
  • Open access
    • Imperial's research publications open access policy
    • Research funders' open access policies
      • UKRI Open Access Review Consultation
    • REF 2029 open access policy
      • Frequently asked questions
    • Depositing in Spiral
      • Deposit on acceptance
      • Deposit after publication
        • Deposit a paper from Europe PubMed Central
      • Permission to deposit
      • Publication versions
      • Licences and policies
      • Frequently asked questions
    • Depositing in PubMed Central and Europe PMC
    • Applying for funding
      • What happens to my application?
    • Publisher agreements and discounts
    • Preparing your thesis
      • Reproducing published extracts, images, figures, etc
      • Reproducing your own published work
      • Requesting an embargo
      • Creating your PDF/A
      • Selecting a Creative Commons licence
      • Publishing material from your thesis
      • Advice for supervisors
      • Master's dissertations
      • Frequently asked questions
      • UKRI funded students
    • Frequently asked questions
      • REF 2029 open access policy
      • What is open access?
      • Depositing your work in Spiral
      • Using Symplectic
      • Imperial Profiles
      • Applying for OA fees (article processing charges)
      • Preparing your research degree thesis for submission to Spiral
    • Glossary of open access terms
    • What is the relationship between Symplectic and Spiral
    • Book a one to one or training session
    • Our team
  • Publishing with Spiral
    • Introduction to Spiral
    • How to prepare your report
    • Receiving a DOI for your report
    • Discovering impact
    • Depositing a published paper in Spiral
  • Symplectic
    • Add outputs to Symplectic and Spiral
    • Link research outputs to other entities
    • Update your PWP
    • Add publications to Researchfish
    • User guides and faculty contacts
    • Frequently asked questions
  • ORCID
    • Synchronising Symplectic to ORCID: all users
    • Synchronising Symplectic to ORCID: affected users
    • Setting Symplectic and ORCID permissions
    • Maximise your visibility with ORCID
    • ORCID frequently asked questions
  • Bibliometrics
    • Basics of metrics
    • Responsible use of metrics
    • Available bibliometrics tools
    • Initiatives and resources on responsible metrics
    • Narrative CVs
    • Book a one to one
  • Training and events
  • Home
  • Research
  • Support for staff
  • Scholarly Communication
  • Open access
  • Preparing your thesis

Preparing your thesis

Need help?

  • Frequently asked questions
  • ASK the library
  • Book a one to one
  • Creating your PDF/A

How to prepare your thesis for submission

Your PhD, MPhil, MD(Res) or EngD thesis will be deposited in Spiral, Imperial's open access repository, and made available to the public.

It is important that you follow the guidance below when preparing your thesis for submission.

For further information please see Research Degrees

Preparing your thesis for submission

Copyright

Copyright in other people's work

Seek permission to reproduce extracts from books, articles, images, figures, etc.

Reproducing published extracts, images, etc.

Journals on a table

Copyright in your own work

Seek permission to reproduce your own published papers, images, etc.

Reproducing your own published work

Students involved in group work

Selecting a licence

Choosing a Creative Commons licence

Selecting a licence

Preparing your thesis for submission

Student making notes

Embargoes

Request an embargo if you need to delay the publication of your thesis

Requesting an embargo

Reading a journal

Publishing your thesis

What to consider when publishing your thesis as a book or article

Publishing material from your thesis

Lecturer help a student at a computer

Plagiarism

Acknowlege other people's ideas and work

Plagiarism awareness

Open access

  • Imperial's research publications open access policy
  • Research funders' open access policies
    • UKRI Open Access Review Consultation
  • REF 2029 open access policy
    • Frequently asked questions
  • Depositing in Spiral
    • Deposit on acceptance
    • Deposit after publication
      • Deposit a paper from Europe PubMed Central
    • Permission to deposit
    • Publication versions
    • Licences and policies
    • Frequently asked questions
  • Depositing in PubMed Central and Europe PMC
  • Applying for funding
    • What happens to my application?
  • Publisher agreements and discounts
  • Preparing your thesis
    • Reproducing published extracts, images, figures, etc
    • Reproducing your own published work
    • Requesting an embargo
    • Creating your PDF/A
    • Selecting a Creative Commons licence
    • Publishing material from your thesis
    • Advice for supervisors
    • Master's dissertations
    • Frequently asked questions
    • UKRI funded students
  • Frequently asked questions
    • REF 2029 open access policy
    • What is open access?
    • Depositing your work in Spiral
    • Using Symplectic
    • Imperial Profiles
    • Applying for OA fees (article processing charges)
    • Preparing your research degree thesis for submission to Spiral
  • Glossary of open access terms
  • What is the relationship between Symplectic and Spiral
  • Book a one to one or training session
  • Our team

Advice for supervisors

Make sure your students are aware of this guidance

Advice for supervisors

Contact & Links

Useful Links

Information for

  • Prospective students
  • Alumni
  • Jobs
  • Partners and business
  • Media
  • Donors
  • Parents
  • Conference organisers

Top links

  • Visit Imperial
  • Outlook web access
  • Contact ICT Service Desk
  • Library
  • Blackboard
  • Move Imperial

Students

  • Students main page
  • Imperial College Union
  • Student Hub
  • Careers Service
  • Imperial Mobile
  • Graduation
  • Term dates

Staff

  • Staff main page
  • ICIS
  • HR procedures
  • Pay and pensions
  • Research support
  • New staff information

Imperial partners

  • Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
  • Imperial College Academic Health Science Centre
  • Imperial College Health Partners
  • Imperial Consultants

A-Z

  • Faculties, departments and institutes
  • Research groups
  • Administration and support services
  • People finder

College Information

Imperial College London

Address

Imperial College London
South Kensington Campus

London SW7 2AZ, UK
tel: +44 (0)20 7589 5111
Campuses & maps

Follow Imperial

Facebook X, formerly known as Twitter You Tube Linked in Instagram TikTok

Site Information

  • Sitemap
  • Accessibility
  • Modern slavery statement
  • Privacy notice
  • Use of cookies
  • Report incorrect content
  • © 2025 Imperial College London
  • Log in