London School of Economics

Thesis submission: monograph or as a series ofpapers

The School allows your thesis to be submitted in one of two formats, depending onwhichdepartment you are registeredin:

(1)a monograph;or

(2)a series of papers, with an introduction, critical discussion andconclusion.

The School does not allow a ‘PhD by publication’, which is a PhD awarded on the basis ofaseries of peer-reviewed academic papers, books, citations or other materials. Submittingathesisasaseriesofpapersconcernstheformatofthethesisbeingexaminedratherthanthecriteria for the doctoralaward.

The following departments currently allow students to submit their thesis a series ofpapers:Accounting

AnthropologyEconomicsGeographyGovernment

InternationalDevelopmentManagement

Social PolicyStatisticsEuropeanInstitute

All other departments require a thesis to be submitted as amonograph.

Regardless of the format of your thesis, the requirements for the PhD award are thesame,please see paragraphs 29-34 of the Regulations for Research Degrees to ensureyouunderstand the criteria your thesis will be assessedagainst.

Youmightalsofinditusefultolook atPhDthesesofourdoctoralgraduates whichyoucanaccess in the School’s online repository LSE ThesesOnline.

AdditionaltotherequirementssetbytheSchool,yourdepartmentisresponsibleforprovidingany additional guidelines relating to a thesis submitted as a series of papers that mightbespecific to your particular discipline. Such guidelines would normally include(discipline-specific) informationon:

  • when a decision might be taken to submit a thesis in this particular format, andwhoisinvolvedinmakingit–somedepartmentsrequirethisoftheirstudentsandthus thedecision is known from the beginning of the programme, other departmentsallowflexibility over the decision-making depending on the direction of anindividualstudent’s researchtopic;
  • whether the requirements for department progress review and/orupgradeprocedures differ for students preparing a thesis as a series ofpapers;
  • the expected length of the introduction, conclusion and linking papers;and
  • the number of papers contained within the thesis (co-authoredwork)

If youhavefurtherquestionsrelatingtotheinformationabove, youcandiscussthiswith yoursupervisor, department and/or a member of the PhD Academy team.