Research higher degree candidates at the University of Queensland are strongly encouraged to publish the results of their research. In a great many cases, some of the research will be published or accepted for publication before the thesis is submitted. Where their published work contributes directly to the argument and supports the findings of the thesis, candidates are also strongly encouraged to incorporate relevant portions of the published material into their theses. Prior publication or acceptance for publication may provide an indication to the assessors of the quality and originality of the research in the thesis, but it does not pre-empt the judgement of assessors: it is neither a criterion nor a guarantee for recommending the acceptance of a thesis in whole or in part. An acceptable research higher degree thesis will always be more than the sum of several published papers.

Work published, accepted for publication, or submitted for publication prior to candidature must not be included in the thesis. See http://www.uq.edu.au/grad-school/credit-for-work-completed for more information, including advice on how to determine if a publication can't be included in the thesis.

Peer reviewed papers may be incorporated into a thesis if the following conditions are met:

1. The papers have been published, accepted for publication, or submitted for publication during candidature;
2. The papers contribute to the argument of the thesis;
3. The candidate is the first/principal author or more than half of the papers included in the thesis; and
4. The research and written work is substantively the candidate's.

The papers can be incorporated in several ways:

• Passages from published papers can be transferred directly (or in appropriately edited form and referenced) into one or more chapters of the thesis.
• A published paper or an accepted manuscript can form a single chapter (or several papers may form successive chapters) without any editing.
• A published paper can be included in its original format as an attachment to the thesis.

Work that has been submitted but not yet accepted for publication may be included in the thesis, but must be clearly distinguished from work that has been published or accepted or publication.

Where these papers have been jointly authored, the nature and extent of the candidate's work must be precisely identified for each paper at the end of the Statement of Originality (for example, to the extent of identifying which figures or passages of text represent the original work of the candidate). In addition, the nature and extent of the intellectual input by others to the work reported in the thesis (whether otherwise cited or not) must be clearly delineated and acknowledged in the Statement of Contribution by Others.

Before including their work in the thesis, the candidate and principal advisor must obtain written confirmation from all co-authors that they consent to the inclusion of the paper in the thesis and accept the candidate's contribution to the paper as described in the Statement of Originality.

The candidate is the sole author of the thesis, and fully responsible for everything contained in it. As a consequence, the candidate is the copyright holder of the thesis. If the thesis contains third-party material (such as photographs, maps, drawings, extended quotations, and so on), the Copyright Act permits the use of such material for a variety of purposes, including "fair dealing for research and study". However, this fair dealing right of reproduction does not apply where a work is published, and all UQ research higher degree theses are considered published works. For that reason, where copyright on a publication or third-party material has been assigned to a publisher, permission must be be sought to reproduce the work in the thesis.

The irreducible minimum treatment that is required where papers have been published prior to submission and where they are incorporated as a whole or in parts into a thesis is that the thesis must contain:

1. An introduction to the aims and design of the candidate's research project that incorporates an independent, up-to-date and original review of pertinent existing work in the field that is entirely the candidate's own work. This introduction will contextualise the candidate's project and research question in relation to the present state of knowledge in the field, and (where appropriate) to key delegates in the discipline and /or to social, cultural or policy contexts.
2. Chapters in a logical and cogent sequence leading to an argument that supports the main findings of the thesis, while further expansion of aspects of published papers (such as more comprehensive descriptions of methodologies or statistical treatments) is encouraged through the use of appendices or additional text in a chapter.
3. An independent and original general discussion that is entirely the candidate's own work and that integrates the most significant findings of the thesis and presents the needs and prospects for future research.

If work published by the candidate during candidature is ancillary to the thesis and does not form part of it, the publications should be listed in the Additional Publications by the Candidate Relevant to the Thesis but not Forming Part of it. Again, work undertaken and published prior to candidature cannot be included in the thesis.