The main requirements for layout are given here. For a complete overview of all the requirements, please see the PhD Regulations. A faculty may set additional requirements (see your faculty tab or Graduate School).

Title page and non-scientific part

The title page of the dissertation has a prescribed format. The non-scientific part comprises the following elements:

• Title page (front and reverse)
• Foreword and/or afterword
• Acknowledgement(s)
• Assignment/assigning party (if applicable)
• Quotation/motto (if applicable)
• Table of contents
• Curriculum vitae
• Propositions
• Summary
• Cover
• Front and back cover of the dissertation volume (outside and inside)

Before reproducing the dissertation (printing or copying), you must first submit the non-scientific part for approval to the Dean, and the title page to both the Dean and the Beadle. 

If you have written the dissertation with another PhD candidate, both of you must submit the dissertation with your own title page, curriculum vitae and propositions. You may state on the back of the title page that the PhD research was conducted jointly by two PhD candidates and has resulted in a joint dissertation. 

Obtaining a PhD on the basis of articles and earlier publications

The dissertation may be written in the form of either a monograph or multiple articles that have been published or submitted for publication. In the latter case, the articles must be combined in such a way that the complete dissertation has the character of a stitched, glued or bound book. The articles must also have the same format; they will therefore sometimes need to be enlarged or reduced.

The articles must be related in terms of content, and the relationship explained in an introductory and/or concluding chapter. The different faculties may set additional requirements.

When articles are included in the dissertation, this counts as a new publication. It is therefore important to be aware of the copyright of any co-authors. For dissertations in the form of a monograph, references must be given for any previously published parts. 

Commercial edition

You may choose to also publish a commercial edition of your dissertation, but only after you have been awarded your PhD. If the commercial edition is also used as the dissertation, a title page must be bound into it. For further requirements, see the PhD Regulations.