Cumulative Dissertations: Considering Legal Implications

At RPTU, some departments offer a cumulative (publication-based) dissertation. This consists of several thematically related contributions that have been published or accepted for publication in scientific journals or anthologies.

To publish your cumulative dissertation through KLUEDO, you must thoroughly review the legal prerequisites for each individual article. The legal situation is more straightforward for open access publications that have been published under a Creative Commons license. Consequently, we advise you to make your individual contributions available as open access.

Here are some questions you should ask yourself:

• Submitted article:
  • Am I allowed to publish the article in my dissertation?
  • In what version (preprint, postprint, publisher's version) am I allowed to publish the article?
  • Do I need to observe an embargo period?
• Published article:
  • Am I allowed to publish the article in my dissertation?
  • In what version (preprint, postprint, publisher's version) am I allowed to publish the article?
  • Do I need to observe an embargo period?

If you want to use images and illustrations from publisher's publications, you should clarify the legal situation. This also includes the question of whether you are allowed to use your own illustration from a publisher's publication for your dissertation.

When publishing your cumulative dissertation, you should make a conscious decision about the license and consider the usage rights granted to publishers. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Under which license can I publish the dissertation?
  • Does the CC license conflict with the publisher's policies?

We recommend that you carefully review the legal requirements to ensure that your cumulative dissertation is published in compliance with the law.

For more detailed information on specific aspects, please visit our website: https://ub.rptu.de/en/writing-publishing/submission-of-phd-theses/cumulative-dissertation

Do you have questions or need support? Please don't hesitate to email us at: ub-openaccess(at)rptu.de.

Further reading:

Schmitz, Jasmin (2024): Dissertation kumulativ veröffentlichen - Herausforderungen und Möglichkeiten. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10845054 German only