Cumulative Dissertations: Considering Legal Implications

At RPTU, some departments offer a cumulative (publication-based) dissertation. Cumulative dissertations consist of several contributions with related content that have been published or accepted for publication in relevant scientific journals or edited volumes.

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 before publishing on KLUEDO or with a publisher:

• Submitted article:
  • May I publish the article in my dissertation?
  • In what version (preprint, postprint, publisher's version) may I publish the article?
  • Do I have to comply with an embargo period?
• Published article:
  • May I publish the article as part of my dissertation?
  • In which version (preprint, postprint, publisher's version) may I publish the article?
  • Do I have 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 choice of license and take into account the usage rights granted to publishers. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Under which license may I publish the dissertation?
  • Does the CC license contradict 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.

Publishing a Compilation Thesis Open Access: What You Need to Know (Video; 2:27 min)

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