What must be considered when handing in the deposit copies?

Doctoral candidates are obliged to make their dissertation available to the scientific public in an appropriate manner by reproducing and distributing it.

The number of copies to be submitted depends on the Doctoral Theses Guidelines (German) of your faculty.

In case of doubt, please contact the doctoral or habilitation office responsible for you.

If your doctoral regulations provide specific requirements....

If the doctoral regulations that apply to you contain specific requirements for the publication obligation, then please first decide on a form of publication that suits you. If the dissertation is not published by a publisher, then paper copies must be submitted to the university library. The doctoral regulations give you a specific number of paper copies to be submitted. These paper copies to be submitted must meet certain quality requirements.

There are four cases to be distinguished according to the doctoral regulations:

  1. Delivery of paper copies
  2. Delivery of paper copies, one of which must be bound in accordance with RAL-RG 495
  3. Electronic publication on the edoc server + 4 paper copies
  4. Electronic publication on the edoc server + 1 paper copy

If your doctoral regulations do not state any requirements....

If the doctoral regulations valid for you refer to the specifications of the university library, then you will find the valid forms of publication in the following overview.

Note: Currently only applies to the doctoral regulations of the Faculty of Life Sciences dated October 10, 2022 (AM No. 56/2022) as well as the doctoral regulations of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration dated October 01, 2024 (AM No. 71/2024).

We distinguish four different forms of publication for dissertations:

  1. Electronic publication on the edoc server + 1 paper copy
  2. Submission of publisher's copies
  3. Submission of paper copies
  4. Submission of paper copies for cumulative works

If you have any questions, please contact the Theses Collection Point. 

Why are the quality requirements for paper copies relatively high?

We archive your dissertation in perpetuity and make it available for use in a library. Sometimes these are the only copies that will later exist of this edition. It is therefore urgent to set certain requirements for the production and durability of the paper copies, otherwise long-term use cannot be guaranteed.