Ways of doing a doctorate

In the case of a cumulative doctorate, the dissertation is submitted in the form of at least three specialist articles or manuscripts and a framework paper. The framework paper serves to embed the specialist articles and manuscripts in the research question. The quality requirements for a cumulative dissertation correspond to those for a monographic dissertation.

 The concrete minimum standards for cumulative dissertations at Leuphana are standardised for all doctoral candidates in the doctoral regulations of the schools. Some schools additionally specify these in guidelines for cumulative dissertations for the requirements of the respective subjects and doctoral degrees.

The decision for or against a cumulative dissertation often depends on the subject area and should be discussed with your supervisor.

The following standardised quality requirements apply to cumulative dissertations at Leuphana, irrespective of the chosen subject area or doctoral degree:

a. The number of articles or manuscripts submitted must not be less than three.

b. If submitted articles or manuscripts are written in co-authorship with other authors, the doctoral candidate's own contribution must be recognisable and explained and confirmed by the co-authors.

c. The categories of the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT) should be used to document the individual contribution.

d. At least one of the three reviewers appointed in accordance with § 3b of the Doctoral Degree Regulations may not also be a co-author of the scientific articles or manuscripts relevant to the doctorate.

e. The publication status of the submitted articles serves as (one) indicator of the quality of the scientific work, but does not replace the independent review process of the review committee.

f.  An important part of the review process of a cumulative dissertation is the framework paper and the embedding of the scientific articles or manuscripts along the lines of the research question.

g. The doctoral boards can define their own guidelines with regard to the required publication status and the value of the journals.

In addition to these provisions in the doctoral regulations, the Schools of Education, Cultural Studies, and Management and Technology have adopted separate guidelines that specify the requirements for cumulative dissertations in each case.