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Guidelines and checklist for licentiate thesis preparation and the licentiate seminar

Applies to the subjects Disabilityg Research, Medical Science and Sport Science at the School of Health Sciences and the School of Medical Sciences.

Rules and guidelines

It is important that you reads up on the guidelines and are aware of the rules that surround the licentiate seminar. Please see the following documents:

Once you have agreed on a preferred date and time for the licentiate seminar, the supervisor shall inform the study and research administration thereof. The study and research administration will book a lecture hall and a meeting room. According to ”Guidelines on venues and refreshments in connection with doctoral programme activities” (ORU 1.2.1-01334/2017), this will be in Örebro University’s own facilities.

A proposal for public defence of a licentiate thesis, complete with all appendices, must be submitted to the study and research administration 15 weeks – at the latest – prior to the planned date of the licentiate seminar. Please note that the external reviewer, examining committee including substitute and the chair of the seminar must have agreed to the request before the proposal for the licentiate seminar is submitted.

  •  There must be no conflicts of interest in relation to the doctoral student or supervisors for either the external reviewer, members of the examining committee, or chair.
  • The chair at the seminar must be an employee of Örebro University and be a docent or professor.
  • The external reviewer must have at least the qualifications required for appointment as a docent and possess expert knowledge within the subject area for the project.
  • Three nominees for members of the examining committee, of which at least one must come from another higher education institution and at least one from the school in question. The members of the examining committee must be researchers who have obtained their PhDs and at least two of them must be appointed docents or have the qualifications required for appointment as a docent. Both sexes should be represented on the examining committee. If that is not possible, a statement outlining the grounds for this must be attached to the proposal. 
  • Nominee for a substitute member for the examining committee.

The following documents shall be included with the proposal for the public defence of the licentiate seminar:

  • Brief summary of the licentiate thesis, in Swedish or English (approx. one A4 page)
  • A statement giving the grounds for the nomination of faculty examiner and members of the examining committee (including substitute) and chair of seminar. Please note that the statement must contain a clear account of each examinig committee member's relevant expertise based on the ability to assess all aspects of the licentiate thesis.
  • Information of the assessment made of any conflicts of interest (jäv) relating to the persons nominated, in relation to the doctoral student and the supervisors.
  • A brief account by the supervisor, describing the doctoral student’s work and their contributions to the studies, as well as a certificate verifying that the student has completed the requisite examinations within the doctoral subject area.
  • Transcript of records from LADOK.
  • A list of the studies included in the licentiate thesis. This list must contain details of co-authors. It must also say whether the papers have been submitted to a journal or whether they are still manuscripts.
  • All substudies included in the licentiate thesis are to be attached.
  • All applications for and decisions on ethics approval relating to the substudies of the licentiate thesis.
  • A statement from the principal supervisor regarding the relation of ethical permissions to the completion of the project.
  • Account of the reasons for any deviations from the guidelines.

The study and research administrator will forward the proposal, together with the supporting documentation, to the subject coordinator/specialisation coordinator, who presents the proposal to the Head of School for approval.

Decision

Decision on the public defence of the licentiate thesis is made by the Head of School  and expedited to the doctoral student, supervisors, the subject coordinator/specialisation coordinator and the director of studies for the doctoral programme in question.

When preparing the licentiate thesis, the university template for thesis should be used (please note however that it is specifically designed for the preparation of doctoral theses). The licentiate thesis should be written in English. A licentiate thesis should consist of an introductory chapter based on at least two substudies, of which at least one has been published or accepted for publication in a refereed journal at the time of submission of the proposal for the public defence of a licentiate thesis. The doctoral student must be the lead author of at least one of the substudies. Co-lead authorship is accepted but what is key for the examining committee’s assessment of the thesis is the contribution made by the doctoral student and how it corresponds to the intended learning outcomes for the award of the degree. A systematic overview paper or meta-analysis may be included in the thesis. A licentiate thesis at Örebro University may in certain cases take the format of a monograph. 

 Journal(s) must be contacted prior to the licentiate seminar for permission to publish the paper and pictures/tables in the thesis (feel free to use this template for this purpose).

 In accordance with the faculty publication policy, the doctoral student needs to have Örebro University as affiliation for all substudies included in the thesis.

Language editing

The introductory chapter should be submitted for language editing.

Plagiarism check of the introductory chapter

A plagiarism check must be done on the introductory chapter. According to ”Guidelines for plagiarism check of introductory chapters prior to the public defence of doctoral theses and licentiate seminar for the subject areas of medical science and disability science” (ORU 1.2.1-06334/2017), the doctoral student is responsible for sending the introductory chapter excluding the list of references to the study and research administration. The study and research administration in turn submits it to the plagiarism detection system Urkund.

The specialisation coordinator/head of subject informs the study and research administration about the result of the plagiarism check. The administration informs the printing office that the thesis is OK to print and informs the doctoral student and the principal supervisor thereof.

In the event that possible plagiarism is detected, the specialisation coordinator/head of subject will contact the principal supervisor and the doctoral student immediately. The printing office is also contacted, to stop the printing of the thesis.

Printing the licentiate thesis

Printing is to be done after the licentiate seminar and after a passing grade has been awarded for the thesis. The school meets the cost of two copies, one for archiving and one for the cabinet in which doctoral and licentiate theses are displayed. The cost of any further copies is met by the doctoral student (or supervisor).The doctoral student shall contact the Printing Office (Repro) at Örebro University concerning the printing and will at the same time submit the necessary details for invoicing and delivery arrangements. These details can be obtained from the study and research administrator.

The study and research administrator will send an e-mail with practical information before and in connection with the licentiate seminar to the external reviewer, examining committee including substitute and chair of the seminar.  

Review prior to the licentiate seminar

A review of the substudies included in the licentiate thesis is to be done by the members of the examining committee prior to the licentiate seminar. The committee is tasked with assessing whether the quality and quantity of the substudies meet the intended learning outcomes for the award of the licentiate degree. The study and research administrator is responsible for sending relevant documentation. Each member submits their assessment to the school separately and in writing, either recommending or advising against holding the licentiate seminar. At the licentiate seminar, the committee makes a new and collective assessment of the licentiate thesis as a whole. The examining committee also review applications for and decisions on ethics approval.

Distribution of the licentiate thesis

The study and research administrator will send the licentiate thesis as a pdf via email to the external reviewer, examining committee including substitute and the chair about three weeks before the licentiate seminar.

The doctoral student distributes the licentiate thesis to other persons concerned.

The doctoral student begins by presenting their work.

The external reviewer is tasked with critically reviewing the licentiate thesis and discussing the content with the author of the thesis.

After the seminar, the examining committee are to ask questions relating to the content of the thesis with the purpose of assessing whether the intended learning outcomes for the award of the licentiate degree have been met. Other attendees in the seminar will also be given the opportunity to ask questions.

The examinig committee meeting

The examining committee will convene immediately after the part of the seminar that is public. The committee will appoint a chair from among its members and will grade the thesis using either of the grades Pass or Fail.

The chair, principal supervisor, and assistant supervisor may be present and take part in the discussions at the meeting but not in the decision. Minutes must be taken, which are to be signed by the chair of the examining committee.

According to the “Guidelines on venues and refreshments in connection with doctoral programme activities” (ORU 1.2.1-01334/2017) the school will order and meet the costs incurred for coffee and lunch for the persons who have an official role at the licentiate seminar. If the seminar takes place in the morning and a decision has been made before lunch, the doctoral student may also attend the lunch.

The doctoral student is responsible for organising and meeting any costs incurred for refreshments after the seminar.

Course requirements

For a licentiate seminar to be held, the student is first required to have received a passing grade on all compulsory courses.

All courses completed before applying for degree certificate

To be able to receive your degree certificate after your public defence of the licentiate thesis you must also meet the requirements for doctoral courses as stated in your general syllabus. Further information is found on the web page Public defence of doctoral thesis. Fill out the form ”All courses completed for Research Education” and send it via e-mail to the study and research administration.

Degree certificate

After receiving a passing grade at the public defence of the licentiate thesis, the former doctoral student requests their licentiate degree certificate. Further information is found on the web page on how to apply for degree certificate. Note that the degree cannot be issued until a formal decision about “All courses completed for Research Education” has been made. If you have questions, please contact examen@oru.se.

Contact research administration

 Medical Science with a specialisation in Biomedicine, Medicine and Surgical sciences: fouadm.MV@oru.se

Disability Science, Sport Science and Medical Science with a specialisation in Healthcare science: fouadm.HV@oru.se