Thesis content and article publishing
Journal publishers usually acquire the copyright to scholarly articles through a publication agreement with the author. Their policies then determine what authors can do with their work.
Below are publisher policies regarding graduate students’ reuse of their previously published articles in their theses, and policies on accepting journal submissions that first appeared in an author’s previously released thesis.
If an article is co-authored with a member of the MIT faculty, or if you have opted-in to an OA license, the MIT open access policy is likely to apply to the article, which allows for the extension of additional rights to graduate student authors through MIT for reuse. Short excerpts of published works may also be available for reuse under the MIT Libraries license agreements.
See this page for information about who owns the copyright to your thesis (generally, it’s either MIT or you).
Please contact Ask Scholarly Communications with questions or if you need information that does not yet appear below.
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Check the terms of your publication agreement.
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Allows: “We do not regard dissertations/theses as prior publications.”
American Chemical Society
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Allows: “Authors may reuse all or part of the Submitted, Accepted or Published Work in a thesis or dissertation that the author writes and is required to submit to satisfy the criteria of degree-granting institutions…. Appropriate citation of the Published Work must be made as follows “Reprinted with permission from [COMPLETE REFERENCE CITATION]. Copyright [YEAR] American Chemical Society.”
“If the thesis or dissertation to be published is in electronic format, a direct link to the Published Work must be included using the ACS Articles on Request link.”
See also this FAQ for thesis info.
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Each ACS journal has a specific policy on prior publication that is determined by the respective ACS Editor-in-Chief. Authors should consult these policies and/or contact the appropriate journal editorial office to ensure they understand the policy before submitting material for consideration.
American Geophysical Union
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Allows: “If you wish to reuse your own article (or an amended version of it) in a new publication of which you are the author, editor or co-editor, prior permission is not required (with the usual acknowledgements). However, a formal grant of license can be downloaded free of charge from RightsLink by selecting “Author of this Wiley article” as your requestor type.”
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Allows: “Previously published explicitly does not include oral or poster presentations, meeting abstracts or student theses/dissertations.”
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Allows: “Upon publication of an article or paper in an AIAA journal or conference proceeding, authors can use in their own theses/dissertations (with permission of AIAA if required by copyright).”
From here: “In most cases when AIAA is the copyright holder of a work, authors will be automatically granted permission by AIAA to reprint their own material in subsequent works, to include figures, tables, and verbatim portions of text, upon request. Explicit permission should be sought from AIAA through Copyright Clearance Center (CCC); all reprinted material must be acknowledged and the original source cited in full.”
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Unclear
American Institute of Physics
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Allows: “Authors do not need permission from AIP Publishing to reuse your own AIP Publishing article in your thesis or dissertation (please format your credit line: “Reproduced from [FULL CITATION], with the permission of AIP Publishing”)” Author agreement says the version of record can be used.
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Allows: Publishing the work in a thesis is not considered prior publication according to author warranties in the publication agreement.
American Meteorological Society
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
AMS seems to require permission. Email permissions@ametsoc.org. It can take 10 days to hear back. They will then ask that you include the complete bibliographic citation of the original source, as well as the following statement with that citation for each: © American Meteorological Society. Used with permission.
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Unclear
American Physical Society
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Allows, “provided the bibliographic citation and the APS copyright credit line are given on the appropriate pages.”
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Allows
Language from Physical Review journals page: “Publication of material in a master’s or doctoral thesis does not preclude publication of that material in the Physical Review journals.”
American Society for Clinical Investigation
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
After Jan 4, 2022: “Effective with the January 4, 2022 issue of JCI, authors retain copyright on all articles, which are published with a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0).”
Prior to Jan 4, 2022: “Permission can be obtained via Copyright Clearance Center. Copyright or license information is noted on each article.”
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Likely allows: Doesn’t explicitly call out theses but says posting on preprints isn’t prior publication.
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Allows: “Authors can include partial or complete papers of their own (and no fee is expected) in a dissertation as long as citations and DOI pointers to the Versions of Record in the ACM Digital Library are included. Authors can use any portion of their own work in presentations and in the classroom (and no fee is expected).”
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Likely allows. Prior publication rules apply to “peer reviewed” publications.
Cambridge University Press
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Allows: “Permissions requests are waived if the author of the work wishes to reproduce a single chapter (not exceeding 20 per cent of their work), journal article or shorter extract in a subsequent work (i.e. with a later publication date) of which he or she is to be the author, co-author or editor.”
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Policies set by individual journals.
Elsevier
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Allows: “Use and share their works for scholarly purposes (with full acknowledgement of the original article): Include in a thesis or dissertation (provided this is not published commercially).”
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Allows: “Elsevier does not count publication of an academic thesis as prior publication.”
Emerald Publishing
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Allows. Authors should use the submitted version or accepted manuscript version. Use of the final published version is permitted in print, but not electronic versions of theses.
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Allows: “We are happy for submissions to Emerald to include work that has previously formed part of your PhD or other academic thesis. Please submit your paper in the usual way but declare the existence of the uploaded thesis to the Editor of the journal. If the Editor wished to consider the paper further, the paper would go through our standard anonymised peer-review process.”
IEEE
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Allows, with some requirements
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Theses not specifically addressed, but permitted subject to editorial discretion. Individual journals may have their own policies.
Institute of Physics
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Allows. Author may use the final published version or figures/text, and should include citation and a link to the version of record. “When you transfer the copyright in your article to IOP, we grant back to you certain rights, including the right to include all or part of the Final Published Version of the article within any thesis or dissertation.”
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Unsure
Inter-Research Science Center
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Reuse of published content is “generally free of charge,” but you must get permission.
Email: permissions@int-res.com
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Not addressed, except to say, “Permission to re-use any previously published material must have been obtained by the authors from the copyright holders.”
International Speech Communication Association (ISCA) INTERSPEECH conference
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Allows, with citation. “ISCA grants each author permission to use the article in that author’s dissertation….”
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Unclear
Mathematical Sciences Publishers
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Allows, with citation. “The Author may use part or all of this Work or its image in any future works of his/her/their own.”
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Unclear, but the author agreement says, “The Author warrants that the Work has not been published before, in any form except as a preprint.” We suggest asking your editor.
National Academy of Sciences
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Allows, with citation. “PNAS authors do not need to obtain permission in the following cases: …to include their articles as part of their dissertations.”
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Not addressed. “What constitutes prior publication…will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Nature
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Allows, with citation. “Authors have the right to reuse their article’s Version of Record, in whole or in part, in their own thesis.”
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Allows. “Nature Portfolio will consider submissions containing material that has previously formed part of a PhD or other academic thesis which has been published according to the requirements of the institution awarding the qualification.”
Oxford University Press
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Journals have their own policies. OUP uses the Copyright Clearance Center for permissions. Contact your editor.
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Unclear
Royal Society of Chemistry
Sage
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Allows, but says, “Excerpts or material from your dissertation that have not been through peer review will generally be eligible for publication. However, if the excerpt from the dissertation included in your manuscript is the same or substantially the same as any previously published work, the editor may determine that it is not suitable for publication in the journal.”
Springer
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Allows — in addition, a special agreement with Springer for MIT authors allows for reuse for scholarly and educational purposes.
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Policy varies by journal but according to Springer: “There are no overriding ethical issues as long as the dual publication is transparent and cross referenced. Transparency is key, though a few journals might reject such an article for the reason of non-originality.”
Taylor & Francis
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Allows — authors retain the right to “Include your article Author’s Original Manuscript (AOM) or Accepted Manuscript(AM), depending on the embargo period, in your thesis or dissertation. The Version of Record cannot be used.”
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Wiley
Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis
Allows: “You may share any version of your article with individual colleagues and students… as submission of thesis, or doctorate.”
Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Allows: “The following types of “prior publication” do not present cause for concerns about duplicate or redundant publication: Dissertations and theses in university archives.”
Page last updated: April 10, 2024