{"id":2361,"date":"2016-08-17T15:32:23","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T19:32:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libraries-test.mit.edu\/scholarly\/?page_id=2361"},"modified":"2025-09-15T20:17:46","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T20:17:46","slug":"theses-and-article-publishing","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/scholarly\/copyright\/theses-copyright\/theses-and-article-publishing\/","title":{"rendered":"Thesis content and article publishing"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

Below are publisher policies regarding graduate students\u2019 reuse of their previously published articles in their theses, and policies on accepting journal submissions that first appeared in an author\u2019s previously released thesis.<\/span><\/p>\n

If an article is co-authored with a member of the MIT faculty, or if you have opted-in to an OA license<\/a>, the MIT <\/span>open access policy<\/a><\/span>\u00a0is likely to apply to the article, which allows for the extension of additional rights to graduate student authors through MIT for reuse. \u00a0Short excerpts of published works may also be available for reuse under the MIT Libraries <\/span>license agreements<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

See this page<\/a> for information about who owns the copyright to your thesis (generally, it’s either MIT or you).<\/p>\n

Please contact Ask Scholarly Communications<\/a> with questions or if you need information that does not yet appear below.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Check the terms of your publication agreement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/a>:\u00a0\u201c<\/span>We do not regard dissertations\/theses as prior publications.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

American Chemical Society<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/span><\/a>: “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.”<\/p>\n

“If the thesis or dissertation to be published is in electronic format, a direct link to the Published Work must be included using the\u00a0ACS Articles on Request<\/b><\/a> link.”<\/p>\n

See also this FAQ<\/a> for thesis info.<\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Each ACS journal<\/span><\/a> 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

American Geophysical Union<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/a>: “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 \u201cAuthor of this Wiley article\u201d as your requestor type.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/span><\/a>: “Previously published explicitly does not include oral or poster presentations, meeting abstracts or student theses\/dissertations.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/a>: “Upon publication of an article or paper in an AIAA journal or conference proceeding, authors can <\/span>use in their own theses\/dissertations (with permission of AIAA if required by copyright).”<\/span><\/p>\n

From here<\/a>: “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 <\/span>Copyright Clearance Center (CCC)<\/span>; all reprinted material must be acknowledged and the original source cited in full.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unclear<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

American Institute of Physics<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/span><\/a>: “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: \u201cReproduced from [FULL CITATION], with the permission of AIP Publishing\u201d)” Author agreement says the version of record can be used<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/span><\/a>: Publishing the work in a thesis is not considered prior publication according to author warranties in the publication agreement.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

American Meteorological Society<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

AMS seems to require permission. Email permissions@ametsoc.org<\/span><\/a>. 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: \u00a9 American Meteorological Society. Used with permission.<\/span><\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unclear<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

American Physical Society<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/span><\/a>, \u201c<\/span>provided the bibliographic citation and the APS copyright credit line are given on the appropriate pages.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/span><\/a>
\nLanguage from Physical Review journals page: “Publication of material in a master\u2019s or doctoral thesis does not preclude publication of that material in the Physical Review<\/i> journals.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

American Society for Clinical Investigation<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

After Jan 4, 2022<\/a>: “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).”<\/span><\/p>\n

Prior to Jan 4, 2022<\/a>: “<\/span>Permission can be obtained via <\/span>Copyright Clearance Center<\/span><\/a>. Copyright or license information is noted on each article.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Likely allows<\/a>: D<\/span>oesn\u2019t explicitly call out theses but says posting on preprints isn\u2019t prior publication.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/a>: “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).”<\/span><\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Likely allows<\/span><\/a>. Prior publication rules apply to \u201cpeer reviewed\u201d publications. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

Cambridge University Press<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/a>: “Permissions requests are waived if t<\/span>he 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.”<\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Policies set by individual journals.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

Elsevier<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/a>: “\u200b\u200b<\/span>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).”<\/span><\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/span><\/a>: “Elsevier does <\/span>not<\/b> count publication of an academic thesis as prior publication.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

Emerald Publishing<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/span><\/a>. Authors should use the submitted version or accepted manuscript version.\u00a0 Use of the final published version is permitted in print, but not electronic versions of theses.<\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/a>: “We are happy for submissions to Emerald to include work that has previously formed part of your PhD or other academic thesis. <\/span>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.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

IEEE<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/a>, with some requirements<\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows (see 8.1.7(E) on page 90)<\/a>. “It is common in technical publishing for an author to base an article on work appearing in a thesis or dissertation written by that author. IEEE
\nrecognizes the importance of this publication paradigm and fully supports it, but IEEE requires that the thesis or dissertation be fully referenced through direct citation of the thesis or dissertation or through other articles generated from and referencing the thesis or dissertation. Accordingly, the publication in an IEEE periodical based on original technical material contained in a thesis or dissertation is considered appropriate provided that the articles have undergone the standard peer review for the specific periodical in question.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

Institute of Physics<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows. A<\/span>uthor may use the final published version<\/a> 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.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unsure<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

Inter-Research Science Center<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reuse of published content is “generally free of charge,” but you must get permission.<\/a>
\nEmail: permissions@int-res.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not addressed<\/span><\/a>, except to say, “Permission to re-use any previously published material must have been obtained by the authors from the copyright holders.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

International Speech Communication Association (ISCA) INTERSPEECH conference<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/span><\/a>, with citation. “ISCA grants each author permission to use the article in that author’s dissertation….”<\/span><\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unclear<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

Mathematical Sciences Publishers<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/span><\/a>, with citation. “The Author may use part or all of this Work or its image in any future works of his\/her\/their own.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unclear, but the <\/span>author agreement says<\/span><\/a>, \u201cThe Author warrants that the Work has not been published before, in any form except as a preprint.\u201d We suggest asking your editor.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

National Academy of Sciences<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/span><\/a>, with citation. “<\/span>PNAS authors do not need to obtain permission in the following cases: …to include their articles as part of their dissertations.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not addressed<\/span><\/a>.<\/span> \u201c<\/span>What constitutes prior publication…will be determined on a case-by-case basis.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

Nature<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/span><\/a>, with citation. “<\/span>Authors have the right to reuse their article\u2019s Version of Record, in whole or in part, in their own thesis.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/span><\/a>. “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.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

Oxford University Press<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Journals have their own policies<\/a>. OUP uses the Copyright Clearance Center for permissions<\/a>. Contact your editor. <\/span><\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unclear<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

Royal Society of Chemistry<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

Sage<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/span><\/a>, 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.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

Springer<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows — in addition, a special agreement with Springer<\/a> for MIT authors allows for reuse for scholarly and educational purposes.<\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

Taylor & Francis<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/a> — authors retain the right to “Include your article Author\u2019s Original Manuscript (AOM) or Accepted Manuscript(AM), depending on the embargo period, in your thesis or dissertation. The Version of Record cannot be used.”<\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n

Wiley<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

Reuse of author’s previously published article in author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/span><\/a>: “Y<\/span>ou may share any version of your article with individual colleagues and students\u2026 as submission of thesis, or doctorate.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allows<\/span><\/a>: “The following types of \u201cprior publication\u201d do not present cause for concerns about duplicate or redundant publication: Dissertations and theses in university archives.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page last updated: September 15, 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019 reuse of their previously published articles in their theses, and policies on accepting journal submissions that first appeared in an author\u2019s 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\u00a0is likely to apply to the article, which allows for the extension of additional rights to graduate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2078,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2361","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/scholarly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/scholarly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/scholarly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/scholarly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/scholarly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2361"}],"version-history":[{"count":77,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/scholarly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5157,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/scholarly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2361\/revisions\/5157"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/scholarly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/scholarly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}